This week, we want our Blog to give you a picture of what our missionary life is like, as we often show all of the fun things we do, but skip over the day-to-day workings of life as a missionary. I'll try to give just the right amount of details; I assume I'll fail. Sorry!
Here goes!
Monday: This is p-day; our young missionaries use this day to contact their families, prepare for the upcoming week, clean apartments, and then do something to take them out of their regular routine. Often, we suggest places to visit or things to do, but today they were all busy with their own agendas. Therefore, Allen and I were on our own.
Morning--Allen prepared the reimbursement forms so the missionaries throughout the mission can get back the money they have spent on certain travel expenses, bike expenses, sometimes medical expenses, etc. He spends a couple of hours on this once or twice a week. When he is not doing this, he is reading his scriptures, studying Vietnamese, studying other Church material, or pondering suggestions for callings or other situations in the branch, where he is 1st counselor to the Branch President.
I am busy trying to get enough sleep, then studying Vietnamese, listening to the scriptures or to the Follow Him podcast, or another Church podcast. This morning, we had an errand at the Mission Office, so we scheduled a Grab car, and chatted with the driver; well, we tried to communicate in our broken (very broken) Vietnamese with the use of Google translate. We are very brave sometimes!
After our errand, we decided to visit the Imperial Citadel of Thang Long which was built in 1011. This citadel is a former capital of Vietnam, and was very interesting to visit. We walked approximately 1 mile from the mission office to the citadel.
The Flag Tower of the Citadel--very impressive!
On the way...
The old North gate...
These are the grounds from the window of one of the old buildings at the Citadel. Beautiful.
And this is how steep the stairs are going up and down to the upper floor! Almost like a ladder!
This is that building from down below.
And the grounds...at ground level...
Lotus statue(?)
We met a different District of missionaries visiting the Citadel that day!
That was a fun surprise.
This was inside a part of the museum; the dragon head in front is like the dragon on the animated screen.
Murals of Water Puppets... This is very much a part of the cultural heritage of Vietnam.
The grounds from the upper floor of another building.
It's a HUGE area...and then we watched the clouds rolling in...
We saw these young women being photographed and filmed--no idea who they were or why they were doing it, but they were beautiful.
As we toured the site, the day was sunny and very warm and humid, and as we walked, the wind came up and the clouds blew in and the temperature dropped as the raindrops began to fall. It ended up being quite a thunderstorm, but we were fortunate in that we had reached the end of our exploring and were waiting for our Grab car. The other missionaries were not so lucky!
We arrived home at 4:30 pm. I made notes on some missionaries who had reached out to me with problems; Allen fixed some reimbursement requests, and then at 6:00 pm, we signed into Zoom for the PMG (Preach My Gospel) mission-wide teaching for half an hour. The young missionaries take it in turns to present the lesson from Preach My Gospel; they do a good job. We click the tab for the English interpretation: sometimes we can understand as the missionaries take turns interpreting, and sometimes their microphones make it so we may as well not even be there. But we make sure we attend! It's important for us to let them know we support them and are "all in" with them.
That evening, the stormy day blessed us with some amazing views from our balcony!
We actually see mountains in the distance! That almost never happens!
Rows upon rows of buildings, the way mountains sometimes seem to be rows upon rows...
The sun is setting around 6:20 pm; that is quite constant throughout the entire year.
After PMG, it's time to go find dinner at a local restaurant, where we spend anywhere between $2 and $4 each for our meal. We ate at 7 pm and went back to the apartment where I worked on my Blog from last week from 8 pm to past midnight (I had a LOT of pictures I had to decide on!). I was interrupted by a missionary who had accidentally drunk some fermented juice and wasn't feeling well. That involved taking the phone call, looking up anything useful online (how often do I deal with drinking problems?), and reporting to the mission president's wife so she knows what's going on.
Tuesday: We reserve Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday as our exercise days in the gym on the first floor of our apartment building. Tuesday is also the usual day we have our District Missionaries come to our apartment for District Training. They come at noon and we all eat lunch together, then the meeting is from 1:00 pm to 2:30 pm.
Allen: down to the gym
Barbara: take a phone call from the missionary with the fermented juice. Check on the companion, who also drank the juice. They're both fine, with a slight hangover. Head to the gym
Both: shower and get ready for the day. Barb: start making banana muffins. Allen: study gospel and language.
12:15 pm: Muffins are a resounding success, as usual. District missionaries arrive and eat lunch until 1 pm; teaching and planning from 1-2:40 pm. I get to say the opening prayer in Vietnamese; Allen gets to teach a missionary standard. 3:00 pm: Barb study language; Allen study everything.
4:30 pm: Grab to the church building to meet with the missionaries and help with a video for English activity. 4:45 pm: arrive--that was a QUICK trip! Set up tables and chairs and ping pong table for game night.
5:15 pm: walk with missionaries to find Banh My for dinner, and smoothies for the video.
