This past week was pretty good and very busy! On Tuesday, chị Tâm and I went to go visit Chú Mao. Chú Mao is someone that chị Phượng and I contacted about 2 months ago and due to lack of time and a busy schedule we haven't been able to go visit him and his family! When we contacted him, we gave him a Plan of Salvation pamphlet which he read and LOVED. He and his family have been catholic for a long time, so we were pretty excited about the opportunity to go and share the message of the Restoration with them. After about 1.5 hours of bike riding (because my poor navigation skills took us the SUPER long way) we finally showed up to his house which is a GIANT bánh mì shop. After we parked our bikes by the pile of freshly baked bread, we got led into the living part of their house (I would have said 'living quarters' but that sounds so old fashioned) and it is DECKED OUT with pictures and statues of Christ. It was such a sight to see, puts my two small pictures of Christ hanging on my window to shame. We had a really good conversation with them about our church and were able to say a prayer with them before we left as well. Chú Mao also happens to be my biggest fan and has commanded his nephew to start taking the discussions. His exact words: "Anh ấy là cháu ruột của chú. Anh ấy sẽ theo đạo của Kim Thư." (This is my nephew. He will follow Kim Thư's religion.)
On Sunday we had a lesson with Huyền - she was a Protestant and then a Catholic and now she's taking lessons with us! She always asks us, "Tại sao mọi người đọc nhiều sách quá vậy nhưng không có đọc kinh thánh?" (Why does everyone read so many books but not the Bible?) Our response to her: WE DO READ THE BIBLE!!! So today, in answer to her request, we will be meeting at 3 to just read the bible together. Because we support our investigators and all of their loves and interests. (that was not sarcasm or joking, her and her love for the bible are adorable).
I recently rediscovered one of my old planners and opened up to a random week to see what I had done. I got to re-read my companionship's weekly goals for that week, which just so happened to be... "Help KT talk more at dinner appointments." and "Help KT talk to people more." (sound familiar, chị Mẩn Nghi??). No worries, 3 months later, I've definitely fulfilled those two goals.
Last night I was reading in Alma chapter 8 about the story of Alma and Amulek, and something new caught my eye. Alma received a personal commandment from the Lord to return to a certain city and preach the gospel to some people. Long story short, he runs into Amulek, who has been prepared by the Lord to receive him and help him. But then later, in verse 28, it says that the people of the city, the people that Alma and Amulek were commanded to teach, had gotten worse in their iniquity. Basically they were even worse than the first time Alma was there to preach to them! If I were Alma/Amulek I would be thinking, "What is this? Heavenly Father personally asked me to come back here and teach these people and they're still terrible? Why would he send me back here if it is even worse than before?" Sometimes Heavenly Father gives us a personal commandment/personal revelation and we think that if we follow it, it will be easy. He's guiding us in a certain direction, so we're just going to be obedient and do what He says and everything will turn out great. However, sometimes His personal guidance for us isn't easy. Sometimes it feels like He guides us STRAIGHT INTO A TRIAL and our life gets 100 times harder. But, all of the guidance and commandments He gives us has a purpose. Maybe it's essential for us to have a certain trial at a certain time, maybe it's essential for us to not have an easy life 100% of the time. We just have to be obedient and trust in Him, and He will help us get through the things that He commands us.
And I have no eloquent way to end my email after that, so I'll just say thanks for all the emails and pictures and updates!
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