Teach by the Spirit! (Weeks 95 and 96)

Monday July 29, 2019

Teach by the Spirit! (Week 95 and updates from Week 96)

Hello everyone!
 

My thumbs hurt this morning from texting on my phone my email to President Chiles. And now we just got back from the Cu Chi Tunnels. So I am pretty tired. I am definitely going to write an email because this week was awesome and had a ton of miracles! But why rewrite what I already typed up? I will copy part of my letter to President Chiles here with some edits.

This week worked out pretty well! It wasn't perfect by any means, but things are getting better with my companion and things seem to be moving in the right direction. My family is currently meeting the family of the foreign exchange student who will live with my family this year. They are rather nervous, this is the first time the family has come in with the student! Anyways, I have had the chance to talk to them yet today, but will later. I assume all is well though! (Also I now have talked a bit to them, and all is well!) Our area is doing good. We got one new investigator, Em Huy. He has been coming to English club for a few months, and enjoys the spiritual thoughts. He has even come to Sacrament meeting twice before. He came up this week after the spiritual thought and said he wanted to learn! He did really well in his first lesson, and came to church! We just need to make sure his family is supportive, as he is younger. And now Japan and her two friends, Tram and Xuan, are progressing! They all had prayed and were really open to trying to read the Book of Mormon! And they even set up their own next appointment without us asking! Anyways, I felt the Spirit in the lesson and they all were attentive and asked a lot of good questions, I think they will progress well. They also agreed to a baptismal invite, but would not pick a date to work towards. Elder Hieu was disappointed at that, but I think they were just surprised and will be more open next lesson. Oh, and something funny! Last time we met them, they came in normal street clothes, but decided they needed to look nicer when coming to the church. We told them they didn't need to, but this time they all came wearing white button up shirts and slacks. It was cool and pretty funny! One of them took a photo and named us "the white shirt squad!"

 

We also have some other people that we met this week. Em Linh is making good progress to her date on the 18th of August. Anh Nguyen was unable to meet this week, but we will meet next week. Same with Anh Nhan, but we got to talk a bit over the phone. We met the other Anh Nguyen, and meeting him was interesting. First off, he is a Vietnamese guy with a beard! You don't see that every day! He has a lot of deep doctrine questions, but he seems pretty sincere though in his questions. I think he will do fine though; we just need to help him focus more. I think we will help him learn to seek his own answers and help him see he needs to learn the basics before the deep doctrine. Also, we met Anh Tan. He likes what he learns with us and applying what we teach, but is pretty firmly set in tradition. I think it will be challenging to help him with that, but we are trying to help him have faith in the Book of Mormon first and work from there. He has been learning for a long time but has not put in much effort to read. Oh, and quick note on Em Linh, she talked to her boyfriend back in her hometown and just texted us saying he is okay with her getting baptized, so that is cool! Also, I was not in the lesson as I was on exchanges, but I heard the other elders had a good lesson with Anh Hoang. And I believe that is it for our investigators. We also have a few good potential investigators we are working with. One we have an appointment before church next Sunday. She came to Family Home Evening yesterday with Anh Nam, an investigator of the sisters. She enjoyed it and wants to learn more! And Em Linh wants the elders to help teach her family! She has tried with the sisters before but it has not worked out. She thinks her mother and brother specifically could use us, her mother because she needs someone more focused on the lessons, so some missionaries who are more serious in demeanor, like Elder Serious (and she said I am similar to another elder who helped her mom before being Elder Quoc who I was companions with in Binh Duong), and her brother (who is 13) who is afraid of girls. We are discussing it with the sisters, but it would be really cool for her family to learn, whoever teaches them! Also, we had exchanges with the zone leaders. Honestly they were kind of short. Not because of the zone leaders, but because other activities ate up the exchange, with a leadership meeting and interviews overlapping it. They said we would have another exchange this transfer. They didn't know about those activities until after they had planned exchanges. But Elder Thanh talked to me about my final goals for my mission, which was awesome. I came up with three. First, to "finish strong!"(a quote from my archery coach). Second was to follow the Spirit. And third was to help my companion reach his potential. So those are what I am working on! But it is interesting. As you get close to the end of the mission you want to do as much good as you can, and I have been told at the end the biggest impact you can have on the mission really is your impact on your companion. And I know that is true. God gives us companions so we can grow together. So we can build on each other’s strengths. I hope I can help my companion learn some things I have learned in my experiences. And of course I hope I can learn some things myself too! I think these will be two great transfers remaining!

