Skip to main content

Native Tacos and Broken Knees

Hello, Xin Chào, and boozhoo!

Hope everyone has had a good week and ready for the next! 

GOOGLE PHOTOS IS WORKING! Go check it out for all of my photos. Enjoy the captions. https://photos.app.goo.gl/KXNEyuJ6epdKQtAq6

This week was full of strange and bizarre experiences. I think those two adjectives would be the best way to describe some aspects of missionary work. The situations you find yourself in can be quite interesting.

Native Taco Story:
This week as we were doing contacts, there was a series of signs that pointed to a taco stand. They looked official enough, the handwriting was good, so we followed them to someone's house. On their house, past the 3 big reservation dogs was a sign on the door that said "Come on in! :)". So, you walk in. 50% chance of Tacos or 50% chance of something else. 

Upon entering the house an old Native Lady was there preparing the most delicious Native American Tacos I have ever seen. They were $8 each and we only had $5 on us. Despite this, she was kind enough to give us both a taco. It was delicious, and since we needed to throw away the box at a nearby store, we went to an ATM and paid her the rest. I was really touched by her kindness.

Broken Knee
After arriving to a lesson and stepping out of our car, we saw a woman walking down an icy and slick hill collapse and fall on her leg. The way she landed on her leg caused her kneecap to break and make a snap noise; she was obviously very scared and wailing in pain. Fortunately, Elder Mayne and myself were there right as she fell and able to help her. 

Unfortunately, she had slipped dead center in the middle of this road, on the downhill portion. This meant incoming cars wouldn't be able to see her or stop in time if they came down. We tried moving her, but she was in too much pain. Luckily, nearby neighbors had heard her screaming, already called an ambulance, and brought out a chair for her to sit in. We sat there and talked to her, let her squeeze my hand and breathe while we waited. The ambulance came quickly and took her to the hospital. 
_______________________________________

Besides this, we had a great zone conference! I liked meeting others in my zone and learning together. There was a wonderful Christmas dinner prepared and delicious treats. 

I am super excited for the new apostle called, Elder Patrick Kearon. He has actually given some of my favorite general conference talks, due to his advocacy for refugees, humanitarian aid, and other international topics. I love his balanced approached and views on these issues. If you have some spare time, I encourage you to give some of them a listen. I'm looking forward to hearing his teachings and leadership in the church. 

The Lord has instructed us that the stakes of Zion are to be “a defense” and “a refuge from the storm.” We have found refuge. Let us come out from our safe places and share with them, from our abundance, hope for a brighter future, faith in God and in our fellowman, and love that sees beyond cultural and ideological differences to the glorious truth that we are all children of our Heavenly Father. -Elder Kearon

Love you all! Thank you for your continued support and kind messages. I'm so happy to see so many people having success in their endeavors. For those of you who may feel like you are not, remember to show yourself grace and recognize where you are. I'm always here to email on Mondays. :)

Sincerely, 
Elder Reynolds
Anh Cả Reynolds


So, so good


Native Taco

                                            Visited a friend in the hospital today.
                                        We got Clergy badges which was neat.

A big, black duck in Blackduck, MN

Guess that painting

Duck face






Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Welcome to Vietnam - Don't Take the Honking Personally

Xin chào mọi người!  They're sending me to Vietnam... it's a whole lot of scooters... Things have been great here in Vietnam. I'm currently sitting in a park after doing my second dance practice with some people we met last week. We're waiting for a friend to meet us to play some pickleball. If I wrote down everything that has happened within the past week this email would be too large to send, so here is a brief bullet point list of the highlights:  -Landed in Hanoi and did orientation. Was told I would be serving in the Ho Chi Minh area. Woo hoo! My Mission Presidency is awesome.  -Met my companion Elder Luân. His English is good but communicating is sometimes still difficult. 😅 I am constantly speaking Vietnamese, which has helped me learn a lot.  -Had first English Activity night and taught about Idaho, haha. The slideshow was already made by someone from Vietnam, and went over all the highlights of things like: Potatoes, sagebrush, dairy cows, and irrigation....
Post a Comment
Read more

Hours in Hồ Chí Minh

 Alo, This week was an adventure - filled with good stories and blessings. I'm a little tired, but I'd rather be a tired missionary than a bored missionary.  Monday - Trains, Planes, and Automobiles Monday afternoon while enjoying  Preparation Day in the Old Quarter District, we got a call from the Elders who help our Mission President, the Assistants. The Assistants were flying down later in the evening to Hồ Chí Minh City to do a mission presentation -- but unfortunately one of them became very ill and would be unable to fly. They asked if I would be willing to pack and head down to help. Certainly wasn't what we expected, but we were ready to help. Elder McBride and I traveled back to Hà Đông, packed, and headed over. Elder McBride stayed with the ill missionary, while the other Assistant and I went down South.  We left at 7:15pm and landed in Hồ Chí Minh at 9:30pm. We got a taxi and stayed the night in Thảo Điền- the very first area I served in Vietnam, one year ...
Post a Comment
Read more

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...
Post a Comment
Read more