Coming Home

Arrived back in Laos 8 days ago.  It's been a whirlwind 8 days, but full of good times too.  I was met at the airport by Christa, Sone, Sone's parents, 2 sisters, her niece, her great aunt and uncle and 2 of her sister's friends. It was quite the homecoming and so so nice to be on solid ground after about 41 hours of travel! We had a big meal all together at our house when I got back and then Christa and I had to leave for the first part of training.  That night was my only night at home for pretty much the whole week because we had 4 days of training where we stayed at a hotel on the other side of town.

Sone, Nouy (that's Sone's younger sis who is also going to be living with us) and I unpacked my bags and sorted through all of the holiday items I had brought back and managed to have a lot of laughs in the meantime...they tested out the wigs, glasses and of course the whoopie cushions I brought back. We also played Jenga and Nouy was really excited to play because she'd seen it in Thai and Korean movies before but had never played it. I don't think I've ever played so much Jenga as I have these last 8 days!!

Training was pretty much awesome! I was a little sad at first that we weren't going to be commuting because I had so been looking forward to hanging out with my Lao friends when I got home, but it was so good for my heart to be away, and to really let the Father saturate my heart with Him. The theme was "Show me your glory" and we just spent significant time every day asking the Father to do just that...we have nothing if we do not have him, and I think it is often easy to think we have to work work work, instead of just spending time in His presence.  

On the weekend, we went to Sone's house and our 2 new teammates came with us. It was so much fun! 

Here are some pics from the week. A shoutout to Jayde for teaching me how to shrink my pics so they don't take hours and hours to load! What a difference! :)

One of the things I was super worried about - my luggage weight. 50lbs is the limit, and I felt stupid pr-ing about it, but we did, and let me just say He is so gracious even in the little things. Bag #1 was 50.0 and Bag #2 was...

 Carissa, Dad, Mom and Tsu came to see me off and help me with all my luggage!

 Year #2 and all the stuff I hauled halfway across the world... Brought Dumbo with me this year!

 Sone and I on the way home

 Part of the group that came to pick me up at the airport. We had an amazing Lao feast!

 Unpacking Halloween paraphanalia:)

 Nouy discovering the whoopie cushion

 Scary!

 Playing some Jenga

 One of the reasons I loved training so much...Piper Joy, the daughter of our team leaders in Paxse. She's so precious!

 The sun setting over a "busy" street in Laos

 The 3 shortest teammates (well, not including Piper!)

 Elise and Jeri

 Piper helped me to stay awake during the afternoon sessions by hanging out with me!

 Sunset over the Mekong

 Matt, John and Maurice

Saturday we were off to Sone's house...here are Sone, Nicole and Matt on the bus

 Sone's mom invited a bunch of her teachers from highschool over for dinner the first night that we were there. Sone had no idea they were coming over and we were all really surprised, but it was such a fun evening. Since Sone was busy cooking in the kitchen, I played the role of tranlator for about an hour.  Matt and Nicole are really diligent Lao students so they had fun with the teachers, learning new words and practicing pronunciation.

 This is Sone's older sister's mother-in-law. She is so hilarious and often does funny things. Here she is comparing Matt and Nicole's arm hair.

 This was our group for dinner. We had a delicious feast, and I even tasted the blood this time!

 Sone's dad was glad that there was finally another boy!!

 Sone's parents were taking a picture and we told them they looked like they didn't like each other. So her mom put her arm around her dad and everyone thought that was hilarious because Lao couples typically don't show any kind of public affection.

 Group pic

 Finished off the evening with some riveting rounds of Jenga

As I was thinking about the evening, I realized Sone's mom had invited her former teachers over because she is so proud of Sone and how she has become successful in her education.  For an English major in Laos to be able to speak English as well as Sone does is a pretty big accomplishment.  And to have foreign friends that you can practice with is not only helpful (duh), but in many ways, prestigious. I don't mean that in a proud way at all. But the fact of the matter is, most see foreigners as successful and wealthy and we have a lot of opportunities that many Lao people may never have. It is humbling to know that just because of where I was born, I am seen in such a way, and I always want to be a good steward of that and offer my heart and my services to help people in the best way that I can.  

When we were laying in bed that night I asked if my hypothesis was correct, and she said yes, that her mom is really proud of her and she wanted to share her success with her former teachers. She said how good it made her feel that her parents were so proud of her. Then the tears came, as she said in the midst of the sweet evening she felt the weight of her pain and the disappointments her parents have felt because of her story. In a culture where family is so important, and face saving so key, to make your parents proud is the most important thing a child can do.  It has been so sweet to see the transformation in her as I've been back. Of course, there are hard moments when the pain comes rushing back, but He has truly begun a good work in her life and it is so.. so, I can't even think of a word - amazing, astonishing, humbling, mind-blowing - to sit back and watch His transformation in her life. He has given her wisdom beyond her years and insights that teach my heart new things about Him.  It's beautiful, and I'm so humbled that He has let me have a front-seat view of His power at work.

We went to see Nam Ngum Dam the next day. It's a really beautiful place...

 Sone's family and me...

Best moment of being back so far...hearing my new sister talk to the Father in Lao for the first time. Couldn't hold back the tears of joy!