Old, Old, Old...and then some...
(The title does NOT reference Allen and myself, but rather the temples we visited that you will hear more of if you don't give up before the end.)
This weekend was General Conference for most of you but for us it was Fast Sunday. General Conference will be broadcast here in 2 weeks after it has a chance to be translated. So Allen and I will listen in English in the next few days as time permits, and then we'll listen again in English when the rest of them are listening in Vietnamese. I've just got to say... that children's choir Saturday afternoon? Outstanding. Moving. Beautiful. Touching.
I had my first chance to pray in Sacrament meeting and also to bear my testimony. For each experience, I wrote down what I was going to say. No one cheered when I finished, neither did they throw stones. I will count that as a success.
Monday is p-day for the youngsters, and while we can choose any day we want as a p-day, we choose to do things with them! THIS p-day they had doctor appointments in the morning so Allen and I made plans to meet them at noon at the Temple of Literature. In the morning, we took a car to Hoan Kiem Lake to visit Ngoc Son Temple, which means Jade Mountain.
The water really was very green, like jade. The temple on the island was also called Sword Turtle Temple; the story goes that the turtles in the lake gave their sword to the head dude who was fighting. He won, gave back the sword, and maybe it was from that point that turtles became sacred in Vietnam. I'm unclear on details, but I do know that the Vietnamese consider 4 animals to be sacred: turtles, cranes, dragons, and the horn-less unicorn, which I think is like a lion-dog. The bird is often called a Phoenix, but I was told it's actually a crane.
At the entrance...or the exit?
Here's the entrance...
The Sword Turtle!
A big pot of incense. These were in various places just outside of the temples we visited.
There were big pots of orchids all over! Just beautiful.
Here is a preserved turtle. This was a real turtle and was just preserved in 2016, weighing about 550 pounds, and representative of the turtles that lived in the lake. His brother is behind Allen in another case.
Here, we're about to walk out of the exit. It was 50,000 dong each for our tickets, or about $2.
After we left this first temple, we walked toward the meeting place of the Temple of Literature (a very, very, very old school--built in the 1000s) to meet the youngsters. It turns out that we hit just the right week to visit this area because Vietnam is celebrating their 70th year if independence from France. There were many women dressed up for the celebration/holiday and we saw some beautiful clothing. This is a favorite picture--there was a group of women all dressed up, sitting and eating ice cream...
They were delighted to have their picture taken, and the lady on the end was quick to give me her camera for a picture, as well.
We stopped at another little temple on the way where we were allowed to take pictures of the inside. We couldn't take photos inside the Gnoc Son Temple.
Note the "Morality Case", or Donation Box. Hmmm...
This was from the inside looking out toward the doors.
This is the St. Joseph Cathedral we walked past on our way to the next temple... Huge.
We finally made it to the Temple of Literature. In the courtyards there were GORGEOUS pictures from all parts of Vietnam set up on easels--too many for us to stop and fully appreciate because it was so hot and we were getting tired and hungry and thirsty. This temple costs us around 70,000 dong each--almost $3 each.
Another turtle; this one, gold!
Here we could take pictures again. It was very interesting to see the offerings to Confucius or to Buddha in the temples. There were boxes of cookies, stacks of fruits, flowers, and other foods all beautifully arranged surrounding the altars.
And there were amazing bonsai trees in the courtyards, as well. Just beautiful. This one had a pagoda over near Allen, but hard to see.
After leaving the temple, we drove to a lunch spot that served bun cha, which people had been exclaiming to us about! It really was good, but may possibly be the reason Allen's stomach is "off" today. Maybe. Maybe not; it's been 2 days... He'll soon feel better.
Our final destination (after the junior missionaries left us after lunch) was the famous Hanoi Train Street. It wasn't far away, so we walked again and before we knew it, we were there. We noticed the tracks elevated above the road and we tried to go up some stairs but were accosted by people exclaiming that we couldn't go up there because the train was coming in 15 minutes. Turns out they would have been just fine with us going up there as long as we were going to buy something to eat or drink. Aha! As soon as we figured that out, and realized the train would be there in 5 minutes now, we splurged for 2 sodas and the right to sit down right next to the tracks.
It took a full minute to pass and was pretty darn cool... and loud.
When the train had gone, we got up and continued to walk down the tracks to where the road crossed over, and no one cared any more that we were up there. Yep.
It was a great day, and we were tired at the end of it. Every Monday evening there is a mission-wide zoom training from Preach My Gospel, taught by the young missionaries. It's always good, and we're always glad it's over zoom. :) Tonight was no exception.
Tuesday is District Council Meeting day when the district missionaries meet together for training and planning. Since our district missionaries all live near us, we have them come to our apartment. They bring their lunch and relax for an hour, then train for an hour, and yesterday they helped us with language study for an hour. Sigh... If only we could learn as quickly as we want to learn! Oh, well. We have 17 more months to improve.
And I made banana muffins yesterday! I discovered that Vietnamese muffin pans are smaller than American; I can't find any Pam or other cooking spray; brown sugar is not a thing (except maybe at a specialty store); vanilla flavoring comes as a powder; and banana muffins smell amazing in a small apartment.
Today is Wednesday. I'm finally caught up with our doings. If you wonder anything, you'll need to leave comments or message us on FaceBook Messenger! Or join us on WhatsApp! We'd love to hear from you!
We are glad you had a fun experience visiting the South, and every place in the North is pretty 🌟. Miss you!! From Jay and Linh!! 💕
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