Merry Christmas from Vietnam!

December 29, 2024

This was a long, short, fast, slow, busy week. We had Christmas coming as a normal missionary workday, and zone conference on Friday, which included a Christmas celebration for the missionaries. All the missionaries were given permission to wear ao dais (ow-zize) and dress up for zone conference. So...

We started out on p-day (Monday) with a trip a few miles north to the Hoan Kiem Lake area where our 2 Sisters knew of some shops that sell ao dais; they were getting some and so I could use their expertise and get one!

Even Allen decided to go along with the crowd!

And you'll see the finished products in a minute...

Our treat to the Sisters for helping us was... Ice Cream!!

We wanted it to be our treat, but the ice cream shop is owned by a member, and they refused to let us pay. They are so very kind, and the ice cream is homemade and is very good.

The next day (Tuesday) was Christmas Eve so of course we went walking. And shopping. We found a shoe rack we need because no one wears shoes when they come inside your house, and you don't wear shoes when you come inside your house--you immediately take your shoes off just inside (and sometimes outside) the door. I managed to bring MANY pairs of shoes with me! We NEEDED a shoe rack.

And this is how we do our shopping! Wherever we are, we have to get things home, either by walking or by Grab car. We were less than 2 miles away, so we walked.

And this is how other people get things home (or wherever things get ordered) --by scooter!

As we walked, we passed many many shops that had succulents outside on their sidewalks, as well as a great many other flowers and plants. It must be planting time in Vietnam!

The one thing I didn't take pictures of was all the birds for sale--cages and cages filled with every size and variety of bird: very small birds up to dove-sized birds! Some were very pretty and colorful, and all of them were flitting around in their cages and singing. Many people have birds in cages in Vietnam; when we hear birds singing, we look up in the trees and when we don't see any there, we look up on the apartment building balconies.

Christmas this year was different; we were not surrounded by Christmas lights and decorations, and the Vietnamese people, while always kind, were not filled with holiday cheer. I think that will come with the Lunar New Year at the end of January.

Since we didn't have the chance to be with our children, we adopted our 5 district missionaries for the evening to give them something a bit special for Christmas. We had fun preparing little gifts for them and, of course, made the best feast we could.

And then the fun began. We have 2 Sisters now who are native to Vietnam, and our 3 Elders are all from the U.S., and 2 of them have been here a shorter time than we have!

First was our feast...

And then the gifts...

Sporting their Tet decorations as new earrings.

A good time was had by all.

And we even made it over to the mall, where their regular water show made a good closing scene for Christmas day.

We also got to talk to each of our kids and their families, and THAT was the highlight of our holiday! It was nice to visit and see our grandkids' cute faces.

Our Thursday morning was Christmas night for our kids, and we did the last of the calls in our morning and then spent time preparing for the English activity, which was Thursday night from 7-8 pm.

Friday was Zone Conference! This is a big deal to a missionary! We met Our Missionaries down front at 7:15 am to get a Grab car to the District Office, about 5 miles away. We had to leave plenty of time: they were to be there at 8 am; the conference began at 9 am; we made it there about 8:10 am. Not bad.

And here's how everyone looked!