6:15 pm: walk back to the church to meet with a sister who wants to learn "gospel English words", only to discover she can't come today. 6:30 pm: friends show up early for game night. 7:00 pm: Game Night officially begins and goes until 8:10 pm. We mingle, engage in conversations as well as games, keep little kids busy while their parents play.
Rosie has quite a talent for drawing anime!
Eating some sour-ish mango with Sister Chung...
Grab home at 8:40 pm. I write up notes on missionaries who have texted or called me throughout the day. Going to bed at 10:17 pm.
Wednesday: Today was a day for medical issues--mine. Allen spent the day studying the language while I worked on getting medicine for a mild case of asthma. The amazing thing is that here in Vietnam we can call for an appointment the same or next day, have tests and x-rays ordered that get done that same day, and pay only a portion of what it would cost in the states. That can be done for MRIs as well as x-rays, etc. In the evening, we went downstairs at 6:20 pm to get a Grab car that got to our building at 6:30 pm; we made it to the church in record time and were there at 6:50 pm. We were helping the Sister missionaries with a lesson with one of their investigators; that's a favorite thing for us to do. We love the chance to testify from our own life experiences how we know the Church is true. We were done at 7:45 pm and home by Grab a little after 8 pm. Then I took care of personal things we needed to have done while Allen studied and we made it to bed before 10!
Thursday: We got up early (at least, I did; Allen is always up by now) to call and visit with Joey, Teri, and their 2 boys, Leo and Xander. Then we called Justin and Joyce and Brooke after that. Then down to the gym where we were amazed to find 2 treadmills available! Back upstairs, we discovered that for whatever reason, our apartment water had only hot available, no cold. That made for some interesting showers. Then, Allen studied again, I typed this, and then I studied the language while I ate breakfast. We decided we needed to get out of the apartment, and so we often just walk the streets of Hanoi when we need to go out. We want to be seen by Vietnamese people so that their curiosity is aroused, and since we can't speak the language, and aren't allowed to proselyte on the street anyway, we do our missionary work by walking! I love to take pictures of the things we see; therefore, I'm sure I've taken a LOT of the same things over and over again! No matter; it will help us remember what an amazing experience this has all been when we're no longer living in Vietnam.
All the things you could possibly want to buy, all out on the street for you!!
Thursday is English activity from 7-8 pm. We Grabbed there a bit early again--we are getting better at guessing how long these 2 mile rides will take, but we still hedge our bets and leave at least 1/2 hour early. Lately, we've been arriving 10-15 minutes early.
The topic tonight was Sports and Leisure. The young missionaries teach the bulk of the English information, giving the topic, some sound/letter pronunciations (like T-T, Th-Th, Tr-Tr, etc.), some vocabulary, some grammar rules, and then some conversation practice. But before all that begins, Allen and I get to shine! We do our best to choose a song that will go with the topic, Allen writes it on the board, and we sing and explain and sing again. Tonight the song was "Take Me Out to the Ball Game", and we had a lot of fun presenting it. (Allen can disagree if he can get to the blog before I post it!)
At the end of the English lesson, the missionaries share a short spiritual message, hoping that the friends who are there will be interested in hearing more.
When the presentation is over, some of the friends often like to stay after for a few minutes to get a bit more practice in. I have become friends with a Vietnamese woman names Gnoc (Nope) who likes the fact that we're both near the same age, and we both have slow brains in learning another language. Tonight, she mentioned how impressed she was that Allen is such a good man and has been loyal to me for 44 years of marriage. That lead to a discussion about how important families are to us in the Church, and how we can be married in the temple to show our devotion to God and receive blessings from Him, like having our family sealed to us forever. And this lead to discussions about covenants and baptism, and she had a few questions that were very thoughtful. It's times like this that we are especially grateful to be here in a country where our example stands out to our friends, and we feel we are able to have a good influence on them. We would LOVE if Gnoc would continue to be interested and want to know more, but if all she ever wants is to learn more English, that's fine, too. God has a plan, and we just follow along and make ourselves available when we can.
Friday morning I had an Asia Area Health Council Meeting. These happen once a month, and a representative from each mission in Asia meets over Zoom with the Area Medical Authority, the Area Mental Health Authority, the IFR--whose letters I don't remember right now. :) This lasts for an hour and is a place where we can discuss any questions or situations we have, and get a bit of information from other meetings that have taken place.
Once this meeting was over, I caught up on notes about the progress of missionaries I've been following, and Allen continued to study as he had been doing all morning.
We ate lunch in the apartment, then had a free afternoon to help our Mission Leaders with a project they had: Sister Howell needed an Ao Dai (Ow Zye--fancy Vietnamese long dress), and she needed company! Allen may have been less than thrilled about going, but I think President Howell was less than thrilled, as well. We paired up very nicely.
It's always fun to go walking around Hoan Kiem Lake; you never know what you'll see!
This little family was all dressed up and ready to ride away on their scooter, but didn't mind me taking a picture of them.
