It’s Spring time! It’s been a couple months since I’ve touched base with all of you. We have had a LOT going on. My right hand man Jay was married and moved out of our house. We have a new friend (Toby) who moved in the same day, in fact Toby and Jay literally switched rooms! Jay and his new bride Trang are now living above a café. We have been working hard with a doubling of the size of our English Club and keeping busy in so many other ways. More details below. We also celebrated our 2nd year in Hanoi!!! If you are wondering why our newsletter is not as professional looking as before, it’s because Trina’s Macbook crashed here. Terrible situation for Trina.

Ah Spring, flowers in bloom, gray skies, humidity and a sinister nemesis…MOLD. What a challenge the mold has been! Anything that doesn’t move starts to grow mold. The Vietnamese say it is something they just live with. The mold starts getting really bad in March as the weather is turning warmer and more humid. Speaking of March, on the 20th we celebrated 2 years in Vietnam! It’s hard to believe that we have been here that long. We also celebrated locking in our ability to stay here long term. Our struggle with visas is over. We are very grateful to many friends who helped us through the tedious process of paperwork to reach this milestone.

Jay is a married man! In fact he was married 4 times in 2 weeks (to the same woman of course). Jay and Trang had a wedding in their hometowns, one in Hanoi and one in Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon). Then they had a fantastic honeymoon in Malaysia. We were sad to see Jay move out after nearly 2 years with us, but excited for their future. I had the honor and privilege of participating in their wedding leading them through communion and the exchange of rings during the Hanoi ceremony. Jay and Trang are now living above a large café where we held our Easter service/meal and where Jay spends time teaching young men. It was amazing how Jay and Toby switched rooms; Jay is now helping to manage the cafe. It provides new opportunities for mentoring and keeping living expenses down for everyone. Toby is an excellent cook too (imagine Trina clapping at this moment). One morning Toby made hot cinnamon rolls to go with my freshly roasted coffee. I see a lasting arrangement here. Although I’m worried about our waistlines!

You have heard about our English Club through the different newsletters. We had problems with space as we were pushing past 50 and didn’t have a place to hold everyone. The numbers went down for a while and then they spiked when we found a location able to hold 75 people! We made an arrangement with a technical university to allow us to use their largest classroom. Now we have 60+ students every Saturday! I have a great team of people working with me on this and we have had some amazing club meetings. We have covered topics like: Character, Teamwork, Gambling (that one was hot!), and other “hot button” issues. On the last club, I taught on the ingredients of a good marriage (98% attendees are university students). They received a surprised when a pastor showed up to the English club and then proceeded to marry Trina and I (we are celebrating 20 years of marriage this July). We went through the Christian ceremony and were able to convey the significance of vows and promises to each other. Vietnamese weddings do not have the same type of ceremony so it was a treat for them to witness something they have only seen at the movies (I even put on a tie). Of course there was much anticipation for the kiss at the end.

For Easter, we had another big dinner/educational event with about 25 students. We were able to convey the significance of the holiday to many who have never heard it. It was a significant time and lead to many great conversations.

My parents came for a visit as they were leading a group of trekkers around Vietnam. It was such a joy to have them here. They had two close calls which were frightening. My father fell head first into the rocks behind me. I thought he was going to be severely injured but he ended up with only a bruise and one small cut (miraculously he didn’t break his neck). My mom also had a close call when they were out boating on a foggy bay and had a collision with another boat. My mom had to jump out of the way (but not overboard) to keep from getting crushed by the other boat They had a great time seeing the beauty of Vietnam and spending time with their grandchildren. They brought us quite a bit of goodies (nuts, candy, cereal, peanut butter etc.) from the US to restock us as we had depleted most of our treasure from Hawaii. We are hoping to have some friends and family visit in June.