Okay, back to typing and not quoting. So I really enjoyed this week and saw lots of miracles. People progressing and all. And I have really seen the Spirit guiding my teaching. I never fully understood how that was before. We all have our own style of teaching and doing things, and it is important that we use our skills. And we plan with what we have. But if we let Him, God can lead the entire lesson. If we are willing to use what we can, but also be comfortable to try things we would not normally do when prompted, the Spirit will take over, and it will no longer be you teaching, but the Spirit. The lessons will go so much better. People will be so much happier. And the more you do it, the better you get at it, and the more skills you grow yourself! I have seen this so much! And I am grateful to really be learning what this means at this time.

Oh, quick spiritual thought. I think it is so cool how much you can learn when you teach and discuss together with others about the gospel. Come Follow Me is an inspired program. We learn a lot when we study the scriptures on the more, but I have seen the Lord reveal even more when then discussing what everyone learned in Sunday School and Family Home Evening. On Sunday we had family home evening at the Bakers'. Elder Hieu and I were in charge of the lesson. We discussed how to "feast" on the scriptures (there was no good Vietnamese translation, so we used the English word), and then had a discussion on what it means that "it is more blessed to give than to receive". We had planned to talk about service. But somehow, we ended up in a discussion on how to give, someone has to receive. And how to be a good giver you have to first be a good receiver. One person made a metaphor how you need both like you need both hands to clap. One just doesn't do anything! And then we had a cool discussion on how truly we all need help. And while society thinks otherwise, it is actually a strength to acknowledge when we need help, as that is when we can improve, and it is actually a weakness to deny that we are not perfect and need help. It was a super cool in depth question that no one knew we would discuss before. It was fully Spirit led as we "taught one another the doctrine of the kingdom". So hey, actually do your reading, and then share what you learn with others!

 

And as mentioned we had a good leadership meeting. And I got an interview with President Chiles and learned a lot in that too. Otherwise I think that is it.

Have a good day everyone! Talk to you again next week! Keep following the Spirit and trust in the Lord!

 

Elder Watson/ Anh Cả Nghiêm

Week 94 Bonus Round! What I shared at church on Sunday about the Book of Mormon!

From my talk on Sunday, July 21st 2019

 

Good morning brothers and sisters,

I am grateful for the opportunity to share about the Book of Mormon today. I know the Book of Mormon is true and has immeasurable value to each one of us.

For those of you who don't know, the Book of Mormon is a sacred record comparable to the Bible. It tells of God's dealings with the ancient inhabitants of the Americas. It was brought forth to us in modern day by the power of God. We are privileged to be able to read it today.

 

The question then is "But what does the Book of Mormon do for us?" There are many reasons, but I would like to cover a few. First, the Book of Mormon gives us additional knowledge about our Savior Jesus Christ. The whole purpose of the Book of Mormon is to convince us of the reality of Jesus Christ. Nephi, the first author in the Book of Mormon, told us about this. This is in 2 Nephi 25:23 "For we labor diligently to write, to persuade our children, and also our brethren, to believe in Christ, and to be reconciled to God..." Many prophets from a time long before us sacrificed a lot to write these things, because they knew how much worth it would have to us, and how important it is that we believe in Jesus Christ.

 

Secondly, the Book of Mormon contains "the fulness of the gospel of Jesus Christ." (D&C 20:9) The Lord himself has stated this. As we read the Book of Mormon and truly come to understand what is in it, we will know all we need to return and live with God again. The Book of Mormon was never tainted with time, but was preserved by the Lord that it might come forth "in the fulness of times" (Ephesians 1:10). What a privilege it is that we have access to the fulness of the Lord's gospel. We can hold it in our own hands and read it for ourselves! And that leads to the third point.

