Historic Vietnam

 This week, we re-visited the beautiful Silk City of Van Phuc, and then later we visited the Vietnamese National Museum of History, both filled with different aspects of Vietnam's history.

We wanted to share the beauty of Silk City with our missionaries, and the amount of time we had Monday was just right to fit in a visit there. Vietnam has a history of making beautiful silk and silk products, and it was fun to go there again. Each part of the neighborhood had colorful "false ceilings" that made it very beautiful. The first time just Allen and I went, the umbrellas were not hanging, and we wonder if it was too close after the typhoon that hit Vietnam just before we arrived in-country. But they were there in all their glory this time, as well as many other things!



The spools on the left are of colored silk threads.


We bought some beautiful silk-covered hats. Allen didn't want                                                                                                                            to wear the pink one!!

    




I won! Kind of...  :) 

On Tuesday, we had our Branch Game Night again, which is turning into a very good way to have friends and members meet and have fun together.



On Wednesday morning, we had our District Council meeting with our 4 missionaries. This was a transfer week, so Tuesday was a moving day, which moved DC meeting to Wednesday. We love interacting with our young missionaries! For this transfer, all 4 of our missionaries are from the states! In fact, they're all from the state of Utah! One is from Lehi; 2 are from South Jordan; and one is from north of SLC. Three of them have Vietnamese ancestry, which is very interesting. 

On Friday, we needed to accompany a family to get their toddler vaccinated; after that, we were free to explore! So we did. We found the Vietnamese National Museum of History, which has 2 buildings: one is from prehistoric to about the1930s; one is from about 1840 to the present. We chose the older exhibits and there were some very interesting ones:


I really liked this one because it depicted a battle led by the Hai Ba Trung ("2 ladies named Trung") sisters, and our Branch--and this area--is named for them. They were regarded as national heroines, and one of them became the first female monarch in Vietnam, as well as the first queen in the history of Vietnam.

These are arrowheads for use in the crossbows that were used historically.


Many of their artifacts reminded me of Incan and Mayan statues:







There were many beautiful wood carvings:



And many intricate artifacts made of iron:


It was a very interesting place to visit.


Many things were inlaid with what looked like Mother-of-Pearl.                                                          


This emperor's hat had SUCH amazing detail! All in 3-D gold!




The walk to get to the museum took us to a park where some people were walking their roosters:



That was an interesting sight!

This week went by quickly, and before we knew it it was Friday and we were teaching FHE again. Our agenda included making paper airplanes and teaching that even our smallest decisions can take us "off course" in life.

Saturday was another busy day with meetings, Music Class, English Activity, and ending with a Missionary Correlation meeting. These all seem to run together, beginning at 1:30 pm (when we arrive early because our Grab car didn't take forever this time!) until 8:30 pm. There is often only 40 minutes or so to grab dinner, so we walked a little way across a river to a neighborhood filled with street vendors selling sticky rice, fruit smoothies, sandwiches, and all kinds of meat-on-a-stick. Sometimes we're brave enough to try new things; this night, I stuck with a lemon smoothie and was not disappointed.

The missionary correlation meeting was, in part, to plan our upcoming baptism next Saturday (YAY for baptisms!!), so you'll be hearing more about that next week.

Today was Fast Sunday and Allen conducted and was able to bear his testimony in Vietnamese. The Branch members are so delighted to hear him speak in Vietnamese! They are always quick to compliment, and they really appreciate every effort we make to fit in and communicate better.

Today marks our first 6 months of service on our mission. For those of you who were betting that we would be fluent in the language by now, you lost. 

Thank you, kids and grandkids and friends, for your support, love, and prayers! We love you all and miss you!


































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