Seeing Miracles, Despite Being Sick (Week 67)

Sunday, Jan 13, 2019

Subject: Seeing Miracles, Despite Being Sick

Hello everyone!

This week has actually been pretty good! Which is surprising, considering both my companion and I were sick. I think we got some sort of cold. By the way, can I just say, getting sick on a mission is the worst! Because there is always work to do, and it is not overly fun to do when you feel like crap. And then if you end up having to slow down or rest due to sickness, you feel bad and kind of antsy, thinking that you should be out doing something but you can't! So, we had to slow down a bit... But we still got out and did what we could! We kept meeting our investigators and sharing with them. We went out as much as we could and contacted a bit. We encouraged people to come to church. And it worked out! We actually had five investigators at church this week, which was super exciting! And we got three new investigators! And that was the more exciting part! So, as we were sick, we could not get out as much. We did get one new investigator on our own, and his name is Anh Dong. He initially wanted to have us work at his school to teach children, but we informed him we could not do that, and that we work for our church. We told him we had a church nearby and could show it to him. He agreed to come see. It was literally around the corner. We shared with him, and he was quite open! He told us he does not follow religion, but thinks it is good for you, and is curious to learn more about it, so we agreed to help him learn more! Seriously, I don't know if it is just coincidental that now I am meeting all these people that are just open to religion, I think God has really prepared the people out here in Binh Duong to be more open to receive the message of the gospel! So that was cool. But otherwise, we did not have too much personal success looking for investigators this week. Well, the other elders happened to find two people in our area! One, Anh Hung, is someone I had contacted at the Aeon mall and invited to the English activity. He was so impressed people would ever work for free, he decided it had to do with our church. He has decided to give the church a "six-month trial" as he put it to see if it is right for him. Well, I am glad to say it is! And if he will sincerely try to find that out, God will let him know that. He will feel it through the Holy Ghost! The promises of the gospel are so great! So, he learned with the other elders initially, as he studied in their level at English and they invited him, but now we will start to teach him! And then we have Anh Hoang, who the other elders contacted and invited to church. He is Catholic, and is really committed to following Jesus. He came to church, and said he was pleased to see we also follow Jesus, and that he actually likes all the new things he saw here! He wants to learn more about it! He says it was the best church meeting he has ever been to! So, we will try to help him learn more and try it for himself, and we know he too can come to know it is true and further strengthen his relationship with the Savior! So, I would call both of these new people learning with us tender mercies of the Lord. He knew we were still trying despite being sick, and he provided a way for us to keep doing his work! It sure is good to be on the Lord's side!

Our other investigators are doing well too. Anh Tan is doing great from last week! He came to church again and is becoming more active in things! He already has a lot of faith, and I think it will just continue to grow until he determines to be baptized! And Chi Truc is also doing good! She really wants to know the church is true, and then be baptized! She just doesn't know when that will be, and does not want to set a baptismal date... But she says when the time comes, she will be baptized. So, we are trying to help her get her answers as well! Chi Hoa is still doing good. We are trying to get her ready for baptism before her trip to Taiwan, so she can go to the temple there! She is excited for that! And everyone else is doing good too. People are getting a bit busy as Tet approaches, but we are still trying to meet them and help strengthen them!

Well, I am glad to say I am no longer sick! Can't say the same for my companion, but he is on his way. Just a little bit of a sore throat and constant headache left. He should get better in the next few days. I actually got to give him a blessing too, so he has more help from on high! Oh, also Elder Quoc got to interview Anh Vuong and Anh Phat for baptism this week! They have been learning with the other elders for a bit. They are awesome! Anh Vuong initially came to English class, but then started learning and progressed really fast! He is in the intermediate level at English, so we sometimes ask him to give prayers, and he is really sincere! And Anh Phat is his brother who happened to move to Binh Duong with him about a month ago (actually my first week here), and he decided to learn too! He actually changed his job so he could attend church! And he quit smoking to follow the word of wisdom! They are both awesome, and will help out the branch a lot! We are excited for them!