Our children are doing well. We got a surprise phone call a week ago and Riley is now attending Kindergarten in the same school as Daisy and Miles. It is a HUGE blessing and totally unexpected. He started the very next school day after the call. He was so excited, he wanted to sleep in his uniform! This is a wonderful answer to prayer as we’ve been having to think about the older boys’ home school co-op next year and they needed someone to oversee a couple of classes, which Trina will now be able to do. Father always provides. Thank you for praying for us and we look forward to hearing from you.

With love, Vince, Trina & the Fab Five

Our family with Jay and Trang

Riley’s first day of school

Easter Dinner

It hasn’t rained in a while.  Today there was a gentle mist blowing, not enough to make you wet as you stand outside.  However when taking my children to school on my motor scooter, the abundant mist does get you a little wet.  We welcome the mist and hopefully it will become rain today.  Water levels are a little low and we need some rain.

Hey everyone! We are alive and well! Some friends wrote and asked if we were Ok as they hadn’t heard from us in a while. We are all healthy and very busy! We have a lot to catch you up on so enough with the formalities and apologies, here we go.


 





1. Trina has continued with her Vietnamese lessons and is slowly getting better.  She has been a big help at English Club and spends most days at home teaching Riley the three R’s or at the Homeschool Co-op assisting the high school class with chemistry experiments and helping the other teachers grade.  She has gotten good at cooking from scratch as a lot of the convenient mixes and packages are not available here.

2. The kids have been busy with school and after school activities.  Daisy and Miles take photography and science lab after school on Tuesdays. Trevor and Justus continue to improve in guitar.  Trevor will be in the worship team line up starting in December at our International Fellowship (church).  The older boys are doing the President Physical Fitness Challenge and are getting into shape!  Riley loves working on puzzles and is learning to read very quickly. He provides the “cute” factor when Trina goes to the outdoor vegetable market (helps her get fair prices).  Daisy also joined her school’s basketball team.  Also, her school invited the homeschool co-op to join their boys’ basketball team as well, so we were really excited for Trevor & Justus to be a part of that.

3. As for me I am very busy with the English Club and working with students.  I took Trevor and Justus on a Habitat for Humanity weekend trip with some other youth from the International Fellowship.  It was supposed to be a youth retreat, but it was more of a volunteer and “work your tail off” weekend.  The youth were amazing as they hardly grumbled with all the blisters and sore muscles. We used shovels to dig foundations and laid bricks as well. In addition to helping very poor families it provided the students a greater appreciation for how nice their living conditions truly are.

4. We did a summer trip with the English Club and it was such a success that we planned a Fall trip to Vietnam’s first National Park and explored caves by small 4 man boats.  We had another fun
time on the bus with Jay as the MC; the students sang songs and played games while we rode for 3 hours to the National Park. We had 30 people on the trip and a fun time was had by all.  The boat ride was a bit scary for me as I had to crouch on the floor of the boat to get through some of the caves with stalactites hanging very low.
5. We had some wonderful guests come to visit us in October; our dear friends from Virginia, David and Debbie Stapleton. They made it feel like Christmas 3 months early with the two suitcases full of goodies that either are unavailable here or cost an arm and a leg at the store.  The kids were so excited to have one of their favorite cereals, peanut butter, and lots of Western CANDY!!!  I was excited to get bags of walnuts and pecans for my baking. I plan to use much of what they brought for a Thanksgiving meal we plan to have with around 20 students.

6. I promised news about the coffee business and here is the latest.  Jay and I have a business license and we have a lead on a location.  We will be coming home for the holidays and at that time I hope to meet with people about getting this business rolling, please keep me in your prayers about this.  Exciting opportunities are presenting themselves and Jay and I have been meeting the right people. Obtaining the equipment is the next big step.

Ok, going to cut this short now. I intend to send another newsletter before we come home for the holidays (we buy 1 year tickets, so this is our return on the ticket).  We are so excited to see family and friends soon!  I think Justus only has one thing on his mind…Taco Bell!  Coming home is such a refreshing and fun time; it helps keep the children connected to their roots. A big mahalo to all who are praying for us, writing us and blessing our family.

