The next time you hear from me, I will be writing you from the spirit world. Saturday night we received our transfer call, and I will be heading down South on Wednesday. This means...

1. It's so much hotter there that I will probably die of sun stroke.

2. The language dialect is different so I will probably die of confusion

3. I don't know the area so I will probably get lost and then die

4. I will be training so the both of us will probably die (so sorry to the parents of my dear companion)

All joking aside, I am pretty excited to go to Saigon. I will be serving in the Tân Sơn Nhất branch (don't ask me where that is because I have literally no idea). On Sunday I had to say goodbye to all of the members and investigators here and it was SO tough. In the MTC, I thought saying goodbye to the other missionaries was hard, and then I thought saying goodbye to Chi Cheney was hard, and then I thought saying goodbye to Chi Man Nghi was hard, but then saying goodbye to the members and the recent converts I used to teach was the HARDEST THING EVER.

After saying goodbye to everyone, I started thinking about how I got to know them so well, and why it's so hard to leave them, and I realized that it all comes back to the gospel of Jesus Christ. The gospel of Jesus Christ unites people, and I am so grateful that I have had the opportunity to share it with everyone here in Hanoi. https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2008/04/the-gospel-of-jesus-christ?lang=eng

Anyways, back to the normal week stuff. Co Hoa and Em Khue had their baptismal interviews before church on Sunday, and everything went perfect! They are all good to go for this Saturday. Pretty sad that I won't be able to see it, but I am so happy for them. They have been prepared for a long time now, and I am so grateful that I was able to meet them and help them, even though it was only a little bit. 

This week we were also able to meet up with the new Relief Society president for lunch to talk to her about things we can do to help with the program. Once again, sometimes you have to sacrifice your tastebuds for the work because 1) she chose to go eat Bun Dau, which is one of my least favorite foods and 2) the Bun Dau was so hot that I burned my tongue and literally don't have any taste buds left.

The quote for this week is.. "Chị thấy có 3 người làm chứng về sách, sau đó 8 người nữa, thì chắc là sách này là có thật." (First 3 people testify about the book and then 8 other people, so it must be true.) This was spoken by one of our new investigators, Chi Thanh, during our first lesson with her. We had just read the introduction of the Book of Mormon and then the testimonies of the 3 and 8 witnesses when she looked at us and said that. Afterwards it was followed by a, "There's probably a lot of other people who think this way too, right?" IF ONLY ALL OF OUR INVESTIGATORS COULD BE AS ACCEPTING AS THIS. It was awesome.

Last email writting from Hanoi, Vietnam, my home for the past 8.5 months. I hope everyone has a great week, and when you have the time say a quick prayer for me while I'm out in Saigon.

8/3 là ngày của phép lạ

THIS PAST WEDNESDAY WAS AMAZING. The whole week was amazing, but Wednesday especially.

1. Chi Truc Ly got her Visa!! We biked over to the US Embassy Wednesday morning for her 2nd interview. Chi Thu Hong and I weren't allowed to go inside the building because we didn't have an appointment, so we waited in a cafe until she finished and... SHE GOT IT! She'll be reporting to the Provo MTC on April 11th (one day before my 20th birthday, holla), so we get to keep her for a little while longer.

2. We taught more lessons than I have ever taught IN MY LIFE. We had a lesson at 5, 2 lessons at 6 (had to do splits, lol), English Class at 7, and then a lesson at 8. Let's just say I was exhausted by the end of the day.

3. Co Hoa and Em Khue accepted a baptism date! Wednesday we had an amazing lesson about the Plan of Salvation (more to come on that later), and they both agreed to be baptized on that day! The 25th is coming up quick, and so it was a bit of a surprise to everyone that the baptism would be that soon. After we invited them to be baptized on that day, one of the members helping us said "Ồ, sớm thế!" (that's so soon!). BUT NO WORRIES. Co Hoa and Em Khue have been prepared since before they came to this earth, and I know that the 25th of March is the day that they need to be baptized. It's going to be amazing.

Now to talk about things that didn't happen on Wednesday.. Saturday, one of the elders' investigators got baptized! His name is Supreme and is only 18 years old, even though he looks like he's 25. He's from Nigeria, so shoutout to Dallin & Cason who are both serving out in Africa. Just 3 weeks ago was the first time that he came to church and he couldn't understand why we didn't have pastors, why we had to call each other sister & elder, and why I had stopped going to school for a year and a half to live in Vietnam. And now, here he is, the newest member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latterday Saints. MIRACLES. The elders also asked me to speak at his baptism, and I managed to speak in English with proper grammar, no stuttering, and not switching into Vietnamese halfway through. (that was the first time I've ever spoken in english at the church). MIRACLES.