 

 

And the third point is that through the Book of Mormon we can come to know the truth of the gospel. Almost everyone wants to know the truth, be that spiritual truth or just plain honesty. But a lot of people don't know where to find truth. As we learn in the church, there was a very long period of time, called the Great Apostasy, in which the fulness of the gospel could not be found! Many diligently sought it, and clung to what they could find, but the world has so much confusion, they did not know where they could go. Even Joseph Smith, the prophet of the restoration, ran into this concern too! He was born in a town where religion was a very common and divisive topic. His own family was in two different churches, with some members going to one, and some to the other. He tried to seek the truth, and attended a great many churches, but all left him in the same dilemma. All seemed to have good things, but none were quite right. They had "a form of Godliness but denied the power thereof." (JSH 1:19) He even tried to go to the Bible, but all those churches used the Bible, but interpreted it very differently. His resort, as prompted by reading James 1:5, was to "ask of God". Subsequently, he saw God the Father and His Son Jesus Christ. He was told that at the time there was no true church, but that he was to restore Christ's original church, and help others find the fulness of the gospel. And God later commanded him to translate the Book of Mormon as a means of helping others find the true gospel. The Book of Mormon is such strong evidence of the truthfulness of the gospel. It is evidence of Christ's reality, and His love for all people, both at Jerusalem and out of it as well. It is evidence that Joseph Smith was a true prophet of God, lest how could he translate a book when he had no education, let alone ability to bring forth a book such as the Book of Mormon. And if we come to know these things through the Book of Mormon, we will also come to know that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints is God's true church restored on the Earth today, for we alone have this knowledge of the restoration and the truths in the Book of Mormon. Can't you see the importance of us reading this book? God has put in our hands all the evidence we need to know of his reality and love for us. If we will read the Book of Mormon with a sincere heart and real intent, asking God if these things are true, "...he will manifest the truth of it unto [us], by the power of the Holy Ghost. And by the power of the Holy Ghost", I, and you, and all of us, "may know the truth of all things." (Moroni 10:4-5)

I know these things are true, and want to share them, in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen."

"Chào buổi sáng các cô chú anh chị em,

 

Con rất biết ơn cho cơ hội để chia sẻ về Sách Mặc Môn hôm nay. Con biết rằng Sách Mặc Môn có thật và có một giá trị vô hạn cho mọi người chúng ta.

 

Cho những người mà không biết, Sách Mặc Môn là một biên sử thiêng liêng có thể so sánh với Sách Kinh Thánh. Nó nói về sự giao tiếp của Thượng Đế với dân thời xưa ở châu mỹ. Nó đã đến với chúng ta trong những ngày này bởi quyền năng của Thượng Đế. Chúng ta có một đặc ân để có cơ hội đọc nó hôm nay.

 

Thì câu hỏi tiếp là "như vậy Sách Mặc Môn làm điều gì cho chúng ta?" Có rất nhiều điều, nhưng em chỉ sẽ chia sẻ một vài điều thôi. Đầu tiên, Sách Mặc Môn cho chúng ta sự hiểu biết thêm về Đấng Cứu Rỗi của chúng ta, là Chúa Giê Su Ky Tô. Cả mục đích của Sách Mặc Môn để thuyết phục chúng ta về sự tôn tài của Chúa Giê Su Ky Tô. Nê Phi, người tác giả đầu tiên trong Sách Mặc Môn, đã nói về điều này. Đây là trong 2 Nê Phi 25:23: "Vì chúng tôi cố gắng cần mẫn viết ra để thuyết phục con cháu chúng ta, và luôn cả các anh em chúng ta nữa, để họ biết tin vào Đấng Ky Tô, và để được hòa hiệp với Thượng Đế..." Có nhiều vị tiên tri thời xưa đã hy sinh nhiều để viết những điều này, vì họ đã biết điều này sẽ có một giá trị lớn lao cho chúng ta, và cũng họ đã biết sự quan trọng cho chúng ta tin vào Chúa Giê Su Ky Tô.