Much love and aloha,

Vince, Trina and the Fab Five

There are a few reasons I’m going to share why this summer so far has been what I call amazing. I don’t know how I will be able to keep it to one newsletter, but I’ll try. First, we had a group of 7 friends from Hawaii come over and do a cultural exchange and see a bit of Vietnam. Secondly, the weather has been the exact opposite of last year; no power outages and very few 100+ degree days. Lastly, Trina and I celebrated our 20th wedding anniversary a year early, on July 4th. Sound strange? Read on to find out why.

The weather has been wonderful, a bit of rain, but the humidity hasn’t been that bad (maybe we’re becoming acclimated) and the temperatures have been in the high 80’s and low 90’s. Last year we were choking on the intense heat and humidity with 5 to 6 power outages a day to add to the misery. This year there has been enough rain to fill the reservoirs to keep the hydroelectric dams running at maximum capacity. People tell us it was the unusually cold winter that allowed us to enjoy this wonderful summer.

We had some friends from Hawaii come over to help us with our English Clubs and to share some of the Hawaii culture with many of our friends. A group of 4 girls and 3 guys came over with bright Aloha shirts/dresses, ukulele, hula and a lot of macnuts, chocolates and a large helping of the Aloha spirit. They helped us at an orphanage (see link to read more about the orphanage visit and see some pictures). http://glocalventures.org/blog/?p=891

They also helped us immensely with our English Club. They taught about Hawaii, shared some personal stories, and made a lot of friends that day. Later in the week we rented a bus and took 15 university students on a trip to Halong Bay to see one of the worlds most beautiful places. Jay was able to entertain everyone with games and activities on the 3 hour bus ride each way. This trip was our first excursion as an English Club and was followed on by a second trip to the Ethnology museum where 20 students showed up to tour our friends around. This special visit really connected students, the friends from Hawaii and our family in a special way. Some of the students said their lives were totally changed by the visit. One of the language centers I had helped out with before gave me a call a couple weeks ago. They asked if I would be interested in tutoring some teenagers that were going to be moving to America to attend High School and then continue on to college. I found out that both of the students were going to be living with host American families and attending small private Christian Schools (in Virginia and Washington), similar to the school Trina and I went to in Hawaii. With that in common I agreed to help tutor these students. With our children out of school for the summer I have gotten Trina involved in tutoring them as well (sharing the time). The students have never been to America and have just basic knowledge of some of the important things they need to know to attend this type of school. We are doing our best to lay the ground work and prepare them for the many facets of life in America.

Happy Anniversary! Trina and I celebrated our 20th year of wedded bliss a year early this year. Let me try and make sense of this for you. Last December, Trina’s Mom excitedly told us that there were 8 slots that suddenly opened for a “Biblical Study Trip” to Israel in the summer of 2011. She asked if we wanted to go and we certainly did, but the cost was high and we were unsure about what things would be like 8 months later. Also, Trina was very concerned about leaving our children in Hanoi. Trina and I prayed about it and felt peace to commit to go, but what about the children and what about the cost? That is when I remembered that I had purchased some stock 11 years ago and really didn’tknow what the value of it was. I checked it out and it was the perfect amount for the whole trip! Also,God provided a school teacher from Hawaii to stay with our kids in Hanoi, and He also provided a cook for them who would shop and make sure they were all well fed. These provisions came just in time. We excitedly told our family, and guess what….my parents, Trina’s Mom and Uncle Franklin, Trina’s sister Julie and husband Michael, and friends from Maui (Pastor Eddie and Susan Asato) committed to go as well! We now had a family reunion planned (minus the kids). The trip was over our anniversary and was the most amazing trip we have been on. The teaching at the locations of all the events in the Bible that we had read about for years came alive. We had a Messianic Jew as our tour guide who had been a paratrooper commander (in 4 wars/conflicts), a carpenter, and a symphony conductor. All those life experiences with his incredible knowledge of his homeland made our trip the trip of a lifetime.

