Destination: Land of the Mangoes and the Pomelos

We'll be leaving SJ on the 17th for orientation down south, and on the 24th we'll be headed off to VN, land of the Mangoes and the Pomelos. With a week left til departure, we're still half way toward our goal of fitting all of our belongings in six 50lb suitcases.
The process of packing has been difficult because it forces us to decide whether a certain item is 'needed'. Should I bring my pair of running shoes, will I need it there, and if so, should I just buy it there? How about my rain coat, my flash light, my favorite books, and my surge protector? I wish I could bring everything with me so that I would feel more 'secured' and 'protected' in the foreign land of mangoes and pomelos.
It's hard to live out of 6 suitcases, although our director told us at one point (when she was also packing to go to, yeah, the same land) she could pack all of her life possessions in her small Corolla! Over the years, we've managed to amassed and surround ourselves with too many things. Now we're feeling like we've been stripped bare. But no worries, in the new land we'll always be able to count on, you've guessed it, mangoes and pomelos for survival.
There's of course a good purpose for all of this, and maybe, just maybe, we'll live to find out what it is...