Eighty-Six Down, One to Go...

I had to go to my calendar and count to make sure I was accurate. Wow. It doesn't seem like it's been that long, and yet it does.

This will be the second-to-last Mission Blog, so I'll try to make it worth reading!

In another attempt to educate and amaze our young missionaries (as we ourselves have been educated and amazed), we decided to take them to Van Phuc Silk Village this week for p-day. It is an amazing place, but this being about the 5th time we've been, I'm sorry to say that I didn't take as many pictures as I normally do. This picture is of one of the many looms working away at creating the silk that the village is famous for.

It was very interesting trying to describe to these missionaries what a punch-card was back in the day when Allen was in college and using them to create his computer programs. This picture is showing the punch- cards (on the left) that are telling this particular loom what pattern to make in the silk.

These large spindles carry the silk threads. These are white; elsewhere, they are colored.

So MANY threads, and such intricate patterns...

Throughout Van Phuc, you find many shops that are filled with silk clothing, and you also find many that are filled with other things made with silk, or just made to be beautiful: purses, weavings, ties, scarves, animals, book covers, every kind of bag, etc.

This silk, hand-pieced quilt was being sold for $300 usd.

This is typical of the shopkeepers in the village; they sit out on the street, waiting for customers, visiting as they wait.

The beautiful pagoda of the village, here at the entrance. I left in 2 pictures so you could see it better.

The old villages often have their own gates into their village, and the gates have been left as a reminder of their identity. There are some very cool gates all around Hanoi.

Tuesday this week was the Book of Mormon Club, since last Tuesday was game night. We alternate now in an attempt to make sure we are making it worthwhile to come to the church, and it's working! When we tried to study the Book of Mormon on Friday nights last year for a little while, we had very few people come and those few slimmed down to almost none, which is why we tried a game night instead. That was so successful, and there were so many new friends learning about the gospel, that it was decided to try the Book of Mormon study nights again, and it's been great.

When we first arrived in Hanoi 2 years ago, this sweet family in our Hai Ba Trung Branch invited is to dinner for our first experience with a Vietnamese family and dinner, and Phuong fixed us Banh Xeo. This Wednesday, she invited us and the 2 Sisters over for dinner and once again served Banh Xeo, so now we have book-ended our lives in Hanoi with a wonderful family and a wonderful meal.

Banh Xeo is like crunchy pancake, filled with bean sprouts and shrimp; you take rice paper, add the banh xeo, add noodles, add strips of carrot and cucumber and mango, and lettuce, roll it up and dip it in fish sauce.

Our most-anticipated event of the week was a visit from a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, Elder Gerald Causse, who came to Vietnam on Thursday for a meeting with all the members, and a meeting on Friday with all the missionaries, and I mean ALL the missionaries--everyone flew up from Saigon to be a part of this historic visit.

On Thursday, our District went early to Ba Dinh where the District Center (think Stake Center) is so we wouldn't be late, and we went to a hamburger place called SunKats for dinner. Good choice.

Then we walked 15 minutes to get to the church. It was really fun to see all the Hanoi missionaries come, as well as all the stalwart members of the branches. With around 200 members in Hanoi, we probably had 100-120 people come to this Thursday evening devotional with Elder Causse, and afterwards he shook hands with everyone.

This is Huyen, who finished her mission here in Vietnam last year. She has been living down in Saigon and was SOOO excited that she would see us at this meeting, as she has now moved back up to Hanoi.

Photo Bomb, courtesy of Sister Harris, the wife of the Patriarch in Vietnam. They are assigned to live in Saigon, and their mission will end at the end of June.

This is Sister Causse. This is how we do side-along interpretation here in Vietnam, if we're lucky. When English speakers give their talks, a Vietnamese speaker stands next to them to interpret as they go. This interpreter is Chi Thu, who is in our branch and is the branch president's wife. She is great. She interpreted for me the first time Allen and I were asked to speak in our first District Conference when we had been in Hanoi for a month or so. It's her little girl who is in many of my FB posts pushing a mop around and looking so adorable.

Elder Causse spoke about recognizing our potential and the potential of Vietnam, and never giving up.

Elder Causse's interpreter is Jonathan, a friend who has taken us a few places and who loves to spend time with the missionaries.