I hope I squeezed it all in. We are still very excited to be living, working and serving here. I will have some news on the coffee situation in the next newsletter. Thanks to all who email us and remember us in your prayers.Many blessings on all of you! Shalom!

Much love and aloha,
Vince, Trina and the Fab Five

Ah the humidity and mold is back to greet us! Mold grows on your clothes and all kinds of things; it’s dangerous to sit still too long….. After such cold weather, we welcomed the warm days and with it some of the spring holidays! The Vietnamese celebrated the Hung King Holiday which is a relatively new national holiday that celebrates the genesis of Vietnam as a country. Shortly after that were the Christian Holidays of Good Friday and Easter. Then it was Reunification Day (of the North and South) celebrated on April 30th and May 1st is the May Day holiday. These five holidays allowed us to learn about their special days and for us to teach them about ours.





We had a great turnout at our English Club on April 23rd. It was a Saturday between Good Friday and Easter and there were over 50 university students crowded into the language center to learn about what the different holidays were all about. Our entire family participated in a play to set the stage for understanding the meaning of sacrifice and putting others first. We had some engaging questions about the play afterwards and broke the students into small groups to discuss the meaning behind the play. We also had some games, prizes and desserts afterward. We gave away candy, tutoring lessons, and free classes to the English Center. Everyone had an amazing time. Through these clubs we have built some great friendships.

My father visited us in the end of March, so I put together a father/son and men from church trip to the highest mountain in Vietnam (it actually snows up there and did this past March). We rode mountain bikes into a remote area and delivered hygiene kits, warm clothes, toys and candy to poor children. It was such a success that my father has put together more trips to do the same type of activities in 2012. The link at the end of the newsletter will allow you to view some of the pictures of this trip and the excited school children from the village.
Trina and I participated in a Life Coaching seminar working with people from China, Nigeria, Chile, Japan, Romania, Australia and the US. This training will prove effective both with the young men and women we hang out with and our own children.

We were able to really make an impact on a group of young people on love and marriage.
We had a team of married volunteers to work in small groups with young adults; all men groups and all women groups. We discussed the qualities of marriages that last: Faithfulness, love, trust, communication, forgiveness, etc. I had young men ask me point blank, “Have you been with any other women since you have been married?” My answer (No) gave them looks of utter amazement as this is a part of the world where infidelity is common practice. It really opened the door for being able to share many things and provide encouragement to be men of honor.

The language center I worked at sent me on an intimidating assignment…well initially it was intimidating. Lead an English Club with students from the top school in Hanoi for Vietnamese children! I had a class of very smart 12 year olds with excellent skills in pronunciation and vocabulary. I was impressed. These young people will be some of the next leaders of the country and it was exciting to work with them.

We have a lot of visitors coming in the next few weeks! We are excited to have some family and friends to take around the city. They are also bringing some supplies! We are excited to get some treats that are not found in Vietnam or cost a small fortune due to import fees. It will feel like Christmas. On that cheery note, we’ll wish you all a great summer and see you in email real soon! Thank you all for taking the time to read what we are up to and please check out the pictures we have assembled from the last 2 months.

Aloha and God Bless,
Vince, Trina, and the Fab Five

Our one year anniversary of moving to Hanoi is on March 20th. It will be fun to look back through the pictures/newsletters and remember the highlights and some of the hardships. We can say with confidence that the hardships pale in comparison with the growth and maturity of our family, the lives that have been changed, and the adventure we have shared living in northern Vietnam. I won’t belabor the reminiscing any longer as we have interesting things to tell you about the past month!





 


Spring is in the air here in Hanoi. Sure it is hazy and polluted air, but it was nice to see the sun one day (it is overcast 99% of the time in the winter). After a very cool January through mid-March we are welcoming in the warmer weather of spring. We knew spring had arrived as the city bus had the air-conditioning on the other day. I even went out in a short sleeve shirt. However as I type this, the cold spell has hit again and the high tomorrow will be 48 degrees. The boys looked like ninjas or bank robbing thugs as they hopped on their bicycles and headed for school with the ski-mask and knit-caps.

