Push Through the Challenges

 Did you notice? We've missed a week with our blog. As you may recall from the last blog, Allen wasn't feeling well and this past week it was my turn to not feel well. And what do you do on a mission when you don't feel well? A lot of times you just push through the challenging times and grin and bear it. My grin may have been stretched a bit thin, but we've both come out on the other side and today we're well again!

The p-day you didn't hear about from the last day of March was a special zone p-day, and the Elders voted to do simulator golfing; the Sisters went along to show them how it's done. That's my story and I'm sticking with it.

Every p-day MUST include good food! And today the choice was made to go with a favorite American taste--hamburgers. Time enough for golfing AFTER filling the belly!

We had to immortalize this place so as to never forget it; the Elders will miss this place when they go home!

Allen actually won for accuracy...

And I won for... oh, wait... I didn't win.  But I did an admirable job using right hand clubs with a left-handed inclination to hit (or miss) the ball.                                                                                

Which is taller?

The week proceeded, and so did my cold. But on Wednesday, Allen had a connection from a work friend, and that friend had a business friend, who is Vietnamese and who wanted to meet Allen in Hanoi. We met him on Wednesday so Allen could talk engineering a bit, and then we meandered around Hoan Kiem Lake, one of the more fun places to wander if you're a tourist in Hanoi. We are NOT tourists, but we also love to wander there, and smile because we're NOT tourists!

I love these cards...

I love to take pictures of the markets out on the streets. We can find anything! Trouble is, we don't know what anything is! I've been brave before and bought different types of fruits that I've never seen, just to give them a try, and regretted it. I bought one thing that looked like an apple and tasted like a chalky squash. And trying 2 different types of oranges, even though they looked good, was NOT such a good idea. But the streets are colorful, crowded, noisy, and interesting. 

If we were inclined to eat seafood, we could find all kinds of things. Turtle soup, however, is not on my list of things to learn how to cook.

We DID get brave and tried new dishes at this street-side restaurant. I think we were charged tourist prices; we should have signs to point out to people that we're NOT tourists. :)

Some of the streets are dedicated to drinking beer. We got a lot of attention on those streets; therefore, we thought we'd better leave pretty quickly. 

And this is one of my favorite views when we go to Hoan Kiem Lake at night.

Besides not feeling my best, or maybe because of it, the week was a busy one. The next Tuesday was going to be transfers, which always makes for an interesting weekend. Saturday morning, we learned that we would be losing one Elder who would now be an Assistant to the President, and our District Leader would be training a new missionary who grew up in Hanoi. That made our Sunday a bittersweet day, as our current district had been very close and had many fun memories together. 

To celebrate and put a positive spin on it all, we made a spaghetti dinner on Sunday night, complete with apple cake and whipped cream for dessert. We watched 2 devotionals together and had a final farewell for Elder Truong, our new A.P., who grew up in South Jordan. We'll be seeing him again...

Our district missionaries were all tied up for p-day the next day, so Allen and I made arrangements to go experience a BIG national holiday called Hung Kings' Temple Festival. We had visited the Temple on January 31, right after Tet, with our friend Jonathan, whose family home is close by there. Once again, he was willing to take us and another senior couple to see the festivities, although he kept warning us about how crowded it would be. We believed him; haha, we had no idea...

Can you say "standing room only"??

Once we made it to the first temple, we had room to breathe. And then the fun began, with people wanting their picture taken with the old, white-haired Grandpa/Grandma (OngBa).

It was another fun day, but one we won't want to repeat! At least, not on a national holiday!

Sugar cane being pressed for juice...

Our branch welcomed home a returned missionary--Duy Nam. He had been serving in Ho Chi Minh City and we are very happy to have him home to strengthen the branch!

When we get new missionaries, the schedule is very interesting: On Monday the departing missionaries spend the day/evening at the mission home, then Tuesday they leave for home (and Duy Nam came here); the new missionaries don't arrive until Thursday evening, which means their new trainers are without companions for a few days, and they're all switched up in the different districts to be with temporary companions. This week, we had 2 Vietnamese Elders who arrived from the Manila MTC (Mission Training Center) around dinner time. Then we had 3 Sisters arrive from the Provo MTC at 9:30 pm. Allen and I were able to help our Mission Leaders, the Howells, by going to the mission home for dinner with the Howells and the new Elders and staying with them when the Howells went to pick up the new Sisters. It meant we got to bed after midnight, but it's so nice to have the chance to help the Howells, and to briefly meet the new missionaries. One of those new Elders is now in our District and Branch! We are excited to get to know Elder Hoang in the coming weeks. 

(Here is Elder Hoang in the center, and Brother Duy Nam on the left.)

While we waited for the new Elders (and dinner), Allen and I got to walk around West Lake for a little while, and I managed to take a few pictures.

(This isn't actually near West Lake, but it's got some cool houses across the river.)

Here are our new missionaries!

Today was our day to watch General Conference, only a week late! We enjoyed being at the church, although we were the only 2 people listening to the broadcast in English. 

Our branch had a small potluck lunch between sessions, and my clam chowder was a hit. Also...

...we took full advantage of our first opportunity to eat snails! Our Branch President picked them out, made sure they were all alive and good, cleaned them off, and cooked them. They were actually tasty.

And we had a lovely miracle today: BLUE SKIES AND SUNSHINE!!  We don't know how long it's been since we had blue sky in Hanoi! And the temperature was lovely; Allen and I got to take advantage and go for a walk this evening. Next week is supposed to be up in the high 90s, so we will enjoy the 70s while we can!

We hope you're all healthy and happy! We are!