And one other miracle to note. On Sunday we had 43 people at church! That is an all-time high for our branch! There were tons of investigators from each companionship there, as well as most of the members, and we even had some less active members who came and seem to be coming more actively! The branch was so lively, it was great to see! The church really is growing! The Lord progresses His work!

Whew! That was a lot to write! As you can see, lots of good stuff going on! We are excited going forward! Please pray for us, and especially for my companion to recover so we can get back full force into the work! Until next week!

Elder Watson/ Nghiêm

A Great Start to 2019! (Week 66)

Sun, Jan 6, 2019

Subject: A Great Start to 2019!

Hello everyone!

Happy New Year! I can't believe we are in 2019 already! Well, my companion and I had a great start with it! We got three new investigators this week, and have a lot of investigators who are showing great potential to get to baptism! We have a lot who seem to have really high potential. I am really excited for this upcoming year!

We got three new investigators. Two were on an exchange I had with Elder Thao. He is a zone leader, and actually used to be in my district when I was in Ha Dong, we were actually in a trio companionship for three weeks back then... It was cool getting to be with him again for two days and to work with him. Well, we found Anh Tien and Chu Que. And Tien is from English class. We shared a spiritual thought on "The Hope of God's Light" video and invited everyone to try to learn who God is. He came up afterwards and said he follows Buddhism, but from what he perceives, Christianity teaches you higher things than Buddhism, like love, so he wants to learn more! He is really open, and even accepted a baptismal date! And then we have Chu Que, who is a security guard at Aeon Mall. He is rather interesting. He is very opinionated on some political items, and as missionaries we are not supposed to talk about politics... But he thinks God and Jesus Christ teach good things and that the missionaries are here to help people become better. So he is willing to learn, which is good! We just have to make sure to not talk about politics with him... But he will be cool. And he really likes us, as he has seen the missionaries come to Aeon for a while now and we are always friendly with him. That is something a little sad I have noticed both here and in America. Often people just are too self-absorbed. Most people don't take time to simply wave to someone or say hello. I mean some might argue they do it a little bit, but in general, I would say most people just don't talk to those around them. Especially employees at different places. Here for sure, almost no one talks to a security guard unless there is a concern they have. And even when they do, they just do it from necessity. But knowing the teachings of the Savior, we must always stand as examples of Him, and be kind to our fellow man. Seriously, just a smile and asking how someone is doing for a minute can really improve their day. We actually have several security guards who are always happy to see us just because we are nice to them. There is another one who watches close to our apartment, and it is tradition every time we bike by him to say "Xin Chào!" as loudly and slowly as possible, and he will do the same. Also, for those who don't know, that means hello. It is really funny, and you can tell he appreciates it too. So hey, go try to be nicer to those around you, say hello and give someone a smile, will you?

Ok, and then we have Anh Cuong, who Elder Quoc and I met at the hospital on Saturday. Elder Quoc needed to get some blister looked at. Well, Anh Cuong saw our Free English tags that we wear and wanted to come to that. Elder Quoc also invited to introduce our organization to him, and he agreed. He came and when he learned we worked for a church, he said that he does not believe in Buddha or God, but wants to believe in God. His family follows Buddhism, but he was never much for it. He wants to try to grow faith. He was really humble, and I think he will progress quickly as he tries to exercise faith in Christ. We have high hopes for him! And he reminds us of one of our recent converts, Anh Hoan, so we will try to get him to help in lessons. Besides that, we met Anh Tan who I had not met before yesterday. He has investigated for a long time, and has now determined he completely believes in God and Christ and wants to follow them, but he wants time to get ready. I think he is really close to being ready, but he has a few concerns he wants to address first. But he now has a date for March, so we are excited!

