Apparently "con lười" is vietnamese for "sloth". It directly translates to "lazy animal". I love it. Also shoutout to my good friend Cason over in Africa because sloths are his favorite animal.

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! 

xin chào buổi sáng, Việt Nam

This Sunday I was asked to say the closing prayer for sacrament meeting. Afterwards, this woman that was visiting came up to me and said, "Your Korean is amazing!!!!!!" :)))

On Thursday I was in a trio while chi Phuong was flying to Hanoi and chi Tam was flying to Saigon, which means I got my own phone for the whole day. While we were taking our nap (QUICK EXPLANATION! President Hassell changed up our daily routine. We now wake up at 5:30 and go to bed at 10:30. Because we wake up an hour earlier, he has us schedule in a 1 hour nap during the dead hours aka the afternoon when it is boiling hot and no one in the right mind is outside) I got a surprise phone call from Elizabeth/Chi Cuc!!! Remember my email about 2 weeks ago?? About the australian/vietnamese woman that contacted us at the coffee shop?? Well we put in a referral for her in Australia because she lives there, but she called me on Thursday saying that she was back in Saigon!!! I was just super pumped because that means I get to go see her again, but then we got an email through the referral system saying that they are handing her back over to us because she is planning on living in saigon now!! YAY!!!!!!!!! how amazing is that.

Once again, coffee shops are a missionary's best friend. Minus the part about the coffee because that's breaking the word of wisdom, but in all other aspects, they are a missionary's best friend.

As a general update, missionary life is pretty normal and pretty good. My new companion Sister Moss/Chi Tam is amazing. This morning she made us all crepes for breakfast so that's how you know she's a keeper. Our investigators are doing well, aside from the 2 that are out of town due to work. When they get back to Saigon they'll be doing well.

The quote from this week was one of the most amazing quotes I've ever heard from my best friend Hieu: "I have a happy full this life or I have a happy full forever life." When we have to think about choices, we need to consider them in an eternal perspective. If we choose the things of the world, sure, we will be happy. But that would result in just a "happy full this life." If we choose the things of the Lord, sure, we might have to sacrifice a few other things. But, we will have "a happy full forever life." When in doubt, just think about what you want. Do you want a happy full this life or a happy full forever life?

When it's 9:28 and you have to be home by 9:30!



When the branch asks you to help out in Primary and the little kids are monsters.  JKJK!!

That special feeling you get when someone compliments you on your Korean...

3rd wheeling with the Thao Dien district

Mười ba tháng rồi

Yesterday was my 13th month mark, and the baptism of chi Phung!! What a good day. 

 

I promise the format of this email will be normal. No headaches for anyone who reads it this week.

This past week was definitely CRAZY. On Monday I went to Cambodia with my companion and Elder Huy to renew our visas. Unfortunately, after the long crazy journey, chi Phuong's visa didn't get renewed. This resulted in a last minute call on Thusrday saying that she was getting kicked out of the country to go to Hong Kong until Monday. She's still not back yet. SO this also means that I would be third-wheeling with the two sisters in the Thao Dien branch for 4 days. It was quite the adventure. My personal favorite activity was trying to weekly plan (this is when you set up tons of appointments and think about what lessons you need to teach to investigators and other members, set goals for the upcoming week, talk about how your past week went) by myself. the part for companionship inventory lasted about 3 seconds bc no companion.

My favorite part about being in a trio for the past 4 days was that on Saturday night we were out contacting at a mall. We stopped by the grocery store and ended up buying 3 giant pints of ice cream. 

Last night was also our transfer call! I will be staying in Saigon for another 6 weeks, and my new companion will be chi Tam from Hanoi. It's quite a change, and one that NO ONE was expecting, but it will be a fun 6 weeks!

Today I am third-wheeling it to the Thao Dien district pday, and the activity for the day is ice skating, which means we get to wear PANTS. I've officially decided that it's harder to bike in pants than it is in a skirt. I feel so bad for the elders.

The quote for this week would be: "It's either going to be really bad or just okay." This is basically mine and Chi Chau's new life motto. Whether your trying to bake brownies in a rice cooker, trying on a new outfit - this sentence applies to everything.

Thanks for all the emails and updates and pictures! Most of all thanks for sticking around and reading my emails even though they aren't that great.

Hôm nay con sẽ đi Campuchia

Chị Snooks và Chị Tuyết ơi, nếu hai chị có đọc email này trước 12 giờ, hai chị hãy gặp em ở khu vực Mọc Bai lúc 12g nhé. Em sẽ đi Campuchia và muốn gặp hai chị. Mình có thể đi chơi cùng với nhau suốt ngày. 

