Joseph Vương's Blogger

  IMMERSIONS AND THE RESPONDING HEART Vietnamese traditional folk says “Đi một ngày đàng, học một sàng khôn”, in English “Once you go, you grow” which means, “the more you go, the better self you are”. Due to the pandemic, everyone is afraid to get out because we may get contaminated by the deadly virus. Therefore, people try to keep a safe distance from one another. Contrary to that, I felt so much blessed and grateful to go for immersions, as we call the “mission of the presence due to the time of the pandemic”.  At first, I was assigned to Nueva Ecija, Philippines, to live with a farmer. Among the four families that I lived with, there are two of them were broken families. I spent time listening to their stories, struggles as well as joyful moments. One of the stories that I have heard was that one paternal uncle asked the boy “why did you quit the study? Only 2 years more you can graduate high school”. Then, the boy answered the question by questioning us back “So, why did my mothe