Sunday, May 1, 2011

Eric took up drumming in the past four months or so. He's good, especially for a beginner. I love listening to him practice (drums or guitar). He's drummed at DIF (Da Nang International Fellowship) a few times and it adds so much to the w+rship team. He's also led w+rship several times. I've either sung or played piano while he leads.

We really like our small fellowship. On any given Sunday there are around 40-55 people. There is Sunday School for the kids and that usually has about 8-10 kids. Vietnamese people are not allowed to attend our fellowship unless they are married to a foreigner. There are three couples that have that situations that come to DIF sometimes. They also have Vietnamese church options. :)

Usually there are short term volunteers with some organization so we're always meeting new people. And people who are longer term (3 months, 6 months, 9 months) are coming and going and the long termers of course are coming and going on home service or even out to the country side for something for the week or weekend. We represent several countries and nationalities: American, Canadian, Australian, French, Filipino, South Korean and English are the ones that come to mind.

We've been so blessed by the probably 10 or so different people who have preached throughout our 10 months here. Every week, with different styles, we hear truth. We're encouraged, we're challenged, we're sent out to love and to serve.

Our year has been challenging for us and our ch+rch has been such a source of encouragement, friendship and truth. Our Sundays are busy and tiring (almost every week we're serving in some way), but we really are refreshed by this body of Chr+st in our lives right now.

We're going to miss this fellowship and the blessings of the small, revolving door community that it is. I've said before in a newletter or pr+yer letter, I love the revolving door. It creates an atmosphere of inclusion. We know people will probably only be here for a short time so the first week they are here they are invited to lunch and cell phone numbers are shared. Often within a few weeks they are serving in some capacity. There are lots of going away parties (and birthday parties). I love welcoming people on their first Sunday. We actually have a role at DIF called "host" who opens each service and welcome visitors from the 'pulpit'. I love being the host and then talking with the people afterwards. I feel like DIF is totally 'my turf' and I want others to feel that way about DIF as soon as possible.

I'm really excited to see where this leads Eric and me as we return to the states.

Just in case you're wondering: we don't know where we'll move to so of course we have no idea what ch+rch we'll join. We do have a return date: Tuesday, June 14th. More on that later.

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