Sunday Feb 3, 2019
Subject: Tết Tết Tết Tết Đến Rồi!
Chúc Mừng Năm Mới!
Or that is to say, Happy New Year! Or more specifically,
Hapy Lunar New Year! This is almost every Vietnamese person's favorite time of
year, when they go back to their hometown, visit with family and eat plenty of
traditional new year's food. A lot cooler than what Americans do for New
Years... I mean, you watch a ball drop, fireworks are cool, and maybe drink
some sparkling apple cider (no breaking the Word of Wisdom!), and that's about
it. You really mainly celebrate it at midnight, and that is about it. Unless
you count the next two weeks of keeping some of your new year's resolutions
until you give up. But here, New Year's is a multi week event. The main part is
the first three days (starting tomorrow) and those are mainly celebrated at
home with family and possibly a few invited guests. And many people take off
the week before and after it. It is a great time to meet with families! Though
it does limit our food options, as nearly every shop and restaurant close...
Thank goodness for the internationally run Aeon mall we live next to that still
provides food! But it is just a very exciting time of year. For those curious,
the title here means the New Year is already here! And they say the word new
year four times in a row. It is from a song that is played a lot in this
season. For anyone who wants to see it, below is a link to a video of the song,
as well as a sight that attempts to translate it to English. The translation is
okay, but not perfect. The one line talks about going to Buddhist pagodas, I am
not sure how they translated it to church or mosque... Also, I hope the video
is good, it looks like some kids singing the song. It was the first search
result that was not 35 minutes long... I have not seen it before.
The song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7lAOMqex8fA
Well, I have a lot to talk about, but not enough time. So I
am just going to copy and paste what I wrote to my mission president today
about our area.
In our area, a few of our investigators have gone out of
town, but will keep reading and praying. But for those in town, we got to help
several of them. We have Anh Hung and Chi Chi, and their six year old daughter.
We met them twice this week, and they are doing really well! We had a family
home evening with them that was really good, and Chi Chi came to church with
the rest of her family this week! They really love what they learn in the
gospel and will keep pressing forward! Elder Quoc and I had a really busy
Saturday, which was really cool, we were booked from 3 pm forward with
appointments! We met with Em Cuong, our investigator whose parents won't let
him be baptized, and got him in contact with Em Linh from another branch. She
is 16 and initially her parents would not let her get baptized, but she
eventually convinced them. Em Cuong really liked her experience and is going to
try to keep asking his parents. He even fasted this Sunday for the first time
for that! We have good hopes for him, and fasted with him as well. And we also
have a few investigators who are new to us. Three are people who were
investigating with the sisters, until they learned they are in our area. That
is Em Bang, Em Vy, and Em Nhu. All three are doing well, and we had a good pass
off lesson, so that should be good. We also got Anh Luan, who the sisters met,
and had him passed off to us in the same day. He is pretty nice, and says he
feels God sent us to meet him. He really wants to know more about God and Jesus
Christ. I think he will do good! And Chi Hoa now has passed her baptismal
interview and is on track for baptism on Sunday! We are really excited for her as
well! And everyone else is doing pretty good.
I edited it slightly, but I will now expound on a few of the
people. But that should give you a basic idea of what is going on. So we are
really excited for Chi Hoa, who will now get baptized next week! She learned
quite some time ago, but did not pass her baptismal interview, and disappeared
for a while. But she knew she enjoyed going to church and that it was true. So
last December, she came back and started learning again. She has really grown
and learned to humble herself before God and trust in him. We are really
excited for her as she begins her journey on the covenant path! And just a
quick note on Anh Hung and Chi Chi. I think I have talked about them before,
but they are really amazing! So prepared by the Lord! They are very open and
love what they learn in the church! They know the things they have learned have
helped them to change their lives, and are really progressing well! Like I
said, we got to have family home evening with them. Their daughter is the most
well behaved child you have ever met, and loves coming to primary at church!
And Chi Chi came to church this week with them too! They are awesome! I really
love teaching their family, and I am so glad that families are an eternal and
central part of God's plan. It just doesn't make sense to have such joy with
your family and then not to be with them in the next life! Missionaries truly
do leave their family for a brief two years to help others to be with their
families forever! And we got to use the new Come Follow Me program with it. Oh,
and Anh Hung invited one of his best friends over too, he sure is not afraid to
let his friends know he is learning about the gospel! Maybe we should learn
from that example. "And as I partook of the fruit thereof it filled my
soul with exceedingly great joy; wherefore, I began to be desirous that my
family (and friends) should partake of it also; for I knew that it was
desirable above all other fruit." 1 Nephi 8:12. What we have is desirable
above all else! Why should we be afraid to share that with others? I challenge
anyone out there reading this to try sharing about the gospel with one of your
friends this week! Or if you are asking yourself what is the gospel? (Though if
you are reading this email, I would assume you know.) Then there are some
really nice guys in white shirts and ties with name tags who would be happy to
share more with you. Try visiting lds.org. Or maybe it will be two nice women
in dresses (and now possibly with pants) also with name tags. Listen to what
they have to share! you won't regret it!
Whew, that was a lot to type in a short time! My hands are
starting to cramp up! Well, to finish off here, I want to briefly mention
Sunday! There were two more baptisms in our branch! The church is growing so
fast! The Lord directs this work! Our two newest members are Chi Thuong and Co
Yen, who have been learning with the other elders. They certainly have
experienced the joys of the gospel and have plenty more joy to come! And at
church, we had an attendance of 34! That is actually really good, considering
during Tet, many people go back to their hometowns and are unable to come.
Despite that, those who were here still came, and we had plenty of non members
too! Things are looking great! And, for a fun note, we got permission to wear
our Ao Dai's to church! I will attach a photo below.
And then, just to clarify, when I said on Saturday we were
booked from 3 pm forward, I mean non stop appointments until we went back home.
So we studied and planned in the morning, but after our daily nap, it was off
to the church where we met Em Cuong at 3 (and Em Linh over Facebook Call), then
quickly ran up to the roof to set up the baptismal font before running back
down for our appointment at 4 with Em Nhu and Em Vy, then we biked as fast as
we could over to Anh Hung and Chi Chi's house for dinner and family home
evening. We were a bit late... And then we rushed back by about 7:30 to help
prepare Chi Hoa for her baptismal interview. Then she had her interview, and
then we went home. And of course we left the water running in the baptismal
font, so we turned back around and went back to get it only to find someone had
turned it off for us. And then we biked home as quickly as possible, again we
were a little late. We sweated a good bit that day, rushing around, but at the
end of the day, it was just a good satisfying day, when you do the Lord's work,
there is no greater feeling. And we had a pretty easy time sleeping that night.
Okay, I think I covered everything. This week, we are
visiting some families for Tet, and hope to get quite a few more families
learning about the gospel! Please pray for us! Also, Saturday is Elder Quoc's
birthday, so we will eat at Cowboy Jack's with some real American food... It will be good! Wish
him a happy birthday as well!
Have a great week everyone!
Elder Watson/ Nghiêm
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