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.

-Biking is both fun and scary. So far I haven't caused a major accident or gotten yelled at, just lots of honking. :) but don't take it personally, they're just speaking Scooteramese.

-Have tried lots of good food. 😋 Still learning what everything is called, but it's tasty, so I eat it.

This week I have been really grateful for the patience and love everyone here has shown me. Even though my language skills are still pretty low, people have been very friendly and love talking. The members here are great and love helping with missionary work.

I am doing well and feeling great! My companion just hopped on his bike, so I guess I am wrapping up this email now, haha. Make sure to check Google Photos for more pictures and stories. Sorry for my rushed email. A rushed email is better than none I guess. ;) Love you all!!!

Sincerely,

Anh Cả Reynolds

Note from Sally:

We got to talk to Ethan on Sunday night, his Monday morning. He shared a few fun stories:

1. In the Seoul Airport (connection), he recognized a guy with a BYU shirt on and said, "Professor Webb?" The guy smiled and said hello and they talked for a bit. Professor Webb is the head of the Supply Chain major at BYU that Ethan was just accepted to. He was taking a group of students to the Philippines to study Nestle.

2. Ethan walked into the mission office in Hanoi and saw the AP (Assistant to the President) and said, "Logan?" It was a guy who lived on his dorm floor a couple years ago. Logan was the ward Sunday School President and Ethan was his counselor. :)

3. When Ethan met his district leader (missionary over his area), Elder Trolley, they realized that Elder Trolley knows Ethan's Grandma Georgia and her husband John because Edler Trolley was sent to the Baltimore mission for 6 months last year while he waited for his visa to arrive. Grandma Georgia was his mission nurse. He also served in Lititz, which is the city where Sally's Mom lives.

Other than that, Ethan seems happy and is soaking it all up. He lives on the 18th floor of their building in an apartment with three other Elders, one who also just arrived and was in his MTC District. They are allowed to wear their name tags, but cannot openly approach people about religion. Any lessons they teach must be at the church building, which isn't so bad because it's air conditioned. ;) It's hard to believe he has been there only a little over a week because so much has happened. He is loving it!