Facades and Fancies

  

                                  

Home security is a concern for most people here, though it seems the property crime rate is low generally. But trust is  low as well, so the best measures to provide security are taken to protect residences, vehicles and such. Virtually every business or property of any size has a security service person posted out front, or guarding the gate and teh parked vehicles. I'm not sure what the going rate is for this occupation, the duties for which also seem to include general helpfulness, sweeping off the walk in front, and assisting with minor repairs. Mostly I think that is to ward off the boredom which otherwise plagues them, smartphones and social tea-drinking arrangements notwithstanding.

                                  

But I really like to see the sense of style and design that come into play as people consider their face to the street, and their security together. As I walked about one of teh Ho Chi Minh neighborhoods of late, I came across some of these pictured gates doing more than just bidding intruders without the keys to be gone.

                                  

There is more than just utility here- there is a coherence with the intended style of the house, and probably the personality of the owner, or at least the original owner, bringing together traces of classical thought, modernism, or perhaps mathematical thinking and style. It sort of reminded me of walking about Tallinn a few years back and seeing a similar array of unique doors though the old town area there, each with some story to tell about their creator, and their current caretaker.

                                  

                                  

   

There are also some who have taken the walls in front of their home to a similar stylistic level. I liked this "green wall" both for its ecological content, but also for the merging of natural colors with the otherwise geometric design of the wall. Similar floral walls appear around holidays around town with the contrasting colors proclaiming the virtues of the season or the hero being acclaimed.

       

These issues in the physical surroundings are not without their spiritual likenesses. Is my perimeter defended with razor wire that is rusted and menacing, or with something to intrigue the mind, delight the eye, or assuage other senses? In facing the world am I sufficiently assertive in repulsing those who would harm my home or my being without being abhorrent to others who pass by, indeed to the point of perhaps even being enticing to those influences that are goodm, wholesome virtuous or praiseworthy? Am I prone to be ostentatious as I face out to the world, or am I willing to meet them in humility, yet warmth and beauty, perhaps even elegance of spirit? These balances are hard to strike, yet are worth considering, not because we care more of what the world thinks of us, but because of what kind of influence we wish to have on the world. I think some of these gates and barriers begin to strike that balance, as I hope I do.

       

When I think of the young elders and sisters who serve here with us, I see that they too seek to strike that right balance of righteousness that will not be despoiled, along with a meek beauty of spirit and love that invites all to come and learn of their message of Jesus Christ. When gathered together they are a mighty force of strength,m even imposing. But as just two young boys, or young women, they are true to the scriptural description as the "weak and simple" things of the earth. Yet they carry the most powerful message one can imagine.

        

 
We met this week with some of them and heard them speak of faith to work miracles in the lives of those they love, through the power of the atonement of Jesus Christ whom they serve. But even more tangibly, we see that their own process of growth, of change, of repentance and conversion unto him. They come with an inkling of his love and mercy, and they soon come to speak powerfully and personally of his grace and unceasing love, despite our weaknesses and infirmities. As we watch the season change here generally and in individual lives specifically, from one of gloom and darkness, with only an occasional flash of light here and there, to a bright day of hope, indeed a season of miracles, we are grateful for the light and shining sword that marks the way back to the Tree of Life, not there to repulse so much the unworthy, as to invite and cut aside the dross from all who seek to partake of the sweet fruits of repentance and the wholeness of the atonement.

                                  

The ripening harvest and the grey roads turn brown-green

The ripening harvest and the grey roads turn brown-green

      

   

In the northern part of Vietnam, the harvest cycle is much more seasonal than in the south, where some areas may have three harvests per year, so there is always or almost always some harvest related duties going on. But in the north, with a more temperate climate, and particularly in the mountainous regions of terraced fields, a late summer harvest season prompts some degree of seasonal thinking, even if it may be followed by a fall planting for a spring harvest as well. For someone who lived further north in the short season of New England, it is really quite a paradigm shift to think less in terms of seasonal harvest and more in terms of the "region" or field of harvest. This change is related to the sequence of planting much more than the season sometimes, and that sequence can be rather drawn out, in part because the rather labor intense nature of both planting and harvest in a rice-based agriculture is so distinct from the mass-production, mechanized scale of North American wheat, corn and soybean harvest. Even that of course is "regionalized" as the combines begin rolling in one area and proceed progressively Northward as the harvest season progresses. 

