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Bounced to Ba Đình

 Alô mọi người! 


Wishing everyone a happy week! I saw all the pictures of the Northern Lights - it looked amazing! I still have yet to see them despite my time in Minnesota. I'll get 'em next time! 

I have continued my streak of not staying in an area longer than one transfer with the same companion. I have now served in 5 different areas throughout my mission which has been pretty fun - I've gotten to meet so many people and so many wonderful members. I'm sad to leave my last area Cầu Giấy, we were going to have a lot of baptisms. Not up to me though - I'm glad to have served! 

This transfer I will be serving in the Ba Đình area as the new Social Media Leader of the mission, which is fun. I help organize referrals, make sure ads are running, call Salt Lake City to coordinate, and a lot of behind the scenes stuff. It is an interesting assignment. The previous SML did an amazing job and completely built the framework for the social media work - so I'm just keeping the boat running. I have some things I want to try, so we will see what happens! I'm just happy I haven't broken anything. Yet.

Other than that - nothing much happened this week. I'm super excited to be serving with my new companion Elder Mai. He loves making videos, so make sure to check FaceBook to hear me stumble through some Vietnamese.
___________________________________________
                                 Failure  
(I know -  a pretty encouraging title right?)

All jokes aside though, this Sunday a member in the Ba Đình branch gave a really refreshing and surprisingly validating talk about failure. She talked about how we can learn nothing from only having success in life and how failure is the time to learn. She shared 6 lessons that we learn from failure, one of them being "How we interpret failure".

Oftentimes as a missionary it can be very easy to feel like a failure. You feel guilty that you're wasting your own time, and maybe even the Lord's time. I've certainly felt this way at times - stumbling through lessons with blank stares, feeling lost in the city, I forget something to say or do - it goes on. Then you feel overwhelmed and like it's too much, and you just want to stop. 

My first day as the SML this week there were some major problems with the system. I didn't know how to fix them, there were errors I wasn't aware of, or how to fix it. If I clicked the wrong button or tried to do something, I was afraid I would break it even more.

I took a break and while during personal study I read Mosiah 26 - in which Alma, the leader of the church is appointed to judge some people who have broken the law. However, he is troubled and goes to the king for guidance. The King basically says, "No, it's up to you" and Alma leaves again, feeling troubled. It says in verse 13, "And now the spirit of Alma was again troubled; and he went and inquired of the Lord what he should do concerning this matter, for he feared that he should do wrong in the sight of God" (Mosiah 26:13). God answers the prayer of Alma in verse 29 and says: "Therefore I say unto you, Go;".

I look back at my life and realize I have feared failure too much. I'd rather learn and progress, rather than sit and be comfortable. I waste too much time, energy and anxiety on ensuring perfection. Obviously there is a balance to this - but this spiritual thought is getting long and I think you see what I'm getting at. 

I invite you to evaluate a failure you've had, and how you've changed from it. I invite you to "Go" and press forward, even after you fail. 
___________________________________________

Love you,
Anh Cả Reynolds

No pictures this week, I am so sorry! I know that's the most important part.

From Sally: I added a few pictures from his hike last week and his dinner with a member's family. One story he shared with us was that on the way to the member's house for dinner, they asked if there was a dish he missed from Saigon. He mentioned a certain one that he liked from that region (I won't even try to spell it here) and they picked it up on their way home. There were two Elders and two Sisters that were at the dinner. It happened to be his companion's birthday and little did Ethan know, but it was one of Elder Mai's favorite dishes. One of the sister missionaries had just transferred from Saigon where she was serving (and she lived there before her mission) and was feeling a little homesick and it made her really happy to have that dish. The restaurant they picked it up from was even called "Saigon Style" or something like that. It always amazes me how God is in the details. :) 












Ethan and his companion, Elder Vassantachart, made this awesome Mother's day video for all the missionaries' moms: https://fb.watch/s2uWqTih5P/



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