"The Warmest Winter in Years"

Hi Everyone!

Hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday for those of you celebrating. Good luck to all of you who are preparing for fall finals! You've got this.

This week was great! Elder Mayne and I did a lot of contacting (stopping by and saying hi to people) and some lessons too. We had a wonderful Thanksgiving dinner with some members, then visited an assisted living home for those who may need an uplifting message.

I've decided "tracting" in an assisted living home is the best because:

1). It's warm.

2). People are friendly and happy to talk.

3). Everyone has their name on their door.

4). All the doors are already open. No knocking required.

On Friday we attended the Bemidji Christmas parade and lighting of the city. For being out in the middle of nowhere - they know how to celebrate! They have over 750,000k Christmas lights this year, hoping to hit 1 million in a couple years. Although the celebration was fun, I have never been so cold in my life.

It's very cold here. People keep saying this has been the warmest winter, so I'm grateful, but it's still cold. The weather app says it is 13⁰F, but with wind chill and humidity it "feels like" -3⁰F. Only a little bit if snow so far, but the lakes have started to freeze over! I don't know how people stay warm - especially residents the reservation in metal homes.

I also did some black Friday shopping because I needed a blanket and found "Space Laser Kitty" or "Carl". I really hope I can bring Space Laser Kitty with me to Vietnam.

That's pretty much it! I'm working on taking more photos. Make sure to check out the videos of the fireworks and the wind.

Have an amazing week, and happy holidays! Love and miss you all.

Elder Ethan Reynolds

The WIND!

Dogs are everywhere here

Sunset over the lake

Comments

Hanoian Hamburgers

Alo- Hope you are doing well and enjoying the Spring Weather. We are hoping to start getting some warmer weather this next week (meaning the grey overcast that has been here for the past 3.5 months leaves). This week I don't really have much to report on. Always Adjusting: This week was mainly just adjustment to the new area and assignment. This transfer I'll be helping as an Assistant, which is mainly a lot of behind the scenes work. It reminds me a lot of when I was doing Social Media work a little over a year ago - rather than managing the social media, you help with different aspects of the mission. There isn't anything extremely stressful or overwhelming -- it is just lots of small tasks you have to learn to do. My current companion has great experience in this role and has been teaching me lots. He leaves at the end of this transfer, so I am trying to absorb as much as I can to get it ready for the next transfer. The Mission Branch: One aspect I have been enjoying ...

Buddist Monks and Ba Đình

Hello everyone! Hope you have been doing well. Congratulations to those of you finishing up your semesters, and keep pushing on for those in the end game! Remember in my last email I said "pray for some stories?". Well - I don't know who prayed for them, but Heavenly Father certainly answered your prayers. This week has been quite crazy, but fun. Last Preparation Day: Last Preparation Day was a blast. We planned with our district to travel to a cool hike with a cave and Buddhist temple. So, we ordered our taxi and went on our way. Thirty minutes into the taxi ride and checking on the map we realized we were in fact not going to the correct Buddhist temple - we put in the wrong address, and were riding in the opposite direction. Being 10 minutes away from our new destination (and almost accidentally leaving the zone) we decided to see what the temple would be like. Upon arrival, it was clear the temple was under major renovations and closed. We checked out the lit...

We Didn't Start The Fire

(Note from Sally: This week is an extra long letter, so good thing you have the holiday break to read it. :) Ethan just found out this morning that he was on the Vietnamese National News - his part starts at the 19:00min mark. Also, he was asked to write his testimony and thoughts about this Christmas to share with our home ward here in Idaho, so I attached those in a Word Doc as well. ) Merry Christmas! Alo mọi người, Yes - the title of the email is a reference to Billy Joel "We Didn't Start The Fire" and it is relevant to the story. This week was one for the books. That's why this email is going to be a bit longer than the previous ones I have been sending. We've had about everything, from the police in our apartment to a wild Branch Christmas Party. Make sure to check out the Google Photo Album this week. Last Monday - The Vietnamese UFO: Last Preparation Day, as I mentioned in the previous email we were visiting a Non-Profit Government Organizati...

Elder Reynolds in Hanoi

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