                               

In our travels recently we saw some of the staggering of the harvest in the provinces north of Hanoi, Thai Nguyen, Bac Giang and Bac Ninh. The grain turns yellow, though the remainder of the plant may maintain its bright green appearance, giving the field a distinctive appearance as you survey the fields. We did see some fields being mechanically harvested using a Kubota thresher just a bit bigger than a small Bobcat-style tractor. In contrast to a wheat harvester which might run 16-20 feet wide, this was at most perhaps 8, allowing it to navigate the narrow paths to the fields without being so heavy as to get stuck. In other places, a fixed thresher would shake or strip the paddy rice from the stalks, allowing the rice straw to be separated (and of course diverted to other uses- animal feed, etc.) Sometimes the sheaves are bound into small cords for drying, or at others, they straw may just be strewn along the roadway itself to dry, whether or not traffic passes over it. 

The paddy rice also needs drying, and sometimes this also happens along the road, but more often now, cleaner and smoother drying floors are included in the design of homes to allow for this kind of function. Finally when dry, it will be bagged for storage, or further milling into cleaned and polished rice for consumption. I say "rice" knowing that like snow in the artic, each stage and type has a different name important for communication locally, but beyond the ken of a different culture.

                            

Our travel took us along some pretty "grey" roads. The paved ones were pot-holed from heavier traffic before us and the wear of rain and sun and tires. Many were single roads we strained to squeeze through if any approaching traffice came along. Others seemed little more than narrow alleys designed for scooters, not for our little sedan. But Elder T's father seemed confident to guide us along, even when my faith that there could possibly be anyplace at the end of the road to park much less turn around, was wavering. 

We love Elder T, now serving in Cambodia, and this was the first time we had met his kind parents. It was easy to see the genetics of his personality and work habits drew from a rich pool of that tradition at home. 

                           

      

We also had the chance to hear the story of Sister P, and meet her two children, after another similar faith-challenging foray into the narrow paths of her small village. We marveled at the coincidence of it. Here she was a young woman from a southern province, married and living in a remote northern province close to her husband's family, who had somehow encountered LDS missionaries while on a short stay in Japan for training by a clothing manufacturer. Despite her weak Japanese, non-existent English, and their lack of Vietnamese, the two American sister missionaries hada been able to teach her enough of the gospel of Jesus Christ that she had the faith to be baptized and continue faithful after returning to Vietnam. We look forward to having her as part of the "virtual branch" we expect to begin meeting with finally in October. Fortunately phone service is good most everywhere we go.

In the gospel sense, the harvest has been a little spotty so far, but we have a great sense that the grain is ripening, and we will soon be begging for more harvesters, more threshing floors, more storage graineries. But certainly these first fruits, scattered as they may be, give us a great hope for what is coming in sweetness and savor. 

Clouds and Squats

There are a many things that I always appreciate here.  Here are two of them.

One is the swirl of water vapor in the cabin of airplanes.  We fly to Ho Chi Minh monthly, so we have logged a lot of flying miles.  And usually, as the plane begins to taxi to the runway, the vents are opened to start air circulating in the cabin, and the humid air from outside comes swirling into the cooler cabin and we suddenly have lovely twirling clouds inside the plane.  I enjoy watching the patterns they create in the air.  Science is a lovely thing.

Another thing I appreciate is the flexibility and power demonstrate in the Asian squat.  Here is a photo of a man, who with his young teenage son, was working at his car and motorbike washing station.

Note the amazing flexibility demonstrated by the angle of his ankle joint. That looks like a 90 degree angle to me with the heel firmly on the ground .  That means wonderfully flexible hamstrings.  He subsequently made that angle even smaller when he leaned forward, putting his shoulders forward of his knees. His thighs rest against  his calves while his torso is vertical.  That means wonderfully flexible hip joints. Wow.  You try it.

And people go from this position to standing up in one smooth movement, totally powered by leg muscles.  That's amazing leg strength.

I am always impressed by that flexibility and strength that seems so every-day to them.