I don’t have any hair-raising taxi rides to tell you about this time but I have been experiencing hair raising experiences the past 3 weeks for sure. I broke down and bought an old motor-scooter. I have joined the millions of people on motorbikes in this city to get around town. I don’t exaggerate when I say “millions”. I have included some photos of the traffic in the link at the bottom of the newsletter to show you “my world” on the road. In the beginning, it took me close to an hour after each ride to calm my nerves down and breathe normally again. Everyone says you get used to it and I’m beginning to feel more confident, but you know my reason for stress when you see the traffic photos.

I have been mentoring a young man, Sau, who is working on his graduate degree in IT. This is the same young man that I have taken to business seminars and the most recent was a two day servant leadership seminar. The seminar was excellent for the both of us and helped establish some good connections for the future. I have also worked with a group of seven MBA students for the past month to help them with their capstone project (final presentations). I am somewhat surprised that I am asked to work with these graduate students as I do not have a graduate degree. Apparently life experience and being a native speaker of English takes you far in South East Asia.

Our Saturday English Club continues to go well. One of the girls from the club that Trina connected with is now in Melbourne, Australia finishing her MBA. It was exciting to meet her weeks before she left for Australia as we were able to connect her with an EN pastor and his family in Melbourne who picked her up at the airport and warmly welcomed her to Australia. It was her first overseas trip.

There are many more things going on that are keeping us fully engaged over here, but we’ll save some of the news for next month. Please take a look at the pictures in the link as it will give you a greater sense of our life over here. Thank you to all who write us back, it is great to hear a little news from the rest of the world. The family is doing great! We are full of gratitude for the blessings from all of our friends and family. As I consider the blessings, I would ask you to please take a moment and pray for the people of Japan whose lives are so disrupted….so full of pain and suffering.

Much love and aloha,

Vince, Trina and the Fab Five (Trevor, Justus, Daisy, Miles and Riley)

Whoa! Where did the last 6 weeks go!! Here’s a quick recap of the significant events in our lives. The boys and I visit an AIDS/HIV orphanage. Jay and I take over running an English Club. Daisy, Miles, Riley and I share something not many people have experienced, we were chased by the police and our taxi was beaten with batons! On a more positive note, Trina and I attended a marriage seminar which was refreshing. Finally, I was guest of a company on an exploratory trip to the Central Highlands to find out the plight of some coffee growers being taken advantage of.

AIDS/HIV Orphanage: In early October, Trevor, Justus and I joined a group from our International Fellowship to bring some joy to the lives of young children living with AIDS/ HIV. Our group brought food, fun and prayer to this group of 60 children and babies. I had a very hard time leaving the babies ward as they would cry after you put them down. The women work hard there, there is just not enough love and care to go around. I am pushing to go back at least monthly.

English Club: Jay and I volunteered to jump start an “English Coffee” gathering on Saturdays at the English learning center I teach at. We have been averaging 20 university students coming to practice English with foreigners the past 6 weeks. No sooner than we accepted responsibility for this, Jay had to go on an extended trip to Saigon (Ho Chi Minh City) for his job. Thankfully I have some friends that could pitch in and help out. Trina has also been involved in this and it has been a wonderful time of getting to know people and make new friends.