Now to come back to the Plan of Salvation. The Plan of Salvation is something that I have known for my whole life, but for some reason it hit me hard when we were teaching it to Co Hoa and Em Khue. Before we came to earth, we lived with our Heavenly Father. While we live here on earth, we go through experiences that will help us become more like our Heavenly Father. And after this life, our Heavenly Father wants us to return to live with Him again. During the lesson, Co Hoa was summarizing the Plan of Salvation and really emphasizing that the whole plan has to do with us being able to return to where we started - living with our Heavenly Father and the people that we love. That hit me like a brick - THAT'S EXACTLY IT. We are going home, right back to where we started. Heavenly Father loves us so much and wants every single one of us to come back home safely. https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2009/04/our-fathers-plan-big-enough-for-all-his-children?lang=eng

The quote for this week is one of my favorite things to say: "bỏ tay". There's no direct translation for this one, but Chi Truc Ly just taught it to me and Chi Thu Hong. You can bet that's all I'll be saying when I get home to the states. Bỏ tay.

TRANSFER CALL

This past Monday, President Hassell surprised us with a transfer call! No one got transferred. BUT Chi Thu Hong and I did receive a new companion! Her name is Chị Trúc Ly - She's currently waiting for her Visa to go to the Provo MTC, and then from there she'll be off to the Japan Kobe Mission (shoutout to Elder McEwan). Being in a trio has definitely been challenging, especially since Chị Trúc Ly isn't familiar with any of the missionary rules, but we are doing our best to teach her :) 

 

Last night we had the opportunity to attend the Hassells' Eternal Marriages class with some of our potential investigators. During the class, they talked a lot about how the covenants we make when we are baptized apply to our marriage. When we are baptized, we promise to serve others by bearing their burdens, comforting them when they need comfort, and even crying with them when they need it (I'm not a big fan of that one because I don't like crying, but it's okay). When we are baptized, we promise those things with our Heavenly Father. But, in our family lives, we also need to promise each other those things. President and Sister Hassell then brought up the point that if we continue to do these things with our spouse, parents, siblings, or children, our relationships will improve. For me, I always focus on serving people OUTSIDE of my family. Buying chocolate for my friends when they're having a bad day, playing piano at the nursing home, etc. But last night made me realize that I was extremely lacking when it came to serving the people INSIDE my family, who in reality are the most important people! I would love to set a goal and commit myself to serving them more often, but I won't see them for another 8 months.. SO FAMILY, I promise that when I get home in November I will be serving you all like crazy. Until then, I get a break for 8 more months.

On Sunday we had an AMAZING first lesson with two new investigators, Cô Hoa and Em Khuê (mother and daughter). They remind me SO MUCH of when Chị Mẩn Nghi and I taught Cô Tâm and Em Linh. Cô Hoa truly is someone that Heavenly Father has prepared to accept the gospel. She loves everything about the church and is so willing to learn. And Em Khuê, who is only 9, is the cutest thing ever. Such a chatterbox and made the lesson so fun. Heavenly Father is preparing people all over the world to receive His gospel, and it is our job to help them receive it.

In other news, Chi Thu Hong and I biked to a member's house in 30 minutes this week. It normally takes us 1 hour, but we were running behind schedule and only had 30 minutes to get there. Heavenly Father definitely blessed us with strength to do that, no doubt, no doubt in my mind.

The quote for this week would be "Nói bằng tiếng Việt đi! Điều gì làm cho em bực bội?" (Speak in Vietnamese! What's making your frustrated?). Chi Thu Hong and I were taking a taxi over to the Hassells' home to pick up Chi Truc Ly, and I was a bit frustrated about something that had happened and was speaking English WAY fast with Chi Thu Hong. Then our taxi driver asked me to speak in Vietnamese so that he could help me feel less frustrated. Suprisingly, he had very good advice and was very comforting. 

Tạm biệt tháng hai

Just like that, February is OVER. Now it's the month of the NEW SISTER MISSIONARIES. Slightly freaking out, slightly exciting, slightly feeling every emotion imaginable but it will be fun. No worries.


