It's good to be back 'home' in Vientiane, Laos, after spending 5 weeks away. But what a fantastic time I've had in those 5 weeks! The first (almost) 2 weeks was spent at Krabi, Thailand, where I attended an ADRA Australia workshop. I met quite a lot of people I knew or knew of, and others I'd never met; and thus it was great to get better acquainted with my colleagues in the ADRA network. And there was also ample time to build good friendships with everybody through not only the workshop interaction but also playing soccer, exploring Krabi, Phi Phi and other beautiful places in the area.

And then Florence Italy was something else! I was there for 3 weeks of classes as part of the Andrews University International Development Program / MSA program. This time I knew nobody - but have come away from the time with many great new friends, and would really love to be able to continue with the MSA degree. That won't be decided for a few months, as my focus now is to apply what I learned in my time away to my work here in Laos as program director.

I've archived all the June news, left some more general news from May on the homepage, and will hopefully soon get back to writing some more. I'm off to visit the projects in the field next week, so am looking forward to that. There'll be photos too, I'm sure, to add to the many there already from Laos, Thailand and Italy.