 

Điều thứ hai, Sách Mặc Môn chứa đựng "phúc âm trọn vẹn của Chúa Giê Su Ky Tô" (Giáo Lý và Giao Ước 20:9) Chúa tự mình đã nói như vậy. Trong khi chúng ta đọc Sách Mặc Môn và thật sự đến hiểu những điều trong sách, chúng ta sẽ biết tất cả điều chúng ta cần để trở về và sống lại với Thượng Đế. Sách Mặc Môn chưa bao giờ mất ý nghĩa với thời gian, nhưng đã được giữ bởi Thượng Đế để xuất hiện "trong những ngày sau cùng này" (Ê Phê Si An 1:10). Thật là một đặc ân mà chúng ta có khả năng để học phúc âm trọn vẹn của Chúa Giê Su Ky Tô. Chúng ta có thể giữ nó trong tay của mình và đọc cho bản thân mình! Và đó đưa đến điệm số ba.

 

Và điệm thứ ba là qua Sách Mặc Môn chúng ta có thể biết về lẽ thật của phúc âm. Gần tất cả mọi người muốn biết về lẽ thât, cho một vài người có lẽ là lẽ thật thuộc linh, hay cho những người khác có lẽ là sự trung thực. Nhưng nhiều người không biết tìm kiếm lẽ thật ở đâu. Như chúng ta học trong giáo hội, đã có một thời kỳ lâu thời xưa, gọi là sự đại bội giáo, và trong nó phúc âm trọn vẹn không tìm thấy được! Có nhiều người đã cố gắng rất siêng năng để tìm kiếm nó, nhưng thế gian có nhiều điều cho loại người bị hoang mang, thì họ không biết họ có thể đi đâu. Joseph Smith, vị tiên tri của sự phục hồi, đã thấy như vậy luôn! Ông ấy đã sinh ra trong một thị trấn mà tôn giáo là một chủ đề rất phổ biến và cũng gây chia rẽ. Gia đình ông ấy có tham gia trong hai giáo hội khác nhau, có một vài người thành viên trong gia đình đi một nhà thờ, và một vài người khác đi một nhà thờ khác. Ông ấy đã cố gắng tìm kiếm lẽ thật, và đã thử tham gia nhiều giáo hội, nhưng tất cả đã đưa ông ấy đến thắc mác giống nhau. Tất cả đều có những điệm tốt, nhưng tất cả cũng không hoàn toàn đúng. Họ đã dạy và thấy như "có hình thức bề ngoài rất tin kính, nhưng chúng chối bỏ quyền năng của sự tin kính đó." (JSH 1:19) Ông ấy cũng đã cố gắng trả cứu trong sách Kinh Thánh, nhưng cả giáo hội đó cũng sử dụng kinh thánh và thấy ý nghĩa rất khác nhau. Cuối cùng, ông ấy quyết định làm theo một điều ông ấy đọc trong Gia Cơ 1:5, để "cầu xin Thượng Đế". Sau đó, ông ấy đã trông thấy Thượng Đế, là Đúc Chúa Cha, và Chúa Giê Su Ky Tô, là Đức Chúa Con. Ông ấy được nghe mà lúc đó không có một giáo hội chân chính, như mà ông ấy sẽ giúp phục hồi Giáo Hội nguyên thủy của Chúa Giê Su Ky Tô, và qua đó giúp đỡ những người khác tìm kiếm phúc âm trọn vẹn. Và sau đó, Thượng Đế đã truyền lệnh ông ấy để phiên dịch Sách Mặc Môn là một cách để giúp những người khác trong mục đích này. Sách Mặc Môn là một chứng thư rất là mạnh mẽ về lẽ thật của phúc âm. Nó là một nhân chứng của sự tôn tài của Đấng Ky Tô, và tình yêu thương của Ngài cho nhân loại, gồm có những người ở Giê Ru Sa Lêm và những người ở mọi nơi khác luôn. Nó là một nhân chứng rằng Joseph Smith là một vị tiên tri thật của Thượng Đế, làm sao ông ấy có thể phiên dịch một cuốn sách khi mà ông ấy không có đi học, nói chi đến khả năng để đưa đến một cuốn sách như Sách Mặc Môn. Cũng nếu chúng ta đến một sự hiểu biết về những điều này qua Sách Mặc Môn, chúng ta cũng sẽ biết rằng Giáo Hội Các Thánh Hữu Ngày Sau của Chúa Giê Su Ky Tô là giáo hội chân chính của Thượng Đế đã được phục hồi trên thế gian hôm nay, vì là chúng ta mà thôi biết về sự phục hồi và những lẽ thật trong Sách Mặc Môn. Mọi người có thể thấy sự quan trọng để đọc sách này chưa? Thượng Đế đã cho tay của chúng ta giữ nhân chứng chúng ta cần biết về sự tôn tài của Ngài và tình yêu thương của Ngài cho chúng ta. Nếu chúng ta sẽ đọc Sách Mặc Môn với một tâm lòng chân thành, và cầu xin Thượng Đế nếu những điều này có thật không, "...thì Ngài sẽ biểu lộ lẽ thật của điều này cho các người biết, bởi quyền năng của Đức Thánh Linh. Và bởi quyền năng của Đức Thánh Linh, các người sẽ có thể biết được lẽ thật của tất cả mọi điều." (Mô Rô Ni 10:4-5)