First off, on the 25th was SISTER SNOOKS BIRTHDAY!! She's officially 20 years old, the age that one of my investigators calls "tien man teen". I won't provide the translation. It's not too late to hit Sister Snooks up with a happy birthday email, or just an email about anything really: alexa.snooks@myldsmail.net.

This week was an amazing week. But one of the reasons why it ended up being so good was because my companion and I really tried to find the little things that happened every day. It's so easy for people to get discouraged or down on themselves because they don't have something BIG or EXCITING happening in their lives. But, we all need to remember that there are little miracles that happen every single day, and those need to be celebrated as well. https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2008/10/finding-joy-in-the-journey?lang=eng


I was also reading in the Bible the other day and came across these verses in Romans chapter 8. Always remember that God is right by our side, through every trial that we have. He's willing and ready to help us and bless us with His love every day - and we can take joy in that.

 31 What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us?

32 He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things?

 35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?

 37 Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us.

 38 For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come,

 39 Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

So now for some tender mercies that happened this week... We were able to meet/set up appointments with 5 new people!! It was amazing. My sweet RC Co Tam has been doing amazing member missionary work and invited her friend to English class, and then to dinner at her house (a dinner that we would be at!) The following day, her friend came to church and we were able to set up an appointment with her for later in the week. SO EXCITING I LOVE CO TAM. She rocks. And the other 4 people were just pure miracles - I honestly don't even know how they happened but I am so glad that we found them. Heavenly Father takes care of His children, that is for sure.

On a less spiritual tender mercy note, I put our toaster oven on the back of my bike and we brought it over to the church. Definitely no way I could have done that without help from my loving Heavenly Father. We were baking cupcakes with Em Linh, Chi Trang (two recent converts) and Em Linh's friend Em Thao - an explanation for those of you wondering why in the world I would need to bring an oven to the church.

Thanks to everyone for all the emails, updates, and pictures! I love hearing from you all. I hope everyone has a great, safe week!!

Ngày Tình Yêu

Happy Valentines' Day everyone!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Don't you worry, I did get a Valentines this year. It came in the form of an adorable 12 year old boy that I met on the street. We bonded over the barbeque shrimp they sell on the corners. His name is Ha. No, it is not facebook official, but he did buy me food. 

 

Since Chi Thu Hong doesn't know the area in Hanoi just yet, and since I am the person that I am, we have been getting lost QUITE FREQUENTLY. On Tuesday we set off to go find the home of a woman that was referred to us - somewhere neither of us have been before. We had to go find street #279, but unfortunately we could only find #263 and #281... So the street we were looking for was somewhere in between, we just DIDNT KNOW WHERE. Long story short, we found the house. Only after going back and forth across the same bridge about 6 times and asking about 10 different people. It's okay - exercise is good for you. And so is talking to strangers. 

This week we received tons and tons of referrals - so many miracles! Normally we don't get too many referrals, but this week it all just came pouring in! Heavenly Father has a HUGE part in missionary work, and it is amazing to see what He does when we are willing to try.

Last Sunday I was asked to give a talk in sacrament meeting about reverence. And then this Sunday, I completely went against everything that I said. While the sacrament was being passed, a loud obnoxious ringtone went off. I was SO FRUSTRATED because I like to having some quite time during the sacrament meeting to pray and just think. But here was this annoying, loud ringtone and no one was talking ownership and shutting off the phone! I even said another quick prayer asking Heavenly Father to make the phone shut off so that we could enjoy some peace and quiet. Thankfully, after about 2 full minutes, the phone stopped ringing. But then, right when the water was being passed, it went off again! This time I was FURIATED. I couldn't understand who in their right mind wouldn't put their phone on silent for church. As I looked around the congregation, one of the recent converts, Em Linh, said to me, "Chi Kim Thu.. It's your phone.." Turns out that it was OUR PHONE that had been going off the whole time! I was soooo embarrassed. Here I was, praying that someone would shut their phone off so everyone else could enjoy sacrament meeting.. But I was the culprit!! It reminded me of a funny video on the church website about making sure everything is right with ourselves before we try to critizice someone else. 

https://www.lds.org/media-library/video/2012-01-004-looking-through-windows?category=topics/judgment&lang=eng

The quote for this week would be... "Da để cho chị sắp xếp lịch và chị sẽ báo cho em nhé!" Which translates into, "Let me look at my schedule and I'll let you know!" AKA one of my least favorite things to hear. We had scheduled quite a few appointments with new people this week, only for them to cancel on us and say "they'll get back to us." Let's just hope and pray that they actually do!

