Back to the Basics

 We've passed a major holiday, as well as our own fun vacation trip. Now we're back to living life day-to-day as missionaries. Let's see what we were able to come up with this week...

Luckily, each week begins with p-day, so we get to start to week with a bang! One of our Sisters has had her heart set on visiting Bat Trang, Pottery Village, and making her own pottery. The rest of us have done it at least once, but it seemed like a good thing to do on a fairly hot day, so we made our plans accordingly.

Lunch is ALWAYS a must on p-day. This was bun rieu, something we had never tried before. You choose your basic soup--crab soup--and pay for add-ons like beef or snail or fried tofu. It comes with some tomato floating in it, and they bring you lettuce you can add to it. It's always good to try something once, right?

And then we got to Bat Trang and were immediately accosted, just like last time, and invited to a pottery room where we were aided and abetted in making another personal creation for $4. It's a fun activity, and this Sister especially enjoyed it. Her creation was a lily pad complete with little green frog, and was cute! I'm not sure if it became a lily pad because the vase she was making became a not-a-vase, or if it really was supposed to be a lily pad to begin with. 

Allen found a real, HUGE kiln, and we got to go see in it and around it...

We debated--and still debate--about how they could have made a pot this size.

One of the things I was most excited about in going to Bat Trang again was to find a Vietnamese teapot that I could buy and ship home. I hope to make it something special for my grandkids, complete with lemonade and cookies. My granddaughters already have this tradition and I love it.

Tuesday was District Council Meeting, and to prove that we have it, this time we took pictures!

Once a month, the Sister Training Leaders from Saigon fly up to Hanoi for Mission Leader Council with all the other young leaders from the north, and when they do, the STLs from the south stay with the STLs from the north, who are in our branch, and we get all 4 of the sweetest sister missionaries. It makes it even more fun.

The other big activity Allen and I had this week was to visit the B52 Victory Museum in Hanoi. This is a free museum dedicated to the military forces who were successful in bringing down the U.S. B52 bombers. The Vietnamese are very proud of this accomplishment. It's one of the hardest things we do in Vietnam, to see the celebration of the victories from this side of the war when we remember the defeats from the other side of the war. It really brings into focus the fact that there are two sides to every story, and that the Vietnamese were fighting for their families and their homelands. One day, I want to know the absolute truth about the Vietnamese War, but not until it doesn't matter any more, when there will be no animosity on either side; it will just be historical facts with all the human elements removed, and that may be during the millennium. That's okay with me.

And then we kept walking, as we do, and found a pagoda to check out!

We ended up on our favorite street--Hang Ma Street. This is the street known for it's decorations for whatever holiday is coming up! Now, they're decorating for the mid-Autumn Festival...lots of lanterns and fish decorations. At least, that's the reason we think they're all there on the street right now! All I know is that it was very colorful and very fun, and we added to our lantern collection for our gazebo.

And then it was time to go home at the end of a long day.

Thursday was filled with whatever we could fill it with, including personal study and language study. Allen has begun to step out in the mornings while I'm still pulling myself together so that he can study in a little park area near our apartment. He has met a couple of the older men in the community in wheelchairs and chatted with them, using Google translate when necessary. One of the men has really loved the chance to visit, and Allen is glad when he has his daughter there to help translate; another man speaks good English and is a retired chemical engineer. Allen has really enjoyed that; one day, I'll make it down there to say hello.

Thursday evening we went over to the church for the English activity. The missionaries have divided the class into beginners and those more advanced, and it seems to help them be a bit more successful in learning English. But the real purpose and hope is that the students will discover something special about the place and the people, and they'll want to learn more about what it is they're feeling. The missionaries have been fairly successful, and have taught quite a few people this way, and many of the baptisms they get come from people who at least are introduced to the gospel at English after they hear about it on Facebook. It's an interesting experience.

Friday is the Young Single Adult night, and the activity is for those 18-35 years of age who are single. As it is geared toward having fun with that age group, and we do not understand the language, we slow them down a bit when we attend. We went to the activity this week, but we excused ourselves after the first half hour so I could go home and listen to a zoom meeting for continuing education for health care professionals who help with the missionaries. It was very interesting.

Saturday, our busy day, did not disappoint. Allen had his branch presidency meeting, I had my music class and had a full room with 4 attendees, and then we had another session of English in the afternoon. When that ended, I got to help teach a lesson, Allen got to help with a special need in our branch, and then we made it home in time for a date night. Lovely.

Today is Sunday! The Blogspot is working today! Hallelujah! So I'm doing my best to get this blog finished so I can go to bed on time--sort of.

Our sacrament meeting today was a smashing success, as we invited anyone with a favorite hymn who wanted to share, to come explain why it was a favorite and then we would sing it. This was a first time, and there was a chance it wouldn't go over well, but it was very well-received. Yay! We ran out of time before we ran out of people who wanted to share! The branch president was very sweet and offered to play the songs on his laptop, as he was sure I would be too tired from playing to be able to do it for the whole hour. I surprised him.

And then there was the 2nd hour, and then the branch council meeting, and then the missionary council meeting, and then Allen taught the self-reliance class, and then I fixed dinner, and then I wrote up all my medical notes for the few days I've been putting it off, and then I wrote this, and now I'm done!

I hope your week is lovely!  If anyone has any questions or comments about Vietnam or what we do every week, or any day, please send us your question or comment in an email and we'd be delighted to respond!

Thank you for your thoughts, love, and prayers!