Rainy Season! (Week 77)

Sunday, Mar 24, 2019

Subject: Rainy Season!

 

Hello everyone!

I had a really hard time trying to think of an email title today. There were definitely good things that happened, but "Bac Dung comes to Church" is a little long and not too exciting sounding for an email title. Neither does “Rainy Season!”, but it is what I went for. That is because I believe we are now in rainy season. For those who don't know, Vietnam pretty much has two seasons. Wet season, and dry season. Especially in Southern Vietnam where it is always hot. No exceptions. In Hanoi, it does get chilly in the winter, but here, not at all! You would think you were in the middle of July when in reality it is the middle of December... Well, in my whole time in Binh Duong before this week (about 4 months), I think it rained once for about five minutes, and I was inside. So I had not really seen rain in Binh Duong. Well, it rained a few times this week. Once was on Wednesday; it was hard but short. And I was inside again. But on Sunday, it rained off and on, and hard! It first started right as church got out. It luckily stopped. We had planned on visiting a family that day, a friend of Co Hue's. They just got a new home, so we went to say hi, and talk to them a bit. We will try to visit them again this week and share about families. But when we were there, it RAINED! And it rained. And it rained some more. Most of the bike ride there was fine, other than the flooded roads from the rain that had just stopped. But when we got to their neighborhood, it started to rain. We got to go inside, but outside their house, it started to flood the road! They were cleaning up a mini party they had had earlier that afternoon, and everyone was up to their ankles in water. Luckily it was dry in the house. We got to talk to them, but when we would consider getting up to go, it would start raining heavily! It happened three times! Luckily though, they gave us food, so we didn't lose too much time in our plan for the day. But it was interesting. Something didn't want us to leave! They were a very nice family, and were open to us. We even got to pray over the food! With their permission of course! It was good. And then we got to bike through flooded roads again as we went to Co Hue and Bac Dung's house to talk more with them. We shared the restoration again, and it was good. Bac Dung still has a little mix up on the difference between restoration and reformation, but is making progress.

I know that God has restored his full gospel. After Jesus Christ established his church and called his apostles, there was a time when the authority of the church was lost. The apostles were killed, and there was no one to preside God's true church. Many plain and precious truths were lost. Many great men and women sacrificed on the way to fix what they could. Some tried to reform and fix the gospel. And they helped pave the way for the restoration of God's true church. But it wasn't until God restored his truth that we had the fulness of his gospel again. That fulness came through God's calling of a prophet, Joseph Smith, and giving him Priesthood keys. He called him to translate the Book of Mormon, which contains the fulness of the gospel of Jesus Christ. And he invites us all to know that truth. Anyone who will read the Book of Mormon will come to know it is true and that God has restored his church. And that was our invite for Bac Dung, to read the Book of Mormon and come to know it is true. And I know he will come to know it is true as he reads it.

Well, then to cap off our Sunday, we went to Em Dat's house for a brief visit as it was on the way home. We had a good talk with him. He is still working on getting permission for baptism, but he is doing really good at following Jesus Christ's example. He asked us this week how you would help a fellow classmate who won't talk to anyone. We talked about service and showing genuine care for others, and how with time they will see our true intent. It was great seeing his sincere desire to help this friend of his. For our other investigators, they are doing well. We are still trying to help Chi Truc see the need for commitment in baptism. She wants to follow the commandments and have the blessings, but feels the lifelong commitment is too hard. But she is warming up to it. I can tell she knows the gospel is true and God wants her to follow him and be baptized. As she continues to grow her faith, I know she will see what God wants for her. We are also working with Anh Tan on a similar question. He also feels he needs more time to prepare for the lifelong commitment of baptism. But that is something interesting. If we wait to be perfect before we agree to follow God, we will find we are never perfect. That is because Jesus Christ does not ask us to be perfect before we come to Him, but that we come and be perfected in Him. (See Moroni 10:33) All he asks is that we try and rely on Him. Baptism is not something scary that once you are in, if you mess up you are condemned. Rather it is a gate that begins us down our covenant path. If we make errors on the way, we need not fear. He provides a way for us. Repentance is not God's backup plan, it is his plan! (That is a quote from some general authority I cannot currently remember which one though...) I know we have a loving Savior who is always willing to accept us.

Also, I will just share about one other investigator this week. The rest are all doing good, but I wanted to share another cool story. We met with Em Vy this week. We had planned to teach her whole family, but some of them were going to get back late, and the others were taking care of a sick baby. So we just got to meet her today. So we followed up on her Book of Mormon reading. A lot of investigators don't read a lot (though they should, it would help their faith a lot), and when we follow up a lot of them usually only read a few verses a day. Well, we asked Em Vy, and to our surprise, she is already in Enos! That is a fourth of the way through the Book of Mormon! She loves reading and has learned a lot. She even loved Jacob 5, despite how long it is! So we got to talk to her about how the Book of Mormon helps answer our questions. She had a question for us on why some people are born with handicaps or disadvantages in life. We decided to share how we can look for answers, through prayer and scripture study. Now, we did not find it while we were there, but Em Vy said she knew she would find an answer, and said she would keep reading until she did. Her faith was so strong! I know she will find her answer, and she will see such great blessings as a result of her faith!

Well, I don't have much more time to write this week. But it was a great week full of more blessings and miracles than I can write! I am so grateful to be engaged in the work of the Lord!

Have a great week!

Elder Watson/ Nghiem