High Speed Pursuit! I asked around and this experience is very unique. I took the three younger kids to the movies to see a movie reminiscent of James Bond films but the actors were dogs and cats. High speed chases in James Bond films are common place, but how could I have known that we would have police beating our taxi and chasing us through alleys 15 minutes after the movie?!?!!? Our taxi driver was waved over by two policemen with batons drawn. We were in one of the most well respected taxi companies in Vietnam. The taxi driver, in crisp white shirt and company green tie, pointed to the kids in the back seat and said something that I couldn’t make out. The policeman shook his head “no” and that is when the taxi driver revved the engine and squealed the tires. Both policemen slammed their batons on the hood of the car as we sped off! I quickly began to pray as the taxi swerved in and out of traffic narrowly hitting pedestrians and bicyclists. I felt peace to ride this out and told the kids to buckle up. One of the policemen jumped onto the back of a person’s motorbike and forced him to pursue us. The motorbike caught up and the policeman pointed his baton threateningly at the driver. The taxi driver downshifted, took a sharp left, but not before the policeman was able to deliver a strong blow to the hood of the taxi again. Minutes later we were hidden away in an alley where we hung out for 5 minutes, then the taxi driver dropped us off at our house. I know you have questions, but I’ll wait until I get to Hawaii to explain……

Kuala Lumpur: Trina and I attended a marriage seminar in Malaysia that had many of our friends from around Asia attending as well. We were not certain we could afford it but when I checked the web there was a special promotion fare on the “Southwest Airlines” of SE Asia (cheap). Some dear friends put us up for a few nights and drove us all around so the cost of the trip was minimal. The experience was incredible for both of us; it was like a second honeymoon. It was also important to connect with many friends. The speaker really struck home with us when he said you must be able to help people from the overflow of water from your own life. If you are trying to help people and the water in your own well is low, you begin to pull up the water near the bottom of your well and it is not suitable for anyone to drink.

Coffee farms: I was invited to be a guest of some colleagues to spend a few days in the Central Highlands of Vietnam to meet coffee growers and suppliers. Some of my colleagues knew a group of coffee growers that were being taken advantage of by disreputable agents who would swindle them out of their coffee at below market prices. We spent time with these farmers and discussed solutions to help them avoid the tactics of the agents. We met many people, including Jay’s father. We made some connections and will be following up with these farmers in the near term.

Last words: Our lives are full and productive. Thanks to all of you we call friends and family, without your prayer and support we would not be able to call this place home.

With love,
Vince, Trina and Fab Five

10-10-2010: A big day is coming for Hanoi, Trevor, and our International Fellowship: On October 10th the city of Hanoi turns 1000 years old, Trevor turns 15 years old and the International Fellowship we attend also celebrates 15 years that day. Pretty amazing! The city is going to start celebrating on October 1st and go through the 10th. There has been a lot of sprucing up around the city, with new light poles, fancy lights hanging across the roads, a lot of flowers planted in the traffic circles, banners hanging from trees, the list goes on.

Visitors from a far away land: We had friends from Russia spend a week with us. It was our first chance to show someone around. It was great taking them around the city because it forced us to use more of our Vietnamese language! They had friends here that they had made in Moscow, so it was a whirlwind visit to Hanoi for them. They brought the kids cool t-shirts, a Russian Navy hat for me and delicious dark chocolates for Trina. We are ready for more visitors!

Miles turns 8: Little Miles is growing up! He is 8 years old. Trina says he is really excellent in math and reading. He aims to please Mom and Dad with his studies. We planned a special dinner at home and I took him out to lunch at an American restaurant where you can get ribs, hamburgers, burritos, etc. They have a buy one lunch get one free (includes dessert). We took the bus there too.

Riding the bus: We have been riding the bus to church and to different places around the city the past month. The price is right, only 15 cents to get across town! Only thing we have to do is watch our valuables, it’s the number one place to get your pocket picked. It is so bad even the Vietnamese come onto the bus with their hand covering their pockets. I tried the bus once during rush hour and it was like riding a train in Japan during its busiest time. I had people crushed against me from all sides. The city is full of university students from around the country and world; they pack the buses tighter than drums!