Besides that, we have our other usual investigators. We met Chi Truc. She is seriously prepared to receive the gospel! She also has so many good questions! Our last lesson went a bit long. A lot a bit long. As in over an hour and a half... She had so many questions and we tried to answer, but it was impossible to give a short easy answer! But we had the answers! And we told her that! And when she saw we actually wanted to answer her questions, and we told her we would be able to do that as we go through the lessons we have to teach, she was really excited. I actually wrote up all her questions on the board and told her in which lesson they would be answered. She seemed very excited about that! She told us she can only meet once a week until after Tet when she can change her schedule and offered to meet for a three hour block, but we told her that as cool as it was that she was willing to do that, it would probably be better if we did shorter lessons, and then she could go try to do things on her own at home too to help her grow even faster, like reading the Book of Mormon and praying. She is really excited to try to find her own answers too, and can't wait for us to share about the restoration next week! She is doing great! And Chi Hoa is still doing good, though she had to cancel meeting this week. Something came up. But we will meet her next week! And Anh Hung is also doing good as well!

So that is the updates on our investigators! It was a great week overall! Also, we finally all got our Christmas packages! (I mean, I got my second one...) Mine was a lot of Christmas decorations, and was awesome! It even had an advent calendar, as well as stockings for all four elders, and Christmas ornaments! And of course, a nativity scene! My companion got a huge package! He had all sorts of things from candy, to plenty of toys! I thought one of the funniest ones was flying flinging monkeys, like the kind I had when I was a kid! Anyways, we have plenty of things at our apartment now to say the least... Also, Sister Phuong and Elder Gau got packages too. Elder Gau actually got four! Three were through some Vietnamese version of Amazon. Looks like he should have plenty of snacks for a while!

Oh, and since my parents asked, no winter does not exist in southern Vietnam. At all. I swear, we are in the middle of summer still. All the plants are still green. It is rather warm (though not quite Arizona hot), and nothing shows signs of winter beyond the Christmas decorations which are starting to be taken down... It is crazy how different weather climates are the world over! If you really want to avoid winter, just come here to southern Vietnam, and you will see just that!

Other things of note: there was a baptism for Em Thuan on Sunday! Funny thing, when I first met him his gospel knowledge and faith were so high, as well as his church activity, I not only thought he was a member, but that he had some sort of active calling in the church! Turns out three weeks later my companion is interviewing him for baptism! What do you know? And our recent convert, Anh Hoan, got to baptize him! Awesome! And one other note, we are getting close to Tet, the biggest holiday of the year in Vietnam, the lunar new year! It should be an exciting time, and everyone always really enjoys this time of year! It should be good!

Well that about does it! I will email again next week!

Elder Watson/ Nghiêm

Now Bring Me Some Figgy Pudding... (Week 65)

From: Samuel Watson <samuel.watson@myldsmail.net>

Sunday, Dec 30, 2018

Merry Christmas everyone!

Well, I was initially going to call this one "Merry Christmas" or "Happy New Year", but that is too boring... Especially since I have not written a group email in three weeks... So, I will get to figgy pudding in a minute. But hey, for those who are unaware, I am now in my third area. It is called Binh Duong. The d is pronounced more like a y. It is currently the only branch in Vietnam not in Hanoi or Ho Chi Minh City. Binh Duong is actually a province, not a city. It is really cool. It is a big industrial zone with lots of factories. Most people work at said factories. I can tell the people here are really humble, and kind, and I think there are lots of people here ready to receive the gospel! It is also a nice change of pace from the city life. You can actually hear yourself think out on the street, and you don't have to constantly listen to cars honk their horns! Actually, you didn't hear that as much in the city, more so it was motorbike horns. So is Vietnam. The branch here is small, but the members are very faithful, and I am excited to work with them. My companion here is Elder Quoc. He has been in Vietnam a year and a half. He is really cool, and an excellent cook. He comes from Idaho, and makes some of the best French fries you have ever had! And currently we have a good pool of investigators we are teaching about the gospel. We have one, Chi Hoa, who is getting ready for baptism. She learned a while ago, and then stopped, but came back and said she really wants to be baptized. When meeting with her, she told how she doesn't fully know why, but she had investigated other religions before, but it wasn't until she came here that she felt something. I can tell she really wants to be an active member. We also have Em Cuong, who is really cool. He wants to be baptized, but is under 18, and his parents won't let him be baptized. He is very faithful though and is trying to talk to his parents more about it. He is awesome though! And we have Chi Truc, who learned about the church through English class and recently started learning. She is progressing quite well as we have taught her the Plan of Salvation. She has lots of good questions, and we are excited for her! And we have several other investigators, but I will bring them up another time. Also, we have gotten several new investigators the past few weeks, including two this last week. They have known the missionaries for a while and are really good people. They do charity work to help younger kids get a better education. We got to share about the Plan of Salvation with them, and they want to learn more! But they live in the city, so they will be studying with some other missionaries. Still, we were glad to meet them and help them start learning a bit about the gospel! Things are going well, and we really want to help the branch grow!
 

