Hanoi Elders to The Rescue

April 7, 2018

One of the LDSC projects we've worked on is at Bach Mai Hospital, the largest hospital in Vietnam. While working to complete new and improved latrine facilities here, we were also informed of a need to have wheelchairs for the sick and crippled patients that are coming in daily to the 24 clinical departments and 2 outpatient departments of the hospital.

We proposed a project that would supply wheelchairs that are unique in design and that would be recognized and not confused with the other wheelchairs used in the hospital. The finished product is a bright green and yellow wheelchair that has delighted the hospital, as well as the patients it benefits. 

On the day of delivery, problems arose of how to retrieve the wheelchairs that had mistakenly been delivered to the wrong part of the hospital, as well as the tasks of extracting them from their shipping cartons, assembling them and distributing them to the various departments in a timely manner. 

Inspiration told us to call the mission office and invite the mission elders to get involved. President Hassell authorized LDSC to mobilize the Hanoi Mission Elders. With little notice, 14 elders responded! What a blessing this turned out to be. 

On the appointed delivery hour, the elders showed up and ate a lunch that the hospital kindly supplied for them. After eating, the elders got busy ripping off the cardboard cartons and quickly assembling wheelchairs. It was quite a site to see in the main lobby of the hospital with the elders in white shirts and ties working hard to accomplish the tasks. 

Dr. Thang of International Relations, was in charge and was amazed upon seeing these young men who, obviously, were foreigners, accomplishing this act of service. Not only were so many kind, well dressed young men hard at work in the hospital lobby, he couldn’t believe that they all could speak fluent Vietnamese!

He wanted to know who these special young men are. It was a good opportunity to explain to him about our missionary program, and also for him to feel the spiritual presence of the elders. 

Because of this service project, Dr. Thang asked the elders if they could start teaching English classes at the Hospital. Although they aren’t allowed to give a spiritual message, the hospital staff knows who they are what they stand for. One hundred and fifty doctors and nurses showed up for the first class. They have been going strong ever since!

The following week we were invited to the hospital for a visit from the press, scheduled by the Bach Mai hospital administrator, to see the handover of LDSC wheelchairs to several patients. We were interviewed, and not only were we featured in the newspaper, but our story was also on The National Vietnam News. 

The wheelchair distribution has definitely been a success and an opportunity to have the name of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, as well as Latter Day Saints Charities more recognized in Vietnam. We are constantly amazed by the many miracles that help the Church to be recognized in this country. It reaffirms our testimony that THE LORD IS IN CHARGE and we are instruments in his hands. 

A Visit With Family

March 15-27, 2018

We were excited to have Sharon's daughter and son-in-law, Shauna and Andrew, visit us for two weeks. Seeing them, after not visiting with family members for over a year, was a wonderful experience. We wanted them to see what our mission is really like and what we do, working with Latter Day Saints Charities for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, so we planned a very busy couple of weeks.

The morning after Shauna and Andrew arrived, we drove with with them several hours to Thai Binh to visit four different schools in the area and view the various stages of progress on our current projects with LDSC, providing new updated latrines for the students. Mr. Giang and The Red Cross has been a great partner to us, helping us to get clean water and new latrines in many schools there. Shauna and Andrew were able to participate in a ground-breaking ceremony for the new latrines at one of the schools we visited. As always, the people are gracious and so generous with their gifts and gratitude to us. Mr. Giang treated us to a delicious lunch of fish, crab and shrimp -- the first of many authentic Vietnamese meals for Shauna and Andrew to experience. 

The very next day, we took them along for the combined activity with the Long Bien and Hanoi branches -- hiking, paddle boating and a picnic. Exploring and spending the entire day with the branch members was an opportunity for Shauna and Andrew to get to know and fall in love with the special LDS members here. 