Con biết những điều này có thật, và con muốn nói những lời này, trong tôn danh của Chúa Giê Su Ky Tô, A Men."

Follow the Spirit! (Week 94)

Monday July 22, 2019

Follow the Spirit! (Week 94)

Hello everyone!

 
 
This week was amazing! I have seen the Lord perform so many miracles this week, I hardly know where to start!

 

So, pretty much all of them connect to me seeing the Spirit's guidance. Not that I haven't seen it before, but this week I saw it so strongly and so frequently, it was amazing! We had a bunch of lessons where we went in with a plan, and part way through the lesson, the Spirit told us they needed something else. I guess you could say the Spirit helped us discern what they needed and know what we needed to say. I have a lot of examples, and don't know if I can get through them all, but I will try... So first off, we got four new investigators this week. The first one was a former investigator named Anh Nguyen. I actually accidentally called him last week (but maybe it was not an accident, but rather directed by God). I called the wrong Anh Nguyen, and he agreed to meet so we could get to know each other. Our discussion was good and all, but when we got to sharing about the gospel, he was listening, but only half heartedly. He had some memory of past lessons. We had planned on going into the Restoration. We talked about God and Jesus Christ. We mentioned the Atonement. And then, I got a feeling to talk about repentance and the forgiveness that comes with it. I didn't know why, but went into it. He seemed to perk up. The Spirit was definitely testifying to him. We talked some more about it, and asked if he would like the clean feeling that repentance brings. He said he would. He agreed to keep learning the lessons. We almost stopped there, but then I felt I should invite him to baptism. We explained how baptism is a full cleansing from the feelings of sin (which in Vietnamese, sin and guilt are the same word, interestingly enough). I gave one of the least eloquent invites I have ever done, as far as pre thought word choice goes, but felt to give him a date in August. I pulled out my phone and opened the calendar app. I told him if he wanted we could help him get to and prepare for baptism, and asked if he would like to try to be baptized on the 25th of August, and he said he would! It was amazing! We went into that lesson not knowing what to expect, but I could tell so clearly how the Spirit was guiding us in what to say and testifying to him about what we shared.

 