Snooks និងប្អូនស្រីជាទីស្រឡាញ់របស់នាង ព្រិលប្រសិនបើបងប្អូនស្រីពីរនាក់បានអានអ៊ីម៉ែលនេះមុនពេល 12 ម៉ោង, បងប្អូនស្រីពីរនាក់, សូមជួបខ្ញុំនៅឯតំបន់ Bai បាននៅ 12g ម៉ុបន្តិច។ ខ្ញុំនឹងទៅដល់ប្រទេសកម្ពុជាហើយចង់ជួបបងប្អូនស្រីពីរនាក់។ ខ្ញុំអាចចេញទៅក្រៅជាមួយគ្នាពេញមួយថ្ងៃ។

Snooks, I translated that into Khmer for you. Hopefully google translate got it right.

It looks like my email just got reformatted really really weird (because I copied and pasted some Khmer for Snooks. You're welcome). And due to my lack of technology skills I have no idea how to fix it. Due to my level of laziness I don't want to start the email over. Hopefully you will have the patience to bear with me on this one. 




For those of you who don't read Vietnamese or Khmer, I'll be going to Cambodia today!!  YAY!  You know the scripture that says the Lord will destroy one wicked person in order to save the righteous?  Well President Hassell feels the same way.  He's noticed that I'm more of a burden than a blessing here in Vietnam so he's shipping me off to Cambodia and praying that I'll get straightened up.




This past week was busy, busy, BUSY.  We had Zone Conference, MLC, exchanges with Hanoi, and then on Sunday the excitement of a NON CONVERT BAPTISM (that's when an 8 year old who's parents are members is baptized), an ENGAGEMENT (our relief society president got engaged to her boyfriend who visited from Seattle!), and a farewell for one of our elders (good ole Anh Ca Vuong is heading off to the Provo MTC.  He will be serving in Anaheim, CA.










For those of you who don't read Vietnamese or Khmer, I'll be going to Cambodia today!! YAY! You know the scripture that says the Lord will destroy one wicked person in order to save the righteous? Well President Hassell feels the same way. He's noticed that I'm more of a burden than a blessing here in Vietnam so he's shipping me off to Cambodia and praying that I'll get straightened up. 

Just kidding, I have to renew my Visa again. Thank goodness this trip will last me until the end of my mission!

Eating Banh Xeo, our favorite!!

Anh Ca Vuong heading to the Provo MTC; he will serve in Anaheim, CA

And, the best news of all, our investigator Chi Phung got interviewed for baptism... and she passed! This week we get to prepare all the final details for her baptism and it will be so so so fun. She's the cutest thing ever.

I'm not quite sure if this whole email is getting through or not.. Now that I'm reading back through it, it seems like a tons of words are missing. I'm sorry. My level of laziness is still pretty high and my inability to use this high-tech computer is increasing at this second.... And now I feel like I'm just talking to myself. This email is embarrassing. 














I'm just going to end it before anything gets words. Like that, I just typed "words" instead of "worse". I'd like to formally apologize to my parents and my English teachers because I'm just not functional anymore. 

Thanks for all the emails and pictures from everyone! I wil have a much better email next week, I promise. Less grammar mistakes and less Khmer. Hopefully better formatting. I hope that at least some of you will be understand the exciting news that went on this past week.

Một tuần nữa đã trôi qua...

This past week was filled with finding new investigators, studying at coffee shops, and receiving the best graduation announcement picture for my brother Andrew's graduation. I'll be attaching a picture of the grad announcement for your enjoyment. I hope you all have seen the movie The Three Amigos.

Chi Phuong and I went and studied at a coffee shop about 4 days this week. We were thinking that it doesn't make much sense for us to study all day locked up in our house when the vietnamese people are outside. So on Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday we packed up our stuff and studied at a coffee shop close to the church. It was a lot more fun than studying at our house, mainly because the chairs are comfier (comfyer? I don't know how to spell it. The chairs are more comfortable.) and also this particular coffee shop makes really yummy frozen hot chocolate. BUT we also were able to meet this AMAZING lady from Australia! She's Vietnamese, has lived in Australia for the past 11 years, and returned to Saigon for a quick vacation/visit her boyfriend. On Wednesday when we were planning our spiritual though for English Class, she approached us and asked if she could sit and talk with us. Turns out she had seen us at the coffee shop on Tuesday and really wanted to talk to us, but she was too scared to! So she was super glad that we had returned on Wednesday so that she could meet us. It was such an amazing experience! We were able to talk to her about temples, because that's what our spiritual thought was about, and she is now making plans to go visit the Melbourne temple when she returns to Australia! 

So, lesson learned. Good things come when you study at coffee shops that have yummy frozen hot chocolate. I encourage everyone to spend 3 hours at a coffee shop for 4 days out of the week and see what miracles come from it. Slightly joking.