Uniquely different than home: Here are a few things that are different about living in Vietnam compared to Hawaii. We have our milk delivered to our house like the old days in the US. A delivery guy on a motorbike shows up with a big styrofoam cooler strapped on the back, it’s the same price as in the store, but its fresher and we don’t have to carry it home from the store. Motorbikes are the beasts of burden in this city. Jay packed Daisy, Trina and a book shelf (see photo above) on his motorbike. One motorbike can carry a family of 5, a dissembled bed, or in our case we had a clothes dryer delivered to our house on the back of a motorbike! We have seen much crazier things (cows, pigs, stainless steel water tanks and even whole roasted dogs!). Speaking of dogs, Trina, Trevor, Justus, Miles and our guests tried some of the local delicacy of roasted dog meat. Daisy, Riley and I abstained (ewwww…)

I have been busy teaching/working with students, and working with friends in Hawaii to get prepared for a future coffee venture. Trina has been enjoying home schooling and the kids are continuing to get adjusted to life away from Hawaii. A team from Chick-Fil-A restaurants came to Hanoi to teach a Servant Leadership seminar to Vietnamese businessmen. I was invited to attend and was able to spend some considerable time with this group. I was able to bring one of my former students to the seminar which really impacted his perspective on business and life.

It feels like we have been away a long, long time. We just went over 6 months the other day. We’ll be back in Hawaii for a break in mid-December to spend Christmas and the New Year at home. Thanks to everyone for the emails, skype, computer chats and even phone calls. It means a lot to us.

Love and Aloha, Vince, Trina and the Fab Five

August: Cooler days and an important trip

Our family tightened our belts and made a trip to Manila for an international conference (held once every 3 years). There were 19,000 people in attendance and a Guiness Book World Record was broken with 51 different languages singing the same song, “Amazing Grace.” We saw a lot of family from Hawaii there and were resupplied with goodies and things we needed from back home (Thanks Mom & Julie!). It was so important for us to reconnect with friends and family. Our flight to Manila was through Bangkok so we extended our stay in Bangkok and helped a Hawaii team for 1 week. We hosted a special luau-church-service for university students on a Sunday morning.

Hallelujah! Hanoi has cooled off from the extreme heat. Last night we were able to sleep comfortably with just the fan on. The heavy rain kept us up part of the night though along with the concern about a repeat of last months flooding of our house. We moved to this city during a milestone year; Hanoi is preparing to celebrate its 1,000th Anniversary in early October! The mid-Autumn festival (Tet Trung Thu) is just around the corner too which is a family festival that includes moon cakes (like the Chinese). We just passed 5 months here and are still adjusting. I hear it can take 12-18 months.

We are planning another visit to an orphanage, but this time to the HIV/AIDS orphanage which is a little further outside the city. We will be working with some youth to plan some fun activities for the older ones and bring some Moms to hold the babies.

Working with young people (7 years old to university age) teaching English has been very rewarding. We have made some good friendships. I recently taught some young adults the importance of morning quiet time and the positive impact it can have for your day.

The family is doing well. Trina and the kids launched into the home-school co-op two weeks ago and it has been a fantastic time for the kids and parents involved. Our health has been good with the exception of Daisy getting a really bad mango rash (her cheeks ballooned up). I have continued to struggle with a shoulder problem since our arrival here. I am scheduled for a second MRI and have met with an orthopedic surgeon. Probably some tears in the rotator-cuff area. Please keep me in prayer over this thorn in my side.

I have continued meeting with businessmen to obtain wise counsel on how to best proceed with a coffee business. “Plans fail for lack of counsel, but with many advisers they succeed.” This Proverb is one that I have been consistently sticking to. There are many people here who have gone through the hard times of setting up businesses. Their insight has been crucial in my understanding of the challenging process this can be in Southeast Asia. I continue to move forward, but with caution and patience. From the periphery view it’s exciting as I see the potential to help many people.

We are expecting our first international visitors in a couple weeks. We haven’t seen these friends in 10 years! All of you are welcome to drop by, we have a guest room and we would love to have you visit.

We say this every time, but it is something that Trina and I feel overwhelmed with and it is the blessing of your love, friendships, support and prayer. Without all of you we would be missing a fundamental pillar of strength in our lives.

Aloha and God’s blessings on all of you, Vince, Trina and the Fab Five.