The Adams' Mission Adventure - Phở real

 We had an interesting week that began last Sunday evening. Young adults from Vietnam are often called on missions to different places--the U.K., Australia, California, and even more far-flung areas, as well as to Vietnam. One young woman in our branch will leave soon for the U.K. and her parents, not members of the Church, are not happy about it. Her mom in particular is worried about her safety. We were asked by our Branch President to go on a visit with him to explain to the parents what her daughter would be doing as she served a mission. He was the perfect person to explain, as he had served in the U.K. himself. It was interesting, and we had lots of things to reassure her about, having had so many of our own kids leave on missions. We had a good visit and even though they're not thrilled with her going, they feel more comfortable and assured that she'll be safe, though far away. On Monday we had a repeat destination for p-day, to Soc Son Temple about an hour's drive n...

 We now have a much better understanding of what Tet is all about. We were told to prepare early, as the stores and restaurants would be closing as early as the beginning of this week. So last week we bought extra groceries and withdrew extra cash out of the bank. We were prepared! Our week began with p-day on Monday. The Hanoi zone was going to have a big activity day on Wednesday, which was the first day of Tet, since no one would be available for any teaching on that day. (It's kind of like Christmas in the states, but think bigger.) Since our District Leader is also one of the Zone Leaders, he needed to go to the site of Wednesday's activity and scope it out, which we did. We traveled about 9 miles and 20 minutes away to Ocean Park, a subdivision in Long Bien that has a manmade lake and beach where all the missionaries could gather and play games. Monday was our trial run with Spike Ball, a fun game which is a cross between Volleyball and... I don't know what else. The ...