Xin chào Quận 6

It's been 4 days since we moved houses to District 6. I'm currently typing on a keyboard that flashes rainbow lights everytime I hit a key. The faster I type the more it flashes. I think I might have a seizure after this email. 



The new living quarters

 

I am currently serving with Chi Thu Hong (MTC COMPANION!) and our new trainee, Chi My! She's from Utah and is ADORABLE. She is so young. Only 19 :')) 

New companions:  Hailey, Chi My (sister Nelson) and Chi Thu-Hung (Sister Schley)

Serving in District 6 has been a bit of a flashback from when I got transferred to Saigon for the first time and didn't have any investigators or recent converts or less-actives to work with.. So basically all our time was spent contacting! Right now though, here in District 6 it's a little easier, especially because I've already experienced this before! That's one of the blessings of our trials - after we get through them, we'll be able to use that experience and new knowledge to help us get through future trials. I read a scripture the other day that reminded me of this (I'm changing some of the words so that it fits the situation better):

"And Satan had hope to shake Kim Thu from the faith, notwithstanding the many miracles and experiences which she had seen concerning whitewashing a new area; for she truly had seen angels, and they had ministered unto her. And also, she had heard the voice of the Lord speaking unto her in very word, from time to time; wherefore, she could not be shaken." (Jacob 7:5, except for my name isn't actually in there).

There's been a few moments when I've felt a little panicky because our lack of investigators, or all the work that has to be done. But then I remember, "Oh wait, Heavenly Father already gave me this trial, and last time it was 10x harder because I didn't know what I was doing. If I did it last time, I can do it again." Sometimes are trials feel way hard and we just want to get rid of them as soon as possible, but after we get through them, we have all this new experience and knowledge. (Example, I just realized that I used the word "Are" instead of "our".. Typing is now a trial in my life, please excuse my bad grammar.) And then, in the future, when we meet another trial, we'll be able to use that past experience to get through it more easily. So trials really are blessings. Hard blessings that sometimes we don't want, but still blessings.

The branch here in District 6 is so tiny, it's adorable! There were probably 30 people that came to church, including us 7 missionaries. There is so much work to do, but it's great. The members here are awesome and so fun to talk to, so I'm really excited to be serving here. The food has been great, the weather has been incredibly hot, and there are probably more mosquitos here than I've ever seen in my life. But life is good.

The quote for this week, of course, comes from our adorable chi My: "Chú, bao nhiêu tiền." (Hey you, how much money). We went and ate pho the other night (chi my's first time!!) and chi My wanted to ask the owner for the bill, and she did! We haven't quite gotten down a more polite way to ask for the bill, but at least she did it! Hahaha, chi my is absolutely ADORABLE and is so willing to try everything, even if she doesn't really know what she's doing! Plus we have some chinese neighbors in our new apartment, and she was able to talk to them a little bit. Go chi My!! Or in the words of one of the members here, Go Sister America!!

Thanks for all the updates and pictures, I love hearing from you all! Have a good week!

The new Ho Chi Minh district