This is Co Huong, who is in our branch and who made me this beautiful doily as a going-away gift.

Chi Huyen was excited to shake hands with an Apostle.

Friday was a very fun day because all the missionaries from the south were able to come up to Hanoi to be a part of the meeting with Elder Causse. They had to leave for the airport by 4:30 am to do it, but it was worth it to them.

After the missionaries from the South had some time to nap and study, the Hanoi missionaries joined them at noon. The senior missionaries arrived around 10:30 am and we had a good chance to just visit until noon, when the pizza arrived. I had spent a few hours on Wednesday morning making cookies as my parting gift for all the missionaries, so that was a fun thing to add to their lunch, and it was greatly appreciated.

Here we're practicing for the pictures that would be taken when Elder Causse arrived. Yep, gotta practice to get things right.

A fun thing thing to know is that with all the practicing for pictures, the mood in the room was getting a little fun and boisterous, and President Howell had really wanted our missionaries to show a good example of reverence and respect when Elder Causse arrived. Well, his arrival was imminent, and the climate in the room was a bit jovial, so I began to sing I Am a Child of God, and everyone joined in. Then I began Families Can Be Together Forever. Then we sang We Thank Thee, O God, For a Prophet. I kept hoping Elder Causse would come soon, as I was running out of songs I knew the missionaries would know by heart, and that's when President Howell said "Can you start that one once more?" So we sang We Thank Thee, O God, For a Prophet one more time, and on the last verse, the Apostle came in. It was a sweet feeling to know that I had contributed to the reverence of the occasion.

I need a do-over. haha My face is full of sour grapes--caught at a bad second for some reason. Oh, well.

Chi Khom is from Cambodia. She teaches investigators from Cambodia who can't speak Vietnamese. She is responsible for having 5 people on date. She hurt her back last week and spent 2 days in the hospital, and the doctor didn't want her to fly to Hanoi. We ignored the doctor. I don't think she regrets it. She is the one shaking hands with Elder Causse now.

Here we are with our friends, the Smarts. They are the humanitarian aid couple who end their mission the day before we do.

As soon as the Meeting with Elder Causse was over, we headed home to get ready for a YSA activity where I was a main participant. Very often at branch pot-lucks I make clam chowder, and it has become a very popular dish. Our branch YSA leader really wanted me to teach the YSA how to make clam chowder so that it wouldn't be lost to Vietnam forever once we are gone. So Thursday afternoon, he met us at the supermarket and bought the ingredients, and tonight Allen and I hurried home after the meeting, grabbed the ingredients and pots and pans, and headed to the church to teach the YSA how to make clam chowder. We ended up with 19 people there, including 8 missionaries; a good success. Everyone had a chance to participate, and everyone seemed to enjoy the activity, and the chowder.

Chopping clams!

The leftovers, what little there were, were taken home in an empty milk bottle, just so more people could share in it.

Saturday Allen and I were invited to Tu and Linh's home for lunch, which was really nice of them. Tu is the Elders Quorum President and Linh is now the 1st Counselor in the Primary presidency. Their little boy Ro-ni is the other little mopper/sweeper in a lot of my FB posts. They fixed us Pho Ga (chicken pho), which was really good.

We ended up at the church in plenty of time for our meetings and piano, and I was delighted to see that Hoa was able to come to piano! She has been terribly busy lately and I've been worried about her.

This weekend begins a long holiday for many people, as next week is the celebration of Reunification Day, and many people go to their hometowns for the holiday. This meant that I had only Hoa and Hang in my piano class, and there were only 3 adults in the English activity today, plus 2 kids. It's hard to have an activity when there are so few, but the missionaries pulled it off.

Once the activity ended, Allen and I headed to Cau Giay for a wedding: Luan, a former missionary, and Nhung, his convert from the year before, were married today. We were invited, which was an honor, and we made it there at 6:10 pm for the 6:30 pm wedding.

Me and Huyen and Nhung.

This is the chapel of the Cau Giay branch, decorated for the wedding. The big doors to the front are left wide open, which made it a little difficult to hear when the traffic was heavy, but the air was cool so it was nice.

Sundays are good days. Today, Allen and I gave our final talks in the Hai Ba Trung Branch, and said goodbye to a lot of people. We may not see many of our friends this week because of the holiday; we'll see how that goes.