And another example. So, I think I mentioned last week how I contacted a girl named Japan. An interesting Vietnamese name as the letter J is not in their alphabet. She was studying outside our apartment and we were walking by last week, and I felt I should talk to her. We didn't get to talk much, but I told her we volunteer at a church, and we invited her to meet and learn more about the church. She agreed to do so! Well, we didn't see her again until we got an appointment on Sunday. She was busy in the morning, so she couldn't come to church, but could meet later. We planned to share a bit of the restoration. Then, while we are at church, she texts saying she is bringing three friends! Teaching in a group setting is very different from an individual! And we had never met two said friends and didn't know what Japan had told them they were coming for! But they all came and were good. Honestly, we weren't sure what to share at this point. My companion actually leaned over to me at one point and said "so what do we talk about now?" Also, we had a member who stayed after church, named Anh Duy, and he helped out. Well, it turned into a mini testimony meeting with Anh Duy, Elder Hieu, and I sharing what we believed and how we came to know the church was true. They all were respectful, but I wasn't really sure what to share though. Then I felt to do something I have not really done before, particularly in a first meeting scenario. I usually invite people to learn more about the Savior, how God teaches us, how to have a happy family, or something else pretty specific. But in the "testimony meeting" we had touched on all, and I didn't feel strongly to invite on just one. What I felt was to outline exactly what we do. Missionaries teach five basic lessons, covering faith and beliefs, God's plan, and commandments amongst a few other topics. I told them about the five lessons and how our purpose was to share what those five lessons contain so others can try to apply it, and see if it truly blesses their lives. We don't force anyone to join, but help them come to see for themselves if that is something they want in their lives. We give them enough resources to be informed and truly able to decide. And at the end, if they do want it, they can choose to be baptized a member of the church. And I then asked if they would like to keep meeting and try to apply those things to see if it truly benefited their lives. And they agreed! It was so awesome! We then taught them to pray, and later when texting them the steps to prayer, one said she would try it and hoped to see God's answer, and another said she would pray often! I am super excited for them, and am excited to continue to share with them about the gospel of Jesus Christ! God really does work miracles, and even when we are weak, and uncertain, if we trust in Him and do our best, He will work it all out. Recognizing the Spirit at first is hard. But as we consistently try to follow its promptings and act accordingly, we will recognize it more and more and God will lead us in all we do. This is God's work and He really does direct it. We just need to let Him. There were some other miracles too, but that is what I will share for now.

 

Well, all else seems to be going good here. The members are awesome, and we are finding more people! One other thing I thought was cool this week was in Sunday School. We got to teach. We had a member, who shall remain unnamed, who didn't come to help... No worries though! But we had it planned out alright. But when the lesson started, most people had not read all the chapters in Come Follow Me, and I just felt they needed something else. We ended up teaching in a completely different style with a completely different plan than we had prepared. And it was a lot more fun, interactive, and got the members sharing their own ideas! We had them draw on the board pictures of the stories, and we had a lot of discussion and testimony sharing. And they found a lot of ideas I hadn't seen either! It was great overall, much better than I could have imagined, and I could feel the Spirit guiding all of us to teach each other "the doctrines of the kingdom"(Moroni 6 verse something. Pulling this out of my head here. Love the chapter though, and I use it a lot when explaining why we need to have a church (functionally, not the overall organization, but the building and so forth)). Long side tangent. But it was awesome! And I also had a funny example completely on the spot where I pulled an umbrella from my bag, and asked everyone who the sky rains for. They agreed no one specific person, but everyone. Then I asked what an umbrella does and they said blocks the rain. I likened the rain to blessings from God, and the umbrella as actions that keep us from the blessings. It is not that God doesn't want to and isn't trying go bless us, but it is us who are choosing to not receive those blessings. Cool thought someone else can use in a lesson if they want.

Oh, I also got to help teach a piano class. My companion was the actual teacher, but I would step in and help explain ideas more concretely based on how I understood it when the students looked lost, and think I helped out a good bit.

 

And one last thing, it is starting to rain again... Yay I can get wet! I am not actually excited about that, that was sarcasm... oh, and this week is interviews with President Chiles, there will be a training meeting for leaders and my companion is district leader so I will attend too, and we will go on exchanges with the zone leaders. Lots of good stuff!

 

Oh, and one actual final thing. Today I got some more ao dais. The traditional Vietnamese tunic. I actually got three... but they are cool and unique to Vietnam, and my family encouraged me to get them! But we got to spend the day with a nice member, Anh Vien, who helped us out with that today. I think I have overloaded this email. If you made it all the way here and are not my family, I am decently impressed. Hopefully there was some good stuff in here someone learned from! That is the most important part! I mention fun stuff too, but in my opinion the most valuable things I have gotten from my mission is not ao dais or the ability to speak Vietnamese, but rather the testimony I have grown of the gospel. And also, the Gift of Tongues is real, somehow my Vietnamese has significantly being with a non-native companion with no explanation. Like a really big difference. God is real.

