This will be short.  Must pack to leave for Taiwan tomorrow morning at 11.  Have to repack everything.  However, the weekend in the Mekong Delta was among one of the most amazing and emotionally draining of the tertianship.  Though tertianship officially ended two weeks ago it is obvious that it is continuing.  This morning I spent an hour with the 28 novices in the Vietnamese province, speaking with them and answering questions.  It was encouraging to see so many young men in love with Jesus and preparing to pronounce vows in the Society.  The 18 first year novices will begin their long retreat on Wednesday.  Keep them in your prayers.  A photo will follow once I get them downloaded, a process that will take several hours given the volume. 


The shots below are from where I spent 25 to 27 August in the Mekong Delta with the Sisters of St Paul of Chartres.  The captions are self-explanatory.  I spent over two hours standing on the roof of the boat taking photo after photo as we cruised on smaller and smaller waterways, stopping to visit Catholic families along the way.  Not always great light but subject matter beyond compare.  The Mekong River is huge.  We crossed it when I took the shot of the homes from a moving car.  The ones at river level were on Saturday not too far from the bridge.  In the photo  with the group (John took it) I am holding a sweet potato.  We are standing in front of one of the men's homes.  The man on the right  was our driver for three days.  He has nerves more steely than a neurosurgeon.  No American should even think of driving anything on the roads here.  Trust me.  We stopped at the Buddhist Temple on the way home.  The young nuns dancing are dancing not for me (though 65 of them sang happy birthday at breakfast on Saturday) but for the Mother Provincial's feastday on 28 August.  

Utterly amazing weekend that I will be emotionally unpacking for months. 

More later.  Gotta pack to head to Taiwan tomorrow. 

+ Fr. Jack, SJ