Day One Hundred and Twenty-One

I rose early to feed the cat.  I checked my email and made breakfast, leaving the computer plugged in.  

The voltage regulator sang now and then with the fluctuating current.  In the rafters, a lone bird answered the plaintive sound.

Day One Hundred and Twenty, Continued

It was evening.  Rain fell steadily in between lightning and thunder.  All the rain seemed to be falling down, not holding back anymore.

My cat was hungry for fish, but I hadn't remembered to get her any at the market.  I stayed up reading, I made gravy and bread for dinner and took a shower.  

All night, it seemed to rain down.  

Day One Hundred and Twenty

It was morning and I needed to go to town.  I ran some errands and went to the market.  I found that the farmers' produce section had moved again, giving way to the ongoing reconstruction project of the market.

I didn't know what I wanted yet, so I bought a small pumpkin and some green onions.  I went exploring into the rest of the market, hoping to find a place to eat.

I sat down for a meal of rice and barbecued pork.  Behind me I felt someone's presence.  The person stood there for awhile, as though uncertain.  

The sellers went out to the person and made him welcome, and he sat down nearby.  He was a soldier.  The sellers spoke to him in Vietnamese, and he responded to them in the same language.

Day One Hundred and Nineteen, Continued

I sat on the brick wall under the pastor's house.  I watched a girl walking back and forth on the bench under the big shade tree in the yard.

I looked at the garden in front of the house.  It had a new house frame built over it, and the plants inside were green and growing.

It was almost time to go home.  Beside me under the house, a baby lay quietly.  A wind began to blow around her, and the baby grew bothered by it.

The girl who I had seen balancing on the bench before was now sitting down on it.  Slowly, she slid backwards off the bench, landing with a cry of pain.

Her father came running and helped her up from the ground.  He found that she had landed on a rock the size of a fist.  He threw the rock away and helped her back to the house.

Day One Hundred and Nineteen

It was Sunday morning.  I made toast and eggs for breakfast, and drank Lipton tea.  My housekeeper came cleaning the wood floors of the house.  My teammate drove up to the house and I went with them to the village.

The children got up to sing some songs.  They went up one at a time, starting with the oldest.  Even the babies wanted to join them.  They played and laughed under the altar as the older children sang, 'I testify that the Lord is God, I am a witness that the Lord is God.'

Then the young people went up to sing for us.  'Shine the Light,' they sang together.  'Let us Love One Another as Christ Has Loved Us' they sang, all four of the girls holding one another's hands and the one boy holding his own hand!

The sermon followed, and testimonies.  We listened while the wind blew in and out of the windows.  A new baby slept beside us on the mat-covered floor.

When it was time for the offering, a little boy took my offering to the basket on the pulpit for me.

Day One Hundred and Eighteen

The day stretched out before me.  I wrote the last of my thank you cards to my supporters.  I rode to the Post Office and mailed the letters.

The niece of the post mistress greeted me in English and translated for me.  Meanwhile an older auntie held a friendly baby who kept gazing at me.

I went to the prayer meeting on my bicycle as the sun was setting, warm and shining.  My teammates were home from their long travels, and their children were home for the summer.  I sat down beside them.

After fellowship we had donuts.  My teammates lifted my bicycle onto their roof rack and drove me home.

Day One Hundred and Seventeen

I woke up to the sound of the cat meowing outside.  She was hungry, and lonely for me.  I made some rice porridge for breakfast, then some tea.

After breakfast I set about trying to make bread out of the left over rice porridge.  My housekeeper asked me what it was I didn't know what to call it.

All that morning I read books and read for Bible Study, almost forgetting to go!  I pedaled to Robin's house for Bible study, where the ladies were all wondering whether I was coming.

We watched the Bible study video together and chatted while the ladies' children played together.

Day One Hundred and Sixteen

It was Sunday morning.  I walked along the road until a motorcycle taxi driver saw me, then rode to church.  

My friends were there, the Crowleys.  Taylor had sprained his wrist and it was wrapped up in a band.  Jenna saw the sores on my feet and asked if they were bug bites, but they were from walking in shoes I wasn't used to.

They gave me change to pay the motorcycle taxi driver.  Then we tried to figure out how to turn down the volume on her phone's ringer.

The sermon escaped me, but I heard the preacher saying that the people are desperate and overwhelmed.  Mrs. Crowley stayed praying with the group of ladies after church.

The Crowleys took me home in their car with them for lunch.  I talked with them and listened to them, but I think they mostly heard me.

From their porch, I looked and saw the blue sky all around, and white clouds moving in it.

Day One Hundred and Fifteen

Saturday had come.  I lingered over email, books and tea.  I washed the mud off the Crowleys' car and walked to the market.  I made some soup and bread dough to bake for dinner.

In the afternoon I heard the sound of a weedwacker and looked out to see someone cutting down the long grass around the house.

When evening came I took the Crowleys' car and drove to the fellowship.  My friend Mesun looked surprised when I came out of a car.  I gave Mrs. Crowley back the keys and went inside.

It was a smaller group but we were lively, and there were many children.  When it was time to go, I went out to get my shoes and Mrs. Crowley mentioned how Joe had lost his shoes at the fellowship the week before.

I laughed and told her about the shoes that had "appeared" at my house!  Sure enough, the new brown flip flops were Joe's shoes, and my blue ones were still there on the porch!

Day One Hundred and Fourteen

I went to town and bought milk and a candy bar called "Black Forest" with cherries and cookies in it.  I came home and made chocolate pudding and cream of spinach soup. 

It was Friday.  I ironed some things while listening to music and language recordings.  I went to the Crowleys' for dinner, bringing the chocolate bar to share.  

We talked and ate hamburgers with potato salad and baked beans.  It was delicious.  Then we played Apples to Apples and drank coffee with the chocolate bar.  Everyone liked the chocolate.  

The wind and rain came gusting around.  We went into the house for awhile and the young people went online to go on Facebook.  The Crowleys let me borrow their car to come home.

Day One Hundred and Thirteen

The rain was falling.  I stood at the porch door and watched it fall on the roses.  I made a large flat piece of bread out of dough and put it onto the baking pan.

That night I got several emails from my family.  I went to Bible Study and one of the ladies invited me to dinner that Friday night.

My new housekeeper and the landlord's housekeeper stayed home downstairs all week, so I was not alone on the property.  My father called me on Skype.

Day One Hundred and Twelve

It was Sunday morning, the last day of May.  I gave my new housekeeper her salary and went about the business of getting ready for the day, and for church.  But I found myself weeping too much to go anywhere, so I stayed home instead.

Rain was softly falling.  I sat on the steps and saw it, listened to it.  I thought the bottom of my flip flops looked strange, hanging where they always did.

My eyes and my face were still hot from crying, and I wanted to get some rain water from the barrel in the yard, to put on my face.

When I went to put on my flip flops, I saw that they were not like my flip flops.  They were the right size, but they were brown, and not blue.  They also felt newer than my blue flip flops.

I searched, but did not find my blue flip flops.  I put on the new brown flip flops and went down into the yard.

Day One Hundred and Eleven

Saturday came quickly.  I read, mostly, thinking of and looking forward to prayer meeting.  I hoped to see Anne there and others as well.

But Anne did not come, and I heard there was to be a meeting between the excommunicated man and representatives from our fellowship.

I hoped they would find the excommunicated man to be misunderstood.