Saigon Diaries Part 2 - People

One of the things that made my Saigon trip memorable is the people that I met there. Even before leaving Philippines, I have already slightly established some local Vietnamese contacts whom a couple of my Filipino friends have channeled to me. Being a total stranger in a strange country doesn't terrify me but it thrills me to meet new people, especially if the cause is not obligatory :) So in this part of my Saigon Diaries Series, I would like to enumerate and acknowledge the people who have welcomed me with the warmest Vietnamese hospitality :)

Me and my lovely friend Praise!

Praise is First on the list. She's the local whom I've become comfortable so easily. As I write this, I realize she's like my Filipino friend Eca. She's a good conversationalist and we always found something to talk about. She invited me to some of her community's activities so I'd always have an extra-curriculum activities. And what's even warm is that she would pick me up  and drop me down on her motorbike to make it convenient for me to join their activities. I would always look forward to see her in Saigon again or maybe when she visits Manila :) I'm so blessed to know her! She also introduced me to some of her friends and almost all of the names to follow, I got to know through Praise.

Thanks Tessa for picking me up! :)

Tessa  is a silent and gentle lady who happened to showed a lot of kindness to me. She has a very interesting personality in spite of her being silent. We call her "Silent Finisher" because she eats a lot but she's very petite!!! How is that even possible? :) I appreciate her kindness picking me up from my hotel twice. She also bothered to wake up early on Saturday morning just so I would have company to watch the Traditional Vietnamese Concert in front of the Saigon Opera house. She would explain or translate to me if what people are speaking in Vietnamese. I also got a little tour around the City just riding at the back of her motorcycle. 

Jessy is a friendly local who is like a walking google maps of Saigon :) If I need any direction or tips as to the places I wanted to go to, she would always have a good advise. The cheap hotel I moved to after checking out from New World Hotel is actually her suggestion. And she automatically gave me prices of items or services in Peso so I woudn't find it hard to compute! I don't have a selfie photo with her but her memory is marked in my heart. :)

Last but most importantly is Châu. I actually never met her but while I was still in Manila, I would chat with her and she would help me be connected with Praise. I wasn't even in Vietnam yet but I can already feel their hospitality through Châu :)

There were also Filipinos who lives with the same community who definitely made Saigon more like home to me. Lady, Anh Mike and his wife Ate Kim are Filipino citizens who took a leap of faith and left their comfort zones to embrace their calling and the culture of Vietnam. I will always be encouraged with your courage! :)

Attending  life group in Vietnam is so much memorable experience!

Saturday morning picnic with the Vietnamese (and Filipino) locals!

I owe a lot also to my friends Ate Trish and Cyrone for connecting me to these people!

Continue reading:
Saigon Diaries Part 1 Favor
Saigon Diaries Part 3 Food
Saigon Diaries Part 4 Events
Saigon Diaries Part 5 Places and Experience

Saigon Diaries Part 1 - Favor

One week has passed since I came back from the lovely city of Saigon and now I attempt to write a post that I hope will justify the richness of my experience pre, post, and during my stay there. I will try to organize my thoughts through sub posts which describe relevant factors that made my visit significantly worthwhile. Here we go!

Favor
Before any memory-gratifying recollection of thought, I wanna give credit where credit is due. This entire experience will not be possible without God using my work to send me outside my beloved Philippines. Citrix, the cloud-computing company that enable workstyles, being the solutions that I handle in my current position in WSI, organized an annual partner bootcamp in Ho Chi Minh, VN on April 2-4 (Wednesday to Friday) which encourages its distributors (like WSI) and authorized resellers from all over ASEAN to gather and be unified and aligned with their business strategies and roadmap. And so WSI sends me with a Per Diem premium that served as my pocket money which is a big help in sustaining me as I extended until April 6 (Sunday). Citrix has covered for the participants' accommodations in New World Hotel Saigon while WSI paid for my travel expenses so I'm very thankful to God that he provided for this adventure in which I spent no single cent! :)

Aerial view of Ho Chi Minh

I entered the year of 2014 with a reluctant faith goal of being out of the country for the first time! I've never really attempted to pray for that knowing that I have a bond caused by my DOST Scholarship. For those who didn't know, DOST Scholars like me are tied to work inside the Philippines for the number of years in which the agency paid for our studies. So in my case, that's 5 years, and to date, I still have around two years to serve. That means our names were listed in the immigration blacklist and before we can leave the country for business or leisure, we had to secure a Bureau of Immigration Clearance and a promisory note that we would indeed come back. So even if I had no plans of working abroad, I was limited to not dreaming to leave the country until the time is due because of the hassle of securing government documents! But not anymore! When I received the good news that I will be sent out, I chose to trust God instead of worry that I might be stopped from the immigration, because if this opportunity is from the Lord, he has already paved the way! I've read some blogs from DOST scholars who claims that the travel ban for us has been banned and that we were no longer on the blacklist... I can confirm this myself!

So on the immigration desk, I was questioned since this is my first time to leave the country, therefore no stamps in my passport yet. I was asked by the officer to present the conference invitation and company recommendation. Inspite of that critical moment which can either make or break the whole trip, I had the peace showering all over me knowing that God is beside me and will not let me down :) I didn't have the 2nd document that they were looking for but I happened to bring reluctantly my contract with WSI which convinced the officers to let me through! It was a deep sigh and a deep gratitude that entailed... voila! The first ever stamp in my passport! :D

My cute and friendly seatmate :)

Some other mini-favors that I God sent my way were being able to seat on a window side with a Russian family beside me. I realized that not all whites can speak English straight! It's a favor because it's such an experience to speak to people representing a different society :)

Continue reading:
Saigon Diaries Part 2 People
Saigon Diaries Part 3 Food
Saigon Diaries Part 4 Events
Saigon Diaries Part 5 Places and Experience

Please Make me Smile?

It was one of those hard days when I feel the challenges of my entire life (work, family, ministry, finances, etc) are being leveraged by the enemy to dry up my joy and hope. I know that God has given me the capacity to trust and believe him, and I did, that day. It's just that these all can be draining both emotionally and physically. I'm talking about the emotion of not reaching my quota, not being able to support my family to my heart's content, not meeting my Victory Group regularly, not being financially stable by now even as I have planned to be years ago, and other things that could pile up on a lady's spaghetti brain.

So Feb 26, 2014 morning, I sighed to God saying, "Please make me smile," knowing that He has all the power to do something to really make me so. But I didn't expect He would answer in such a grand way as possible. That same day, I received the notice from my boss that she will send me to Vietnam for a conference/training! You can read about my Saigon experience here! How would that not make me smile when the shout of my heart is to really travel??? And this one is a breakthrough because it's my first time to land another country! :) And when I thought that is it, an SMS from the 10 Days missions coordinator hit my phone saying that I'm "chosen" to be a part of the 10 Days Missions team to go to Medan, Indonesia on September! :)

Could not contain the emotions, had to share it to my friends!

Those two news meant to me so much more than receiving flowers or chocolates or even seeing a rainbow as a surprise! I recall how special God made me feel that day, and I can still reduce to tears when I'm reminded how much He loves me and how He can give me anything if only I will ASK :)

So what you waiting for? Ask and wait on the Lord! No one can ever meet your longings more than He does. <3