The Eastward Teacher: Epilogue

I'm around the house today making apple crisp and enjoying the last days of summer in VT. Many chances in the past week to do that: Dinners on the deck, Mom's marathon in Schroon lake, a hike in Wright park, and lots of time on the seat of my bicycle.

And I'm missing my friends, my students, my teammates, and all that I left behind in Vietnam. Nothing there is replaced by all the enjoyment here.

I owe another THANK YOU to the many who have supported me in this year of service, especially through faithful prayer and encouragement, and very importantly by giving money. If I haven't seen you yet to say thanks and give you a hug, I hope I will.

Seven weeks ago, to the day, I was leaving Danang. Nicky and I flew together to California and made the most of it with an airport scavenger hunt. And, oh yeah: here's a photo of me about to break international law by bringing a banana through the Taiwanese border. (I had to eat it quick). (If you can't see it, the sign says "declare or drop here")

The two weeks I spent at training were even better than I thought they could be. Fellowship with the teachers (some who I had met last summer and many new ones) was close and FUN with a lot of laughter, worship, prayer, and American food. The new batch of teachers headed for Vietnam is A+, and I felt useful giving them and introduction to the Vietnamese language and culture.

Last time together at training (with Dawn and Nicky)

Consider a year teaching English overseas: www.teachoverseas.org. I'll get a hundred bucks for every person I refer. (Yeah, right.)

But seriously, have you thought about it?
This is interesting.

Since arriving home it has been a well-paced reintroduction to life here, and I've had the opportunity to celebrate with extended family often. (Just last weekend we hosted a surprise party for my mom's 50th. The big surprise was all six of her siblings making it out here).

Both Dawn and Nicky are back in Vietnam (but not in the same city) for another year with ESI. Bryan is at seminary in Nyack, and we're planning to see each other this fall.

I've come around the final bend, in a way, back to where I started from, so I think it's appropriate that I wrap-up this blog from here at home. That term "wrap-up" is misleading, actually. I don't want to crystallize that year overseas as a packaged, sealed event in my life, as if it should be boxed up like a keepsake and mourned for. That isn't it at all. Rather, I see the seeds that God has planted and the relationships he has set in motion starting with that time and place, and the whole uncoiling future changed, salted by it. The real impacting things are spiritual, anyway, which aren't bound to that time and that country.

Trying to put together slide shows and summaries of the year has been tough--even giving answers in a conversation, for that matter. It still seems far too much a part of me to be presenting it as a memory and an event, or to make it into a list of thoughtful answers to all the questions people (rightly) wonder about. But if you do ask, I'll do my best to share and explain as generously as I'm able. And as I do I'll understand it all a bit more myself.

I'll leave off with a few pictures from the weeks at home.

Here's me and my 9-month-old niece Savannah.