Slow Week...and Still Fast

 This was a less-exciting week, as Allen wasn't feeling well on our p-day and opted to sleep all afternoon rather than go adventuring. It was not a bad thing to take a day off from traveling here and there, although it did make for less pictures to show on our blog. I did manage to leave him alone for a few minutes while I went to check out what was like a street fair in front of the nearby mall. There were 2 long blocks of vendors, some selling food and some selling clothing, and some selling all kinds of accessories. I happened on a booth where a young man was pounding rice into a gelatinous substance in a big pot on the sidewalk. I'd like to have known the story behind it, but didn't ask.

The weather here in Hanoi has been interesting; summer doesn't know if it's coming or going. We've had days in the 60s, and then suddenly the days were in the 90s! And today, we're back in the 60s. I gotta say, I don't mind the cooler weather because I know what's coming--mentally, not experientially. I'm a little afraid...

Tuesday we had another slow day until the evening, when we went to Game Night again. It was a more popular spot this night and was fun. We go about 1/2 hour early so I can tutor our friend in learning English vocabulary that is gospel related. She wants to be able to converse with foreigners about the Church, which is really impressive. She is very sweet and spends a great deal of time at the church because her husband has a calling that keeps his hand in anything relating to the branch, which we really appreciate.

We did get in a bit of walking during the week, including 2 miles on Tuesday and 4 miles on Friday.

Here we can see our apartment complex from a street not too far from the church building.

We can get our dinner for about $3...IF we're willing to kill it and pluck it and cook it ourselves.

We're not quite sure what this type of meat is...or was...actually, I see now that it was goat!

Tonight, we opted to get Xoi Co Le...Sticky rice with all kinds of things on top. We had stopped here for dinner once before, but this time it wasn't dark yet and we could see what we were eating, and we STILL ate it! It was good, too.

It went against all the advice we've been given about NOT eating from street vendors, and making sure the restaurants we go to have at least 3 walls. But this lady has served the missionaries for years, so we all know that she serves good food. And just up the street from her cart is a cart that makes some very good fruit smoothies. This night I had a passion fruit smoothie and did not regret it.

Another day, we stopped at a market on the street because I wanted some broccoli, and I don't usually see broccoli in the supermarkets. I got a big head of broccoli and 2 cucumbers for just under $1.

Turns out I could have bought a catfish, too, as this one had somehow flopped out of it's dish. It's owner quickly scooted him back, flapping and wriggling. Eek.

English activity on Thursday was fun, as the topic was music. Allen and I like to think of songs that will go with the themes, and our Vietnamese class likes to learn the words and tunes. Today we did Do-Re-Mi...with all the English words that Julie Andrews taught the kids.

Friday began like every other day; after we went walking for a bit, we came home to our apartment. I was bending over the sink when I seemed to get REALLY dizzy, and Allen was getting an apple out of the fridge when he seemed to get REALLY dizzy. As soon as we realized we were both swaying, we also realized we were feeling an earthquake!  It took a few minutes for us to find the report that there had just been a 7.7 earthquake in Myanmar, about 700 miles away from us. Notwithstanding the distance, we were really swaying up on the 31st floor. The thought came that maybe we should exit our building, and then just as quickly the thought came that we didn't want to be in an elevator in an earthquake! And we don't even know where the stairs are in our building! So we ignored it and stayed put. To think that we had to come all the way to Vietnam to really a feel an earthquake, when we live in southern California! But the earthquakes we feel in CA are just quick jerks and they're finished, and not even very strong. With this one, we swayed for over a minute, or so it seemed.

After the excitement was over, we helped the missionaries with a couple of lessons--one was a man in his 40s who wants to be baptized; the other was a 20-year-old from Myanmar who was exploring churches.  Thankfully, his family was safe in the earthquake, and their house sustained minimal damage.

That evening was unique in that we didn't have commitments to keep! So Allen got a haircut and I got a date night! Dinner (homemade clam chowder) and a movie (on YouTube)--couldn't have been better.

Saturday is our busiest day and this was no exception, except that we must be getting used to it because we took it in stride even more than usual. Allen ran an errand with a branch member in the morning, and then we both made it to the church by 1:30 pm, where we helped with another lesson, this time with a sweet woman in her 30s who was to be baptized that night. After the lesson, she and I headed to the music room for piano practicing, as she is my one consistent pupil!

Partway through the class, we were joined by 2 brothers--one was baptized about 6 weeks ago and his brother is taking the missionary lessons. Both of them were excited to learn about playing the piano; we'll see how committed they both are.

English activity followed, with the same topic and lesson as on Thursday--Music--and we had fun conversing with everyone. But our biggest and most fun event of the day was yet to be...

At 5:30 pm, our good friend and my best piano student was baptized! She was so very happy afterwards, and so excited to be a part of the Church now!

The Elders taught her; Elder Truong baptized her.

The Sisters loved her into the church...

And so did we!

This is her 7-year-old son, who is VERY active!

It is a joy to be a part of the happiness the new members feel after they are baptized. Today she was confirmed a member of the Church, and she told us again how very happy she is. She said she will never forget the events of the past 2 days. Neither will we.

Have a wonderful week!