When it rains, make a waterfall

Today we landed in DaNang, a city of 1 million people in the Central region of Vietnam. It is a beautiful city that has been gentrified over the last 5-10 years. This city was chosen as part of our Cultural awareness portion of the mission for various reasons. First, it is very close to the city of Quang Nai, where we will be doing charity work in local orphanges and visit children's homes to present them with Scholarships to School (More later in the blog). Secondly, it is the home town of Chi's family, and whenever I get a change to meet her grandfather (105 years old), I can not pass that up. Thirdly, it is a beautiful destination, featuring sunny skies and hot temperatures, enough to evaporate any remaining thoughts of a cold winter and prepare our team for a long hot mission.

Oddly, however, today's weather brought a rare and unusual heavy thunderstorm, forcing us to delay our plans and wait it out.

While drinking caphe sua da in a local cafe, we watched as the lightning, thunder and harsh rain pelted the rooftop. It was at that point one ofour team members pointed out some writing on the wall of the cafe. it reads: "The world is a book and who those do not travel....Read only one page"

As I stated, when it rains, make a waterfall!!!!   We would have likely not gone into this cafe if not for the rare thunderstorm, thus never stopping to read such a moving and meaningful quote.

It sums up my feelings of not just travel, but one of the many purposes of our Pharmacy Missions. Yes, we travel here to help, care for, and treat the needy in Vietnam, but this mission also enriches our team through an appreciation of cultural diversity. Some things just can not be learned from books.