Writing a good blog is hard. It's a compromise between barfing up a stream of consciousness and articulating a technical document. So feel free to give advice to us novice bloggers.

We started our first "routine" day - which means following a morning schedule. Up at 5:45, out the door to exercise at 6:00, shower, eat and facetime a child by 8:30, language study and companion study by 10:30. We did great until 7 a.m., then the "routine" began to unravel. Geez! I'm impressed with how the young missionaries have learned to get all their stuff done by 10 a.m. It took us an extra hour. Over time I expect we'll get better with our planning AND execution.

I ran for the first time in two weeks. The heart was willing but the calves were weak. It's a good thing we're nearly at sea level and running/walking on level ground. We went to the Mekong River walkway - which is only a few minutes drive from our palace. It was beautiful. This is one area where the city is really trying to make an impression. The walkways are clean and mostly clear of litter - although we have learned to NEVER trust a lump on the ground. We walked/ran past the famous bamboo bridge (see pic below). There is a populated island in the middle of the river - with no formal access. The locals built a bridge made of bamboo, which allows the river to flow through it. During the rainy season when the river rises, the bridge has to be disassembled at both ends (not the middle we're told) and re-routed to a higher ground access point. We should see this in a month or two. Honestly it's quite an engineering feat. The bridge accommodates bikes, motos, carts and even cars (we aren't yet brave enough to take our church-owned Corolla across). There are some Church members on the island and missionaries go over often to visit or do service work.

Bamboo Bridge

Later we met with a member in a humble, 3 room concrete house. For Star Trek fans, it's the prime directive in action. You want to do something to improve the circumstances, but interfering often makes things worse. People grow according to their own schedules - not ours. The member greeted us graciously and participated in a discussion about the temple. We shared our feelings about those sacred places the best we could, and the missionaries did the rest. We are learning a few new words every day, and getting more used to pronunciations.

The final event of the day was "song practice" time with members. It seems the members sing the same 5-6 songs every Sunday. So the missionaries felt it would be good to introduce them to the rest of the hymnbook. We sang about 8 less familiar hymns with them, and they did great. A local member knows how to lead and Sister Haddock (sister missionary) plays the keyboard (no pianos).

We listen to a chapter of Harry Potter 3-4 times/week before going to bed. Jim Dale does an amazing job voicing all the characters. However, Jim Curtis does an amazing job of falling asleep about halfway through. Glad I've read the books.

High-water ramp