Day 7 – Final Day of Service, Presentation of Gifts
Author – Wes Chaput
Summary – Today marked the final day of construction at both sites. We rose early, ate breakfast and were at work promptly at 7:30. Knowing it was our final day, the work comm
enced with relish. Both groups gave it their all and made significant progress in the morning. The goal for the day was to complete the interior and exterior walls and begin or complete laying the floor tiles. After three hours of hard work in a bright morning sun the teams broke for lunch at 10:30.
After a great meal and a few hours respite, the teams returned to the job site for their final afternoon of service. Thanks to the solid morning effort both teams were able to complete the walls, begin laying floor tiles and organize the job site to make the work easier for the workers after our departure. At 4:45 and 5:00 pm respectively, the 
teams gathered to present the homes to their owners. The ceremony was filled with joy and emotion as the gravity of the week hit home. Both groups made speeches and in the end the homeowners, builders, students and faculty came together in one final photo at each site.
Personal Thought/Reflection –
This entire trip was life changing and truly incredible, but seeing the students and families gathered together on the front porches arm in arm and smiling from ear to ear was incredibly moving. It was powerful evidence of how hard work and mutual respect for another human being transcends boundaries of language, culture and history.
Day 8 – Cat Tien National Park, Longhouse, Biking, Return to Ho Chi Minh City Author – Mackenzie Chaput
Summary – After seven hours of travel with glorious air conditioning, and one delicious 
lunch at a very nice restaurant in Ho Chi Minh City, we arrived at Cat Tien National Park. We made the two kilometer trek through rice paddies and cow pastures to arrive at the longhouse were we would be staying that night. It was just beautiful, quiet, serene view of the lake and mountains in the distance and a major highlight was the many hammocks hung throughout the campsite that people relaxed and read books in until dinner. Dinner was like all of our other dinners-- amazing and far exceeding expectations. After dinner, two local tribes arrived to play music for us and to 
teach us some traditional dances. The students (and adults) loved learning the dances and I know the locals had a good laugh teaching us. We gathered around the campfire for a few hours after the entertainment vacated, discussing world issues and debating perspectives. A few of the girls started some chants (?) no, they probably wouldn’t agree with my naming of the activity as such, but they were clapping routines that they learned at camps past. They then proceeded to get everyone involved; it was a lot harder than it looked!
Then the true adventures of the night started: BUGS, really BIG bugs, and scorpions... yes SCORPIONS! Two to be exact. One of the girls went to brush her teeth and encountered a scorpion in front of the sink; it was the size of your average coffee mug in diameter. She yelled “Mrs. Chaput” and I yelled “Ms. Wright”- I don’t do large arachnids. Luckily Ms. Wright is a total champion when it comes to these things and dutifully chased it “away” with a stick, but we all knew a) it wasn’t that far away and b) it certainly wasn’t the only one in the park.
Our latter assumption was proved just minutes later when Kat Mitchell went to use the bathroom and heard the noise of a shaking tail. Yes, in the stall, another one. Ms. Wright to the rescue once again. Our encounter with the scorpions lessened our reaction to the bug nets that were plastered with bugs of all sizes that were covering our mattresses. We all did a quick 1-2-3 and tucked under them as fast as possible.
The noises of the night were vibrant, even comparing to the Mekong Delta where nature was far from quiet at night. The longhouses were very comfortable and I think most slept well--I don’t want my stories of insects to give you the wrong impression, because it was a really cool experience.
The next morning we awoke, ate breakfast and prepared for our 14-mile bike trip to Cat Tien National Park. 
The ride had impressive views and we were lucky that it wasn’t too hot. After we returned, we packed up and headed back the two kilometers to where the bus was waiting for us. There it rested, engine off, with the driver looking distressed. The bus was dead. Oh, and the heat had returned and the local police were “napping.” The next closest bus was 3 hours away, so with the help of a few locals we pushed the bus down the road to roll start the engine, luckily it was a standard transmission. Back to Ho Chi Minh we headed.
The final night we had a very nice dinner, walked around the local night markets and reflected on what an amazing, once in a lifetime trip we just experienced!
