Deja Vu... again?

 

The definition of deja vu is "a feeling of having already experienced the present situation", and while this week's p-day adventure was to the same place (our 4th time), each time has been enough different that it's not quite a deja vu, after all. This time, we hiked from the bottom of the Thanh Giong Monument (also the Soc Son Temple) and discovered that the area is being totally renovated, and in another year it will look like a completely different place, with wide paths and cultivated lawns and gardens surrounding the old pagodas. It is losing its rustic charm, I think. There was once a small, old cottage where a part of the legend of Thanh Giong took place, where his mother gave birth and raised him, and that cottage is no longer there. It has been razed to the ground to make way for what, I'm sure, they think will be a very attractive visitor's area. I'm glad we saw it when we did, for all 4 times. And Allen says there may well be another time in our future in the next 3 months. Tune in to our same news channel and you'll be sure to hear all about it.

We were anxious to visit here again because we have a sister missionary who is finishing her mission tomorrow and she really wanted to go on this hike. Plus, Allen has been waiting for the air quality to be good enough and the weather to be cool enough to go, so we decided to brave it and give our missionaries a good hike on this day. We have to rent a big van to fit all 8 of us, and they invited another "friend" to come along for the experience.

And here begins the "hike of 1000 steps".

And here is where the "deja vu" begins to kick in...

                                                                                                   ...yep, and there I am, draggin' up the rear!

And here we have arrived at the Soc Son Temple complex that we love to see each time we come.

We had the experience again of people coming up to us and wanting their picture taken with us. This woman was the first one...                                                                                                                           

These were just visitors dressed up to worship on this Monday.

2026 is the Year of the Horse. Mostly they are powerful horses, but some are cute, like this little one.

Okay, okay... time to get going up again...                                                                                              

More random people who pulled their car over when they saw us coming and jumped out and asked if they could ALL take their picture with us! 

WE MADE IT TO THE TOP!!!

The other times we were up here, we had at least some sort of view over the side! But this bad air took away any view we might have had.                                                                                                           

What goes up, must come down.

And it was a STEEP way down that we took this time! Allen likes to explore when he gets a chance...

My legs finally stopped shaking at the bottom. :)

We'd never been inside this pagoda before. It was very interesting inside.

A shrine outside a different little building.

District Council meeting on Tuesday was interesting because the Sisters wanted to make cinnamon rolls, since it was Sister Duong's last DC meeting on her mission. I have to admit that I've not made cinnamon rolls before, so I found a recipe, made sure we had the ingredients, and let them have at it. I was the advisor only, and they did a great job! 

Sadly, I didn't take any pictures of the finished product! And they forgot to share their pictures!

When we finish the training portion of the meeting, they stick around for language study, and it's fun to hear them do different things to learn Vietnamese--or English--better. Sometimes it's just reading, sometimes it seems to be "stump the person" with vocabulary, which can be quite entertaining.

And then we go hang out at the church for game night, which always starts out with a spiritual thought.

And then it divides up into a variety of games and activities.

On Wednesday afternoon, Allen and I walked to the underground market to pick up my ao dai (which you will see at a later date), and continued on for a walk. We found a few interesting sights...

This tree fascinated me...

The homes are often open to the air, and to the heat or the cold.

Here is a street-side air-hose for your bike or your scooter or car.                                                                   

Wednesday night, our friends in the branch were so kind and generous, and treated all the missionaries to a dinner featuring goat meat in honor of Sister Duong's mission-end. It was an interesting meal!

Thursday, we went to dinner near the church by 6 pm and then walked to the church by 7 pm for the English activity. It surprised us to see the buildings torn down that we hadn't noticed before. And then our walk ended near the little river; it's just an interesting part of town.

On Friday we got to wander the streets again as we found a little shop to mend some pants for Allen. It's always fun to turn down a side street and explore. Allen has been down this street before; Kevin is coming for a visit this weekend and we hope we can find this street again to take him down to see it.

You can get your hair cut in a place like this...

We had our rice bowl with meat for dinner at a little restaurant, then walked to the church for a Young Single Adult activity. The Relief Society had invited us to share how to do a Family Home Evening to have a happy family. We shared examples or how we had done FHE when our kids were young, and then when they were growing, and emphasized that these families should do what is important to them, and especially to emphasize love between family members. We were just part of a whole night on the importance of spending time with families, and it was a great success. We think there were about 30 people there, and after subtracting the 8 missionaries, 1/2 of the people who were left were not members! It was great!

Our Saturday was another good day with our regular meetings, piano, and English, and we got to have our date night with dinner and a movie. Those nights are an important part of my missionary service.

Today, Sunday, we enjoyed going to church with our branch. We are having around 30 people come each Sunday, and a good number of those are investigators. We find out each Tuesday at District Council meeting just how many new members (baptized in the past year) attended, as well as how many friends come each week. Allen tries to count while he's on the stand; he can check his numbers against the missionaries' numbers on Tuesday.  It's always very interesting and important to see how that work is progressing.

And this evening, we had all 6 young missionaries come over for a District dinner because yesterday was transfer calls and we discovered that one of our Elders will be transferring and going to Ho Chi Minh City on Tuesday. He has only been in Vietnam for one transfer, so it's a bit of a surprise to lose him so soon, but he will enjoy the experience. We are also losing Sister Duong, who is going home to her family in Hanoi on Tuesday. She is excited to end her mission, and is planning to live in our branch as soon as she can move in with her cousin! So she says she'll be right back! We love our missionaries. We will have 2 new members in our district beginning on Tuesday, so that will be fun to get to know them.

Have a wonderful week!

We are looking forward to picking up Kevin this coming Saturday!!

We have all kinds of fun planned in his behalf, so he says he's ready to hang on for the ride!!!

We're hoping for cleaner air and a bit more sunshine!

Be safe!