After exploring, we were pretty hungry and sat down to eat, only prepared to have a snack of spicy mango, french fries and a few veggies, but the Branch members soon brought plate after plate of delicious food to our table -- BBQ pork kabobs, 2 kinds of tasty sticky rice (the best we've ever tasted!), hot dog sushi, and fruit for dessert... It was quite a feast and we were touched that they shared all of their amazing food with us.

Finding a little time to do some sight-seeing, the four us us took a few days to tour Cat Ba Island, by way of ferry from Hai Phong. It was an incredible, once in a lifetime experience, taking in the views of the unique limestone islands, while cruising through the emerald green waters of Lan Ha Bay. It was also an opportunity for us to get a rare glimpse of the sun that is usually veiled by the thick clouds and smog in the city of Hanoi. 

Kayaking in Lan Ha Bay

The cook and crew were phenomenal!

Sunset on the bay

View at the top of Ngu Lam Peak on Cat Ba

View of the bay from the resort on Cat Ba

We were invited to a Government Spring Festival Friendship Tour with PACCOM and they arranged for a procession of buses to take us to the oldest Citadel in the city, as well as a classic Vietnamese water puppet show, and finally, finishing off the tour with lunch and authentic Vietnamese cultural entertainment at Smileyville. This was a rare opportunity to visit with the local Communist Government leaders, as well as a lot of the other NGO’s, working here in Vietnam to improve the quality of life for the people, here in the country.

On Sunday we went to the Long Bien Branch church meetings. Afterward, Shauna came along with the Women’s Organization and the sister missionaries to visit Hai Anh’s home -- an investigator at the time of our visit. Her father treated us to a delicious Bun Cha lunch. (Hai Anh was recently baptized in May.) 

One of our most treasured experiences was to take Shauna and Andrew to celebrate at the Quyen Hoa Vocational School handover ceremony. We have worked to help this school re-build their collapsing, almost non-existent kitchen, as well as to give wheelchairs and computers to help with the training of the handicapped students. It was wonderful to finally celebrate the completion, and see how this project has changed and blessed the lives of the students here. Upon our arrival, we were welcomed in a big way.

The students were so excited to see us and share in the celebrating, and expressed their enthusiasm by greeting us with big hugs and smiles. They wore their best school clothes -- many of the girls in their pretty Ao Dai dresses; and they conveyed their gratitude by presenting flowers and gifts, singing for us and serving us a delicious lunch. We spent the rest of the afternoon visiting, dancing, and taking lots of "selfies"! -- an activity that we find teens and tweens love to do here, in Vietnam, almost as much as they do in the USA.

We were also able to go to Bach Mai Hospital, the largest hospital in Vietnam, to the spinal injury center, and oversee the progress on our continuing projects there -- providing new latrines and wheelchairs for the patients there. 

It was a busy couple of weeks for sure, and so special for us to be able to share with Shauna and Andrew, the projects we've been working on as missionaries for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. In just the short time that they were here, they grew to love Vietnam and the remarkable, gracious and generous people that call this country home.

Having Shauna and Andrew here was a poignant reminder that we are so far away from the family we dearly love and miss back home. However, we know that we are where the Lord wants and needs us to be, and we are so grateful for the incredible opportunities we are experiencing through loving and serving the people here, in Vietnam. We will cherish these eighteen months and always remember the love and camaraderie we have felt, living amongst our now and forever Vietnamese friends. 

A Visit From An Apostle of the Lord

March 14, 2018

In March we had a rare opportunity of having Apostle Gary E. Stevenson come for a visit, here in Hanoi. The Vietnam Mission just passed its 2^nd anniversary and Elder Stevenson told us that we are witnessing true miracles here in this country. Two years ago, we started with 12 missionaries, and today we have 60 missionaries in the country, with two districts -- one in Saigon and one in Hanoi. We also have six branches in HCMC and four branches in Hanoi. This is progress!

Elder Stevenson said that there is a light about the people here and that miracles are happening. He urged the members to be true disciples of Jesus