Till next week!

Elder Watson/ Nghiem

 

P.S. I gave a talk on Sunday. I actually transcripted this one. And I wrote it in English first and then translated it to Vietnamese! I added a bit while I talked, but I will post a copy of what I had written (which is more or less what I spoke at church). My talk was on the Book of Mormon.

I Am Now In Thu Duc! (Week 93)

Monday July 15, 2019

I Am Now In Thu Duc! (Week 93)

 

Hello everyone,

 

This will be a super fast email. I will give more details next week. Leaving Binh Duong was sad, but cool. We got fed a lot on our way out. We got to go to Anh Nam's house and get barbeque. We went to Em Can's house and met her family. We went to Em Vy's house and got Bun Rieu (a Vietnamese soup with different vegetables and meat, also gelatinized blood...) which was good, and had a good conversation with her whole family! They are really nice, and like what Em Vy is learning at the church. Hopefully she can get baptized sometime in the near future. We also got to meet with Anh Hoan, and I got to say goodbye to him. It was nice. And also, on my last day, Em Vy gave me a harmonica. I don't know how to play, but it was really nice! I think she gave me one because several other elders, including Elder Duy, know how to play. I guess I will have to learn!

 

Well, I am now in Thu Duc. Elder Hieu is pretty cool. He and I have some similar interests, so he is fun to talk to. He is also very intellectual, and likes trivia facts, so that is cool too. He comes from Michigan. The Thu Duc area is nice. The branch is very young, as in it has a lot of younger people, from 17 to mid 20s for most of them. They also have a good primary and youth program, which is cool! And we have several foreigners. I got to translate for Elder's Quorum, and didn't do too bad a job! And I get to give a talk next week on the Book of Mormon! The church itself is very nice. Probably the nicest church building we currently have in Vietnam. It even has trees and such. But it also has quite a few mosquitoes... I have to make sure to wear bug spray. We also bike a bit. My bike has a basket, so that is new for me. And the food here is pretty good, both in taste and price. We have an interesting burger place, it certainly is not American, but is very good.

 

We have several investigators, but so far I have just met two. One is Em Linh. She is awesome, and close to baptism. She is a little nervous about telling her family she wants to join the church though. But she is awesome, and I know God will bless her for her faith. And we are teaching a guy named Anh Nhan. He is cool, and makes really good blended ice! He owns his own cafe. We just taught him about gratitude, and showing God his gratitude, and he really liked it. Otherwise, I will meet everyone else this week hopefully! And the members are all awesome and super active, so that is cool. And we had Family Home Evening on Sunday night at Elder and Sister Baker's house, and that was a lot of fun. We talked about the martyrdom of Stephen. Oh, and the members are all really good at English, and sometimes talk to us in English too. And English club went well this last week. We have ours on Thursdays.

 

Well, that is all I can think of in this short time I have to write. I am sure I will see lots of challenges, but also lots of miracles in this new area. I am excited to work with the people here! And I know the people in Binh Duong will do great with the new missionaries there. It is sad to say goodbye, but I can still contact them, so it is all good!

 

Well, until next week!

 

Elder Watson/ Nghiêm

Transferring to Thu Duc in Ho Chi Minh City (Week 92)

Monday July 8, 2019

Transferring to Thu Duc in Ho Chi Minh City (Week 92)

Hello everyone!

I only have long enough to let you know today that I am being transferred to the Thu Duc district in Ho Chi Minh city. I have no idea what is there! And my companion will be Elder Hieu who is from Utah and has been out 7 months.

I have looked up some information briefly about Thu Duc and this is what I read…

Thu Duc is home to Vietnam National University Ho Chi Minh City, the largest university in the country. With over 56,000 students, its attendees constitute roughly 10 percent of Thu Duc’s population; giving the area a youthful and vibrant energy.

 

Sounds exciting! I’m sure it will be a fantastic area and I will love the people there!

Well, until next week!