Speaking of growth, our attendance at activities here has been huge lately! We have around 100 at English weekly, we had 80 come to our Christmas party, and this last week our sacrament went from around 15-20 to 36! With around two thirds of that being nonmembers! The missionaries here are working hard to get more people coming to activities! Also, speaking of English, here comes in the figgy pudding. So, we were teaching about Christmas, and taught everyone how to sing "We Wish You a Merry Christmas". Also, I am in the intermediate level now. Well, part of the song talks about figgy pudding, and I told everyone I had never had figgy pudding before. We also mentioned fruit cake as something no one likes, but again, I don't recall eating it before. Well, I didn't get figgy pudding here, but I did get some fruit cake! I actually got a really nice Christmas lunch on Christmas at Al Fresco's, an American restaurant. I got some pumpkin soup, turkey, ham, corn, peas, carrots, potatoes, gravy, and to finish it off some fruit cake. I didn't like the fruit cake much, but I have now tried it! Now if only I could find some figgy pudding... The rest of the meal was great though, and really tasted like an American Christmas.

 

And speaking of Christmas, I love Christmas! First off, as those in Western culture know, Christmas is not just a one-day event, but a month long one! Actually, two if you count the first playing of Christmas music right after Halloween ends... Sorry Thanksgiving, you don't get any songs... Well, the whole season is a great opportunity to share about the gospel, with the whole spirit of giving, and people are just more open to hearing a message! The Christmas party, for example was a great success! Well, we got to share a lot with people about the true meaning of Christmas! And of course, the best part of my Christmas was that I got to call my family back home through Skype! Or I guess Google Hangouts... Our computer at the church was being weird, and Skype was not working properly... But it was great! I really do have the best family in the world! I also got my Christmas package, and somehow they managed to top their last package again! It had a bit of everything, Christmas cards, with family photos (I am actually on my family's Christmas card... Just look for a person about 1 foot tall and made out of fabric...), some fun things like a mini ping pong set and some Zelda collector's stuff, to a bit of candy, to a personalized pillow case with my name on it! And more! It was really nice to get! Well, the Christmas season is almost over, but it is definitely not time to stop sharing the true meaning of Christmas, because that is in the first six letters of it, Christ, and his message is not just for December, but for time and all eternity.

Well, I think I am going to sign off here soon. But just so you know why it took me three weeks to respond, two weeks ago I went to the western part of Vietnam for a charity trip I was unaware they were doing here, and then last week was Christmas, and I did my call home, so no time to write a group email. But I am here this week! Oh, I also started off with great impressions in my area, sporting a very attractive looking cyst! That is when some nice bacteria decide to live inside of your eyelid and make it swell up and irritate you like crazy. You can barely open your eye, it turns red, and sometimes waters up your eye for no reason. I would not recommend getting one... But it was resolved before my call home, so all is well!

Well, this is my sign off. Merry Christmas to all! And to all a happy 2019!

Elder Watson/ Nghiêm

Christmas Call Home!!! (Weeks 63 and 64)

Christmas Call Home!!! (Weeks 63 and 64)

Elder Watson was not able to send out a blog posting for December 16^th or December 23^rd, but he WAS able to call home for Christmas!! Here are a few photos…