Finding my cousins

2 years ago I went to a "Come and See" program, and they showed everyone a video of "Finding your cousins" - all about family history work. Well, this week I FOUND A COUSIN! Technically not a cousin - She's more of a friend of my grandparents. But it works nonetheless. My companion and I were able to go over to her home for dinner on Thursday night, look at baby pictures of my mom, and talk about family things. It was so much fun. 

Dinner at Bac Phuc's house

 

Dessert at Bac Phuc's

This week I've been trying to read more out of the Bible, because I'm a terrible person and always neglect it. One of my problems though is connecting to the verses in the Bible - the Book of Mormon is easier for me (maybe because I've read it more?), but for some reason I get a little bored when reading the Bible (should I admit that?). Anyways, Yesterday I came across a verse that, with some word changing creativity, I was able to apply to my life:

1 Corinthians 5:6 - "Your glorying is not good. Know ye not that a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump?" 

I've never been good at this "leaven" analogies, but that's okay because my version doesn't use that word: 

1 Corinthians according to Chi Kim Thu 5:6 - "Your whining is not good. Know ye not that a little whine ruineth the whole day?" Over the ALMOST ONE YEAR that I've been a missionary, that statement has been true every single day. There are some days when I wake up at 5:30 (hello new mission schedule) and think "There is no way anyone is forcing me to get out of this bed today. Not even Ben & Jerry's ice cream would convince me." I start thinking about how hot it is outside, how tired I am, how I don't want to ride a bike anymore - basically I start whining about every little thing in the book! However, on the days that I wake up and think "Okay it's way too early, yes, but today is going to be a good day" it's so much easier for me to have motivation. A little bit of whine truly does ruineth the whole day, so let's just not whine anymore. Let's also not wine anymore, because Word of Wisdom (https://www.lds.org/topics/word-of-wisdom?lang=eng). My family and friends are going to kill me for that tie-in, but that's okay.

In other news, Sunday night we were able to go over to Em Doan's house to bake cinnamon rolls! Our investigator, Chi Phung, came with us. It was so much fun and we were able to help Em Doan's family learn a little bit more about the church. We are praying that the family liked us so much that they will give Em Doan permission to be baptized!!

The quote for this week is.. "Bạn có yêu người hàng xóm của mình không?" Translation: do you love your neighbor? Flash WAY back to my very first week in Vietnam. Chi Man Nghi, Chi Ha, and I went to the YSA activity where they played that game. I still remember that I had ABSOLUTLEY no idea what was going on because my vietnamese vocabulary was not large enough to understand, "I love everyone wearing red socks". Thankfully, this time I was able to understand. That's how you know your one year's worth of missionary service has paid off.