Jetsetting, Learning, Choosing

Usually,  when a mission president is called, he and his wife start, in January, a series of 6 discussions with other newly called individuals and a couple of people from the church's missionary department and various resource people.  Each discussion is three weeks apart, with lots of reading material and things to do in between them.

We started those in January, hooked up via a web video feed with 7 other couples in the Philippines, Japan and Arizona.  They were helpful.

Somewhere in there someone realized something that we had been wondering about: that our assignment will start in March instead of in July, and that when we started we would have only been able to participate in two of these sessions.  So a crash course was put together by some very good people and Lewis and I flew to Salt Lake City to spend 4 packed-full days doing the next 4 sessions of discussion and reading and meeting with resource people and working with young missionaries.  It was extremely helpful and the two who took on the task of coordinating the whole thing and with whom we spent the most time were delightful, insightful people.

(And we were able to spend some time with Sam and Susan and their families on our last evening there too, which was great.)

And, also, this week,

Enter Felix,

whose entrance into the world we were alerted to as being imminent on Thursday and who was born in Seoul on Saturday morning.

So now I am in Seoul, and Lewis is in Hanoi.

Syncretion, Meeting in the Middle, and the Road to Hue

Vietnam is a long narrow country. The best routes in the past were waterways, either on the rivers, or by sea for moving north or south. With the gap in our schedule occasioned by the Tet holiday, we opted to take the overland route further south than we have traveled before on single day trips. This brought us through the provinces of Ninh Binh, Thanh Hoa, Nghe An, Ha Tinh, Quang Tri and Hue. Doing so allowed us some intimate glimpses into the homes and businesses lining National Road (Quoc Lo 1) and as we wandered off the more heavily traveled route, some tender touch points with members of the church, some of their families and friends gathered to "Wish the New Year" and into some of the varied geography of this country. But most importantly, the journey with our friends Charles and Sherry Holloman, and later MT and HV gave us some time to talk and enjoy the awakening of spring as we made new friends visiting with the members and their families. And of course, it also meant some delightful Tet foods- salted young onions, bamboo shoot soup, chicken barbequed, steamed or otherwise, banh khoai tay, banh chung and many other delights.

      

Church members living in these provinces have found and joined the church while living elsewhere, often as students, so often their families understand little about what the church means to them, how it changes our lives and what it can look like when gospel living is fully incorporated into a family. But traveling together with two couples both doing their best to bless others, and having the supportive evidence of children donig likewise, offered a potent dual witness of the impact the gospel has made for us and can offer to them.

          

In traveling these distances to strengthen the saints, and bear witness of Christ's restored gospel, I easily had brought back to mind the stories of missionaries from earlier eras, whether it was Paul traveling to revisit the converts in Laodicea and Antioch, or Wilford Woodruff marching the coastal route from Rockland up to Bangor. We didn't speak or sermonize in the markets or meetinghouses, but we were received as the Lord's representatives and allowed to leave messages of hope and encouragement.

       

Two of the homes we visited were those of either current or recently returned missionaries. In these situations, we felt it important to express how meaningful the work of their son or daughter had been, and explain some of their goals, some of their methods, and the ways in which their efforts had and would continue to bless other people, both in Vietnam and throughout the world. Of course these were already proud parents who knew their children, but I sensed our words provided some measure of comfort and validation.

Part of the challenge for Christianity generally has been the ability to become deeply engrafted in the psyche of Vietnamese culture. We stopped at one of the more famous and older Cathedrals in the north, Phat Diem, just south of Ninh Binh, which is one of the first areas proselytized by Alexander de Rhoades, the French Jesuit missionary who came via a Portugese trading and missionary effort in the late 1600s. He is credited with the Romanization which is now used widely and accounts for the high level of literacy. The Cathedral was not built until long after his time, but still well before the 1900s. The integration of traditional architectural styles with the Christian message was clearly evident, and highly intriguing. For example, the integration of water into the landscape of the grounds is a clear matching to the symbolic use of water in both temple, palace and tomb traditional sites.

       

At a distance however, the roof-lines of the Cathedral bell (and drum) tower beyond could easily be from a Confucian or Buddhist sacred site. 

                              

But rather than offering legends of Vishna, or Buddha's enlightenment, the stone bas reliefs tell biblical tales from the life of Christ. The stone work on the several chapels and the large main church are rumored to have cost a number of lives to raise and install in the construction process, so it is perhaps even more remarkable that the site has not been viewed as bad luck.

      

(For us, visiting on the first day of the New Year, we may have been good luck if one can judge on the number of random people who wished to have their photo taken with the famous tall foreigners!)

      

The Phat Diem Cathedral presented an interesting contrast to the royal palace and tombs that we visited later on in Hue, which carry on the integration of Vietnamese native beliefs, with the influx of culture from China, and elsewhere. For those familiar with temple motifs, and the "archtypal journey" nature of many burial sites, the tomb of Minh Mang is almost quintessential with it's steps up and down, worldly obstacles to be overcome, straight and narrow path, veils decorated with symbols of divinity, and gateways with sentinels before coming to the final glorious home (in this case a subterranean palace "mountain.") The pleasant weather and beautiful flowers made it even more reverential an experience.

                               

One can learn a lot by traveling with an open mind, an open heart, and ears to hear. We certainly did. Building a bridge, even so lovely a one as the Eiffel-designed and now lighted bridge over the Perfume River, does not always guarantee that people will cross unless they see the need and trust the builder. We are trying to build some bridges to individual families, and to the broader population that will be heavily traveled, adopted as part of the daily vocabulary, part of the culture, and if not totally understood, at least seen as a legitimate source for truths, solutions and living patterns. Then we can say we have "salted the earth" as Christ calls us to be; then we will have opened the door for souls to come unto Christ through faith and change and covenant.