We actually had a good time walking around with the Howells, despite the fact that none of us are all that big on shopping--nope, not even me, when it's for clothing. Sister Howell was successful, and that meant it was even more fun.
Next Wednesday, April 30, Vietnam celebrates Reunification Day, the day Saigon fell. We're told it will be a big day, and decorations are going up all over.
These pictures are of our apartment building entrance.
Being Friday, it was our date night, so after the Howells left us, we wandered some more and found some squid for Allen to eat, and some sweet and sour chicken for me to eat.
The restaurant is just a few steps off the street, and open to it.
The view of the street from the restaurant...
Bicycles that are loaded with anything that sells cruise up and down the streets, hoping to catch the eye of tourists in this part of town.
We had decided to eat out because it was rush hour when we finished hunting for ao dais, and we knew it would take us longer to Grab home at that time. It was a good plan, and after dinner, it only took us about 25 minutes to get home.
Saturday was the busiest and best day of the week.
Another trip downstairs to the gym was followed by me making cookies (someone had brought raisins to English activity on Thursday night, so I took the leftovers for my next culinary experiment) for the baptisms scheduled for that night.
Allen had Branch Council Meeting with the branch president at 2:00 pm, so we Grabbed over there by 1:45 pm. We arrived at the same time as the Howells, as they were there for missionary interviews which take place for them every 6 weeks.
My music class begins at 3:00 pm, but my star student, Chi Hoa (Sister Hoa, who was baptized about a month ago), always comes early, as this is the only time she can practice. She arrived at 2:10 pm and settled down at a keyboard while I set up the rest of the room and drew some things on the board in preparation for anyone else who might show up. That's a hard thing about this music class: it originally began as a conducting class and I had about 7-8 people who began with me. Then most of them dropped out and left me with my star, who learned how to conduct well, and really wanted to learn to play the piano. She is a constant, but I have up to 3 other people who may or may not show up, depending on their schedule, and they're all at different places on their learning journey. This Saturday, I began with only Chi Hoa, and at 3:20 pm she was joined by Hoang (he was baptized about 2 months ago), who loves to learn but hasn't been there much. At 3:30 pm, we were joined by Hung, who has been there even less but he really wants to learn, too. So I'm constantly flitting from one person to another, setting them different things to work on while I'm busy with someone else. And the young men are impatient to know everything! I'm trying to jump them ahead as quickly as I can, just so they don't get bored with practicing--which they HAVE to do! It's a challenge, but it's rewarding.
English on Saturday began at 4:00 pm, which brought my music class to a close. Once again, Allen and I presented "Take Me Out to the Ball Game" and really gave the Howells a kick to see us doing it. English ended at 5:00 pm, and tonight we scurried afterwards to get ready for the baptism of 2 men, to be performed at 5:30 pm.
Dung (Zoom) has attended church off and on for 2 years, and recently was able to have his family agree that it would be okay for him to be baptized, even though his entire family is Buddhist. He's in his 40s and has 2 young boys.
Lam (Lum) is also in his 40s, and has been learning the gospel for 3 months. He has been able to stop drinking beer and smoking, and bears a strong testimony about the happiness he feels in the gospel, and the help he received in stopping those habits.
Dung asked for Allen to baptize him, as he feels a special connection with him. Allen has now baptized 2 people in Vietnam, and reads the baptismal prayer in Vietnamese for the ordinance.
Lam had Elder Felt baptize him, and this is Elder Felt's second baptism in Vietnam, as well. Elder Felt arrived in Vietnam a month after we did, but his Vietnamese is above and beyond what we can speak and understand! I'd be a little jealous, but I know how much time he spent in the MTC, and living with missionaries all day who speak the language with him.
I am the pianist for the baptisms, and it's a wonderful chance to share in the joy of the evening. Here I am with my personal interpreter, Sister Ngo.
The Howells stayed for the baptisms, and reassured us that we are very influential in this branch, and very much appreciated. These experiences make any effort on our part worthwhile, and we are so grateful to be able to be missionaries here in Vietnam.
We've reached the end of our week! We had hoped to give you a picture of a normal week for us, but realized that we really don't have normal weeks--each one is so different, and that is very typical!
If this contains more detail than you needed, I apologize. I won't let it happen again. Our main hope is to show you how much we try to interact with the Vietnamese people, and how much we have grown to love them.
We love you all and are grateful for your thoughts and prayers!
Have a wonderful week!
P.S. Our final submission for the week... The laundry from the baptisms--5 white towels, 2 white jumpsuits, and Allen's shirt and pants--are hanging on our drying rack in our living room. Yep, we do the laundry after baptisms! And our washer/dryer combo machine only works as a washer; we use a metal drying rack about 6 feet long for any laundry we do during the week. Shoot! I forgot to add in the 4 loads of laundry we did earlier! That takes a bit of coordinating, when the rack only holds so much. Ah, well; another day in the life... :)
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