Soaked Socks and Hairless Cats

Alô,

Hope you are all doing well and having success in your endeavors!

Honestly - nothing much happened this week. My companion was sick for a majority of the week with a nasty cold, so we were taking things slow. I did lots of social media work which was nice and got a lot of things off my list.

Last Preparation Day:

Last Preparation Day our district went to a Cat Cafe and got fancy smoothies while playing Uno. It was a good time. Sister Vy made great friends with the hairless cat who played Uno with us.

Soaked Socks

We had a big rainstorm before our English club activity - leaving the sisters stranded at a restaurant down the street. Despite the road completely flooded Elder Bird and I made it to rescue. See the rescue live on the Google Photos Album.

___________________________________________

Spiritual Thought:

I've recently been reading through a lot of church history - specifically with the trials the early Saints faced. I think a lot about the trials they struggled with and have found it is very similar to some challenges in Vietnam. Despite Vietnam/Early United States being different in a vast majority of ways with different cultural values, the challenges that the early Saints faced with the expansion of the church are very similar.

I've found a surprising amount of comfort in their stories and experiences. The Joseph Smith Papers and other archives from the church provide great accounts of normal people facing these trials - from missionaries, families of missionaries, to the apostles and prophets. It reminds me the church - despite its growth and size now - was once small. It helps me remember that all of the Saints contributions, big or small, all helped grow the church to where we are today. It's really quite amazing.

Truly, by small and simple means can great things come to pass.

__________________________________________

Have a wonderful week! Wishing you all the best. Shoot me some questions you have about Vietnam or missionary work!

Love,

Anh Cả Reynolds

Photos: https://photos.app.goo.gl/KXNEyuJ6epdKQtAq6

Tuesday Evening in Hanoi

I promise chivalry is not dead - I offered them the umbrella, jacket, and even the extra poncho I had but they said they would be fine.

Chi Vy and her new friend playing Uno FLIP

Comments

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....

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 ...

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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