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.
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