Heaven is Pho Real: Thuyên Chuyển

Unfortunately, chi Tam and I did not survive the transfer call. We will be getting split up and she is off to Thao Dien :( I'll be staying in Tan Son Nhat with my new companion, chi Chau! Here we go, the two tallest sisters in the mission serving together. Chi Chau's words about this: "We can just intimidate them into baptism". Cũng được.

This week I decided to read the Book of Mormon again in English. For the past 6 months or so, I've been reading the Book of Mormon in Vietnamese during personal study, but this past week I decided to switch things up and go back to English for a time to see if anything new pops out that I didn't see before. I was just reading in the very first few chapters of 1 Nephi, and I came across the verse that I love, but this time it had a new meaning:

1 Nephi 1:20 -"And when the Jews heard these things they were

angry with him; yea, even as with the prophets of old, whom they
had cast out, and stoned, and slain; and they also sought his life,
that they might take it away. But behold, I, Nephi, will show
unto you that the tender mercies of the Lord are over all those
whom he hath chosen, because of their faith, to make them mighty
even unto the power of deliverance."

I've always liked this verse because I love to think about the tender mercies that the Lord gives us. He always blesses us in such small ways just to make our day better. I've loved this verse because it helps me to remember that when we have faith and follow Him, He will give us tons of tender mercies throughout our lives. This time however, when I read this verse, I started thinking about what Nephi was saying. Nephi was reflecting on the tender mercy that had been given to his family that his father Lehi, was not harmed or killed by these people that didn't like what he was saying, even though it was the truth. That is DEFINITELY not a tender mercy - that is a miracle! It is such a miracle that Lehi and their family left Jerusalem unharmed. So what does this mean to us now? For me, when I reread this verse, I realized that sometimes, and probably more often than not, those little tender mercies we receive are actually miracles. They aren't just tiny little blessing that Heavenly Father is giving us to get through the day, they are full-on miracles that He is giving us to let us know that He is real, He is there, and He loves us. Our responsibility now is to change our mindset and to view the things that He gives us as the great miracles that they are.

This week was a good week. It was a hard week, but I learned a lot. Thanks for all the emails and pictures and updates! Have a good week!