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Ngắn và Ngọt - Short and Sweet

 Hello everyone! Xin chào mọi người!

I hope everyone is doing well! I saw from photos online that Spring is finally blooming in the states. Get the Zyrtec ready! 

This email is going to be pretty short and sweet - we are staying busy here in Cầu Giấy but I don't have a ton of stories. We have had a lot of progressing friends and seen so many miracles. 

Preparation Day:
Last Preparation Day I finally decided it was time for me to bulk up. With the guidance of Elder Thorsted and the motivation from people here telling me I am too skinny, I have committed to start bulking. I've already acquired the "Mass Gainer" and protein powder to start.  We went to a protein store and got all the essentials I need! Get ready  - I may look like the hulk in 3 weeks. Stay tuned to see what actually happens. 

Last week, we also went to a member's house and celebrated her birthday. Her name is Cô Thanh but she goes by Richard Pico, the name of an American Man she used to date over 20 years ago? Don't ask me, haha. It was an honor to finally meet the famous Richard Pico. During her party she made sure to teach me how to speak English grammatically correctly, and how I probably don't understand her because I speak "British English". Overall, the food was good and I got some pointers on how I can improve my English! What else could you want from a party? 

我不说Tiếng Việt Xin Lỗi:
Last week we finally got to meet with the Chinese friend I found! He is from Mainland China but is currently studying abroad in Vietnam. He speaks Vietnamese fluently and hopes to live here in the future. My brain pretty much exploded during the lesson when he started switching between Mandarin and Vietnamese. He speaks no English - so there is no "fallback" language if he doesn't understand something. 

Fortunately, we had a member join us who learned about the gospel in Taiwan. Although he is Vietnamese he learned all of the gospel in Mandarin. So, I could carry parts of the lessons until we got to a gospel principle I didn't know the specific word for. Then, the member jumped in and said the word in Chinese and we continued. 

On one table we had 4 Books of Mormons in different languages - Vietnamese, English, Mandarin Chinese (Simplified) and Mandarin Chinese (Traditional because the member helping can read traditional).

It was an amazing experience and he loved it - but unfortunately he is back in China until mid-May. We hope to meet with him again in the future! 

The Rest of the Week:
The rest of the week I unfortunately got a cold, which slowed us down a bit. I was low on energy but I have recovered now! We got tons of good lessons and are hoping to see some exciting progress with our friends in the coming weeks :)
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                     Happiness in Humility
                           Helaman 5:8
"And now my sons, behold I have somewhat more to desire of you, which desire is, that ye may not do these things that ye may boast, but that ye may do these things to lay up for yourselves a treasure in heaven, yea, which is eternal, and which fadeth not away; yea, that ye may have that precious gift of eternal life, which we have reason to suppose hath been given to our fathers.

I found this scripture to be really interesting this week. It really made me ponder about the reasons behind my decisions and reflect on my perspective of "why I do things". Am I subconsciously competing or comparing myself to something?
___________________________________________

Life is great here in Vietnam. Sorry for a bit of a short and rushed email - but it's better than nothing! Praying for some good stories next week ;) 

Love you all,
Anh Cả Reynolds

Photos: (Check 'em out this week!) https://photos.app.goo.gl/KXNE

Friends!

                                                    Bảo Bảo did not like me.

Flying a kite (We almost lost it)


Elder Thorsted pondering . He's a thinker.


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