To Church on Sunday .....

Saturday was a mixed bag, weatherwise and else … went to the markets … bought some nice pressies for someone … and in the afternoon to the TAX department store. After we could not decide which chop sticks to buy we went to Highlands’ coffee shop for an ice tea. Matt had to go to the … and on the way … you would not belief it, our friends Bob, Hien and Rosie crossed his path. What a surprise in a seven million city!!! Matt forgot his call of nature, took Rosie to surprise Uli. And what a surprise it was!!! We chatted for half an hour and then decided to go to the latest shopping complex – the VINA COM centre. It’s massive. We only saw the ground floor and the 3 stories below!!! Shops and restaurants galore. After some savouries at a bakery we parted company and went home.


Here comes Sunday, finally!!!

Sorry to suspend you for 10 lines. After breakky went to Notre Dame for the Sunday service. The service was a bit different than last time. At the end of the service a priest from My Tho (pronounce Me Tho) in the Mekong Delta asked for donations to help the poor people. That message was for us – we looed at each other … and after the service we talked to Phillip. His English was extremely limited. He gave us a letter in an envelope, with Father Hoang’s phone number. Ok, we were told he speaks English. Anyway, on the way out we met this family, we were shaking hands and asked them to help us with some translations. Her name was Lan and Uli got her business card, so I gave her ours, all I had to do is write our web site and blog on it. Their daughter was about 12 – 13. Very nice family, they said if we come back to Sai Gon we should contact them. Little did they know!!! WE sent them e-mail Sunday afternoon!!! We needed HELP. When we got back to our residence (hotel) we called father Anton Hoang. Funny, my grandson’s name is Anton Hosang – just one letter difference!!!
Sure he picked up the phone, but after 5 minutes we both decided it’s no good – we need an interpreter.
Matt asked for Lan’s business card and sent her an e-mail, explaining the situation, referring to our web site and blog. Action!!!


Monday morning at breakfast, we had just started, a guy came walking past with two bibles in his hand and he shouted something about kicking the bucket. He was also carrying a flip image (flip image) of Jesus on the cross. We had seen him a couple of times before, but he was usually just walking past shouting his “kicking the bucket “ slogan. This time he stopped at our table and wanted to tell us about the bible. We cut him short and had a chat. He invited us to his church around the corner for an 8:30 service on Sunday. It’s in Vietnamese, but we get earphones to hear it in English.
In an unforseen twist the guy asked us for money … Every morning the street hawkers and peddlers are out in droves … from shoeshine to newspapers, sunglasses … you name it, they sell it. And some of them don’t take ‘NO’ for an answer.
Anyway, we felt obliged and gave him some money. He prayed for us … with us … it all happened so fast and then he was gone.
We have seen him since, he walks past and shouts loud praises towards us … “May the Lord be with you … protect you”.

After all Monday was a dull day for both of us, in every respect … no e-mails …. no news about our parcel from Germany ... no news from Lan about Father Hoang. No nothing!!! We were both down, we won’t go into that. We got over it!!! Prayers always help!!!


Coming Tuesday I feel better ….. That Easybeats theme again!!!

Saw Pauline at our favourite bank, then some retail therapy …. at various shops and retail outlets all over downtown Saigon. We also went back to Notre Dame to see if we could find someone who speaks English so we can connect with Father Hoang in My Tho. No luck, we were told by a very nice lady with excellent English skills. Matt asked her whether she would be able to accompany us to My Tho. She told us she was Pilipino, her English is good, but her Vietnamese is very basic.
Then we had lunch at a Japanese Café. Waiter was a bit rough, ignored Uli completely … but lunch was ok. Continued our shopping spree and back to the hotel at 4 pm with a back pack full of goodies.

We checked our e-mails again. Yessssssss, Lan, the lady we met on Sunday sent us a reply. You would not belief it – she had spoken to Father Hoang in My Tho about us, they have organised a car including driver and a translator for us to drive to My Tho. Would Thursday suit us??? One e-mail changed the whole situation.
“Sure” … we replied. Half an hour later Lan rang and we discussed the details. Thursday, 8 am … pick up at our hotel. Lan’s son will be our translator. Thank you Lord … our prayers were answered.