 

Elder Watson/ Nghiêm

Happy July! (Week 91)

Monday July 1, 2019 

Happy July! (Week 91)

Hello everyone!

 

Happy July! Hard to believe we are now halfway through the year! First off, happy birthday to my dad! He is now 49! And happy late birthday Paige last week! Lots of celebrations going on back home. And of course this Thursday is the 4th of July! So another cool occasion!

  

 

Well, for some things this week. We had a good week, with zone conference. We had a big emphasis on the power of the Book of Mormon. That was really good. We also had an activity where we all picked our investigator's hardest questions and found answers in the Book of Mormon. And President Chiles pointed out that a lot of the questions were not actually the investigator's concern. For example, when someone tells you all religions are good and it doesn't matter which one you are in, the real concern they likely have is that they don't know if there is really a God. Because if there is, He is who He is, and we need to find that out, not just imagine whatever we want. It was a cool realization, because we get that a lot here. And we went back to some of the training from last October! Does anyone remember when I told you about our CHURCH list and how we invite people to come to Sacrament? If you don't and would like more details, let me know. But in short, we make a list of all the people we think could come to church and we make a schedule to call them and get them excited to come, anything from "hey, you had a question about how to develop faith. Brother so and so is giving a talk on that this Sunday!" to the slightly more worldly "there is a potluck on Sunday", but something that applies to them to get them to want to come. It was a good refresher, our quality of calls was not as good as it was when we first heard it, so it helped. We learned how to make calls better, and heard again the emphasis to talk to 10 people a day, as invited by President Ballard for missionaries worldwide. Seriously, as you do so you see miracles. God puts people in your path. It was a great zone conference and I always love hearing President Chiles' counsel as our mission president.

 

 
 

Otherwise this week, Em Vy's friends, Bang and Nhu came back! Now that testing is over, they have time to meet! And we have another new investigator, Chi Dung, who came to English club, but wants to know more about God. She believes He is real, and wants to know more about Him and how He can specifically help her. We gave her a copy of the Book of Mormon and read the introduction with her and she is really excited! So those are the new people we are working with. Chi Nhuong is getting ready for baptism on Sunday! That is really exciting! And Em Vy is doing great! She has a goal to share "For the Strength of Youth" with her mother this week. Prayers for her are appreciated! And the other exciting thing is Chi Hoa, the member, is getting married! Her husband is not a member but seems very nice. She has shared a bit with him and invited him to church. He has not had the chance to come yet, but hopefully will be able to some time soon! Well, we got to go to their house and do some service. They are repainting to make the house look fresher, so we got to sand and smooth out some walls. It was fun, and Chi Hoa's mom was very nice and made us lunch. We also got to talk to Chi Hoa's husband. Oh, and Em Cuong came to help to! He is like a mini missionary! And he wants to serve! Just needs to get baptized and wait a year and he'll be all set! One side note though, I have gotten a cold of some sort. I don't know if it was the one passing around here amongst the missionaries, or if it was dust from sanding... but today we slept in a bit and I am feeling better. Not fun though being sick, and not helpful for missionary work either!

 

Our English club is going well. This last week, Elder Bao made a goal to lead the class. It was a little rough and I had to step in a few times, but he did good! Sister Chiles pushed him last week and said he needed to focus on his English more... but he is doing better! And also something that didn't help this last English club was we had a half black out. And I mean half. The lights in the room didn't work, but the ones in the bathroom did. The air conditioning unit didn't work (so we opened windows), but the TV did. Because that makes sense... But it worked out. I taught everyone the word black out, and made up the word half black out, so that wad fun. And the spiritual thought was on patience, so a perfect fit. Thanks to everyone who was patient with us in the half dark.

 

Well, this evening I will be exchanging with Elder Duy through Wednesday. He is almost done with his mission, just one week left. It should be a good exchange though; he is a good missionary. And Elder Bao will get the chance to lead our area here! So that will be fun! And next week, I should know if I will be staying in Binh Duong or not, so stay tuned for more information on that!

I think that is all for the week! Talk to you all later! Thanks for reading this! 

Elder Watson/ Nghiêm