Saigon is just getting hotter and hotter and the rain comes at the most random times. It makes biking a lot more exciting.

This week we also tried to set up an appointment with a referral from Taiwan. This Vietnamese woman just moved back to Vietnam, and so we called her and scheduled a time for this upcoming Tuesday to go visit her at her house. And then we found out that she lives in a province outside of Hanoi, so we would either have to leave right now to get there in time on our bikes, fly there on Tuesday morning, or hand her over to the sisters in Hanoi. We handed her over to the sisters in Hanoi.

Anyways, that's about all the updates for this past week! Thanks everyone for the fun emails and pictures, and have a great week!

Chi Phuong (Vietnamese Beyoncé) got baptized this week.

Hey sister won't you come to the creamery...

The BYU folk dance team came to Vietnam for some performances. That line was in one of their songs. It was hands down the cheesiest (haha, get it, cheese) song I have ever heard in my life but at the same time it was nice to be reminded of the BYU creamery.

Every Sunday I play the piano during sacrament meeting. Because of the humidity, the wires in the electric piano get weird, and so currently the middle C note is going crazy. At the most random times the middle C will be 50x louder than any other note. It's a great wake up call for all those who are sleeping through sacrament meeting, but at the same time it's a really quick way to drive away the spirit. There's nothing that bothers me more than when I play that note and it goes off super loud because it ruins the hymn that I'm playing, so I've started to play around that note. Every time the music calls for a middle C, I just try to play a different note that would be a good harmony. Unfortunately, about 6 times out of 10 I forget and end up playing the middle C, which causes a HUGE noise and disrupts everyone's singing.

Why am I telling this weird story about the middle C note on a piano? Sometimes in life we have something about ourselves that we want to change. It could be having more patience, being more humble, not eating so much - anything. Sometimes we do all that we can to change that certain thing about ourselves, but 6 times out of 10 we fall back into bad habits and end up doing it again. We know it's something that we shouldn't do, and so we feel disappointed in ourselves that we aren't improving. Thankfully, Heavenly Father is much more merciful than the members in my branch who always laugh when the middle C goes off. Heavenly Father is aware of our weaknesses and of the things that we want to change. He is there to help us change those things in order to become more like Jesus Christ. And, for those 6 times out of 10 when we mess up, He has patience with us. He doesn't like, "Oh my goodness, this girl just repented of that sin LAST NIGHT and here she is doing it again." He knows that we are trying, and He is there to assist us all the way. https://www.lds.org/ensign/2011/11/the-divine-gift-of-repentance.p1?lang=eng

My apologies, this week I didn't take any pictures. But have no fear, I have tons of pictures from the 3D art museum a few weeks pack that I'll throw at ya. The work is picking up, our investigators are doing well, and I am still sweating like crazy because of this heat.

Trying to get referrals out of members...



When the random Saigon storms hit and only one of you has a rain poncho!

When you let your trainee do the training for the day

After companionship inventory, when you and your companion become one.

One year ago...

Flew to Salt Lake City

Got picked up by Lindsay and driven to Provo

Went and ate Sushi Burrito for the last time with my BYU friends and...

CHECKED INTO THE MTC.

It has officially been a year of me being a missionary! Over this past year I have learned so much about the gospel, the Church, and about myself. Life as a missionary has been nothing like what I expected it to be. There are things that I find SO HARD that I never would have thought would be that bad. Almost every time I see myself in a mirror, I just think, "Who would have guessed that you would be living out in Vietnam serving a full-time mission?" I honestly can say I am the LAST person that would have thought I would be serving a mission, and yet, here I am! Just as my mission president's wife always says, "On your mission you will experience the lowest lows and highest highs." That sentence has rung true every day of my mission experience. I have seen and witnessed so many amazing things that have changed my life, and then I have gone through some of the hardest trials that I have ever faced. But all in all, I know with a surety that Jesus Christ is our Savior. He lives, knows us, and loves us. Our Heavenly Father watches over us every single moment of every day, and He knows what's best for us. Being on a full-time mission has confirmed those truths.

This email will be short because this morning I got to SKYPE WITH MY FAMILY (for the very last time, too). The quote for the week would be this:

"Oh, Chi Kim Thu, we brought you a jack fruit." - 2 of my favorite members, Co Ha and Lin Da. And when they say "we brought you a jack fruit" they really mean "we brought you a ginormous jack fruit that weighs more than your youngest brother." It was such a fun journey biking back home from church with a giant jack fruit in my basket!! 

Yes, this would be a jackfruit! (my mom mentioned that they can be also found at Albertsons!)

6 more months left to go! Thanks to everyone for the prayers, support, emails, and pictures.