On another note, I had to lead the music during Sunday School. Hymn #85, How Firm A Foundation. I forgot the tune and attempted to sing it to the tune of How Great Thou Art. It's fine, I'm fine, everything's fine.



Tuần đầu tiên mà không có chị mẩn nghi

It has officially been 4 days since I have not been with my old companion, Chi Man Nghi. It's definitely different since we were together for 7 straight months, but it is fun being with my MTC comp, Chi Thu Hong :) 

 

This week really was full of miracles. Everything that happened just reminded me of how much Heavenly Father truly is watching over us because He loves us. Chi Thu Hong has only served in Saigon, so she doesn't know the Hanoi area or the people. I have definitely felt more than just a little bit of pressure and stress since being companions with her because I have to make sure we know where we're going and help her get to know the people. It was way overwhelming the first few days, but then as always, Heavenly Father blessed us in ways that helped me know that everything is going to be okay.


On Thursday and Friday, we received 3 different calls that led to us having 3 new investigators! I shouldn't count the eggs before they hatch (or however that saying goes) because we haven't met with 2 of them yet (those appointments are coming up this week) but hopefully by the end of next week we will be able to officially count them as investigators :)


And now, for the highlight of my week, TRUNG ANH GOT BAPTIZED AND CONFIRMED. Trung Anh is one of my favorite people. She was the first investigator I ever taught here in Hanoi, way back on July 15th of 2016. It has been a long 7 months of teaching her, and we have definitely had our ups and our downs. But she has always been so devoted and converted to the gospel and has progressed so much. I really love her and am so happy that she is officially a member of the church :)

The quote for this week comes from one of my favorite security gaurds (i forgot his name..). Everytime we bike up the ramp to outside of the parking garage in our building, he shouts "Cố lên, cố lên, cố lên!!!!" This would translate into "go go go go!" We greatly appreciate his support because the ramp is pretty steep. He chanted this for us yesterday on our way out, and I got super pumped up and went super fast, only to hit a bump and have my water bottle go flying out. No worries, the water bottle didn't break, and he got a great laugh out of it.


But to those of you who are struggling right now.. Cố lên, cố lên, CỐ LÊN!!!


A big CẢM ƠN to all of you who email me and give me updates and pictures. I love hearing from everyone!


Hit my halfway mark on Saturday (TRUNG ANH'S BAPTISM) so as my dad says, "it's all down hill from here."

1 year ago...

1 year ago:

• I wore my favorite black ankle boots which unfortunately have no traction
• Because of my decision to wear boots that have no traction, I slipped on the ice on my way to my 9 am chemistry class
• Because I slipped on the ice, my waterbottle fell out of my backpack. Luckily, a kind passerby returned it to me with a sweet "hey your bottle fell when you slipped on the ice back there"
• I stood in line at the testing center for my PDBIO test
• After the test, I turned my phone back on and realized I had a missed call from an unknown utah number
• That number happened to be the Cannon Center front desk
• The Cannon Center had called me because they HAD RECEIVED MY MISSION CALL
• I OPENED MY MISSION CALL AND FOUND OUT I WOULD BE SERVING IN THE VIETNAM HANOI MISSION

I cannot believe it has been a year since that day. Despite all of the trials that I've had, all the discouragement that I've felt, I know that Vietnam is the place where Heavenly Father needs me to be right now. I love the people here more than I thought I could, and every experience that I have had so far has taught me so much. I honestly could not imagine what my life would be like if I hadn't decided to serve a mission and received my call on February 1st, 2016. 

Other than this exciting milestone in my life, all is well in Hanoi, Vietnam. Tet is officially over, so everything has returned to normal. Last night was our transfer call, and unfortunately my companionship did not survive this time. I have served in Hanoi for 7 months with the same companion, Chi Man Nghi. She trained me and then tolerated me for another 5 months. She is being transferred down south for her last transfer (SHE'S GOING HOME AHH) and Sister Schley (my MTC companion) is going to come up North to serve with me. It is a HUGE change and it makes me very nervous if I think about it too much. She has been my only companion, so everything that I've done here I've done with her! But I am excited to work with Sister Schley again and to see what all will happen.

The quote for this week is also a great quote to live by: "Ăn sô cô la trước và sau đó ăn trái cây" which translates into "Eat the chocolate first and then we'll eat fruit", spoken by one of the members here, Co Huong. Here is another reason why I know I was destined to serve here in Vietnam. Where else would I have received such wonderful words of wisdom?