Sam flew to Thailand on Week 56 to renew his Visa, so he had no chance to email us that week. His next update was:
Happy Late Halloween!
Samuel Watson
Sun, Nov 4, 2018 (Week 56 and 57)
Hello everyone!
Wow, hard to believe Halloween just happened again! This is
my second one on the mission. I still remember when I celebrated in the MTC
with an impromptu bed sheet angel costume... That was a lot of fun! Well this
year, we did not go trick or treating, but I did still dress up! We had a big
Halloween party in our English activity last Tuesday, and Elder Trung and I
dressed up as each other.
Now, I know that is the classic and most cheesiest thing possible for two missionaries to do, but you don't understand! We are similar enough looking and yet different enough in style that it was super funny! For example, I only have one short sleeve shirt, so I wear long sleeve almost every day. Elder Trung is the opposite. So for this I wore short sleeve, and he wore long. I wore glasses and he did not (shout out to my mom for packing me a Halloween costume over a year ago! It was intended as a nerd outfit (taped glasses), but removing the tape, it looked like my companion's glasses), he stuffed his planner and pens in his shirt pocket like I usually do, he wore my camera pouch and I wore his keychain, we switched bags and shoes, AND we had each other’s hair style. So I poofed up the front of mine, and he slicked his back. We made a lot of the members laugh really hard! And of course we switched name tags! And the activity was great. More or less a ward trunk or treat, minus the trunk or treating as people have motorbikes here, not cars. So just all the fun carnival games.
Also, we adapted a bit, such as instead of bobbing for apples, we used guavas. They are a lot cheaper. One must be thrifty...
Now, I know that is the classic and most cheesiest thing possible for two missionaries to do, but you don't understand! We are similar enough looking and yet different enough in style that it was super funny! For example, I only have one short sleeve shirt, so I wear long sleeve almost every day. Elder Trung is the opposite. So for this I wore short sleeve, and he wore long. I wore glasses and he did not (shout out to my mom for packing me a Halloween costume over a year ago! It was intended as a nerd outfit (taped glasses), but removing the tape, it looked like my companion's glasses), he stuffed his planner and pens in his shirt pocket like I usually do, he wore my camera pouch and I wore his keychain, we switched bags and shoes, AND we had each other’s hair style. So I poofed up the front of mine, and he slicked his back. We made a lot of the members laugh really hard! And of course we switched name tags! And the activity was great. More or less a ward trunk or treat, minus the trunk or treating as people have motorbikes here, not cars. So just all the fun carnival games.
Also, we adapted a bit, such as instead of bobbing for apples, we used guavas. They are a lot cheaper. One must be thrifty...
Well, there is your fun story of the week. I also flew to
Thailand last week for VISA renewals, but not too much to note from that...
Mostly just standing in immigration lines... Did you know with an American
passport you can stay in Thailand for about a month with no VISA? Also, I
learned it is illegal to get a tattoo of Buddha in Thailand... Darn... I was
really looking forward to doing that (sarcastic voice used here). As for
transfers, I am again in district 6. And now I am a district leader. The cool
thing with that is I am super familiar with the branch by now, so hopefully I
will be able to use my experience to help! Also, my new companion is Elder
Tuan. He was in my MTC group. He is a good missionary, and we have a good bit
in common, including being from the best state Arizona! We should be able to
get a lot done! Also, our district has a lot of baptisms planned in the coming
months, so be ready for more news on that! The work sure is growing! Also, we
have one investigator who just got a baptismal date! His name is Anh Dung, and
he is really cool. He has a friend studying in Russia who got baptized there,
and want to see how it can bless his life! And our other investigators are
doing well too!
Really, if any of you want to know the secret of missionary
work, it come down to a few simple things. I would say the main two is faith
and work. And with that work, I mean WORK! If you put in a halfhearted job, you
can't expect to see miracles. But when you just go out there, and talk with
everyone you can, with no fear of man or failure, that is when the miracles
occur! I have seen that so much here in Vietnam. Also, I don't have enough time
this week, but I will share with you all next week more about what we learned
in zone conference. But one part was being driven by faith, not fear.
Alright, that does it. I need to go get some things done
now! See you all next week!
Elder Watson/ Nghiem
P.S. I also had a nice surprise my first day with my new
companion. We went to get a few essential groceries, and won 500000 dong with
our membership card! In all reality that is only 25 US dollars, but still
nothing to sneeze at! And my companion says it can buy us 70 bags of Toonies...
That is a chip brand that comes with a collectible medallion... We are trying
to get them all, they have Pokemon medallions right now... But we will probably
not spend all of that on them... Once again got to be thrifty and 70 bags of
chips probably does not fit that definition... Just a fun side note!
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