       

Truths and Traditions in Tet

An old country carries many traditions which can be both amusing in later times, and profoundly significant, connecting our present lives with eternal truths. I don't pretend to understand all the connections or basis for the traditions I see being carried on by those around me, but I try not to be so presumptuous as to dismiss them as foolish or comical from my limited perspective. With that as preface, let me share with you some of the things we have observed, and what we have learned about them in the recent days.

We went hunting for a replacement cartridge for our printer (again) earlier this week, having been unsuccessful in finding one at the warehouse store or any of the electronics or computer stores the week before. Although we found the HP service center, they kindly informed us that they did not carry the cartridges and we would have to contact a distributer, politely offering us the card of one near our home. As we left and walked over to our next planned stop, we passed by one of the many lakes in Hanoi. In doing so, we noted not a few people carrying bags of goldfish, most often three, which they would furtively and sometimes ceremoniously then release into the lake. As we watched and walked, we soon found vendors nearby.

      

Unfamiliar with this custom we started to ask questions and uncovered the tradition of the three kitchen gods, who are believed to return to heaven on that particular day of the lunar calendar to make their  report prior to the beginning of the new year. The tradition of releasing a goldfish (for each of them) stems from the belief that they ride the waters on the back of a goldfish to return and make their report on the status and dignity of the family and whether they are deserving of blessing in the coming year. As we walked by one of the small ponds in the neighborhood between our house and the Big C a few days later, we noticed that apparently some of the symbolically released fish had not yet made it to heaven with their passenger, but were still congregating in class awaiting either a fisherman or something else. 

The trip to Big C was itself instructive and illustrative of both language and tradition. Celebrating the New Year is spoken in Vietnamese as Ăn Tết, which might literally mean "Eating the New Year" which given how many others in the world will celebrate Super Bowl Sunday or most any other holiday should not surprise us. What we were not prepared for was the magnitude of the throng. Literal gridlock in the produce section such that one could barely navigate as an individual, let alone with a cart! But when one understands that the markets will be closed for three days and everyone will be visiting one another and eating together and toasting best luck, prosperity and well-being, it seems to make sense that stocking up (and selling out) would be the inclination. The Banh Chung cakes and anything else that is filling, ready to serve or munch on (like special dried fruits or salted savories) will fit in well. Large gift baskets and every imaginable type of boxed or tinned cookies (how did Danish Butter Cookies make it into the cultural tradition in VN?) were stacked in every space in the store, and making their way onto every shoppers cart, often in multiples. (We admit we also succumbed to the purchase of the special Pepperidge Farm version of same!) Enough to give, and perhaps to enjoy ourselves.

       

On Friday, our dear friend T brought by her own good wishes for the new year before she traveled to her "hometown" to enjoy the holiday with her family. It was a sweet visit as she joyfully shared with us the pictures of the Banh Chung making contest they had held at her school (judged by both time and quality of filling and folding of the banh we learned) and brought for us a large bag of small Tao (apple like fruits) to enjoy as well as some that had been dried a sweetened to preserve them. What a treat these small fruits are- nearly matching mehjool dates in my taste test! We also shared together thoughts on passages we have read and found meaningful in the Book of Mormon.

       

OK, well that is probably enough talk about food and "eating" as write on this Fast Sunday! 

Other traditions we encounter are the urge to clear away and clean up the house and the building. So yesterday we found the maintenance and security staff working to get more of the polish on certain public areas, repainting the sacrificial urn in front of the building and so forth. That sense of taking stock of one's life and getting the affairs in order prior to a new beginning seems easy to understand and to recognize in both the eternal and human (tendency to procrastinate) senses.

Lunar new year also marks the beginning of spring, a time when the renewal of life and the hopes for a prosperous harvest seem pertinent. Countless small Spring Markets have appeared over the last two weeks, mostly selling two types of small trees, a tangerine or clementine-like citrus, and flowering peach or apricot. For those not wanting the fully rooted variety of the latter, many small saplings cut off at the trunk, as blossoms are set to emerge, are offered. Some markets also include beautiful orchids and other potted flowers. Stopping at the market near our home the saleswoman was eager to explain that the spotted orchid was especially apropos to an older member of the family, perhaps spotted with age, but enduring in wisdom. (OK, I could accept it on that premise- though I was more inclined to think of my dear Aunt Farol who crossed the veil fully endowed with age and wisdom's gifts this week and whom we visited just prior to leaving the US in May.) 

                                  

The city is decorated with hundreds of poinsettias in natural bloom in this climate, often juxtaposed with bright yellow chrysanthemums, perfectly befitting a country whose national colors are red and yellow. The trees described above are brought into every home and many businesses, often as pairs, symbolizing the hope for prosperity and happiness. And of course, this means they must be transported, which makes for some interesting views as you follow a motorbike laden with a 10 foot citrus heavy with orange fruit.

       

The moral here for me of course is not "don't buy more than you can carry" but rather, "there's probably a way to do this that I haven't thought of" which seems like a very practical approach (if not the safest approach) when starting a new endeavor like a mission.

Lastly, the city puts on its best face for Tet, even as it largely empties itself of inhabitants returning dutifully to their que huong and all the relationships that matter most. As we walked about town last evening with our friends and former Saigon missionary, Charlie and Sherry Holloman, we could enjoy the light and color that the city center offered, with a bit less bustle and press. The time to pause and reflect, to look heavenward in our recollections and in our hopes seemed symbolized in the lights on Hoan Kiem lake, and epitomized my sense as I look ahead to the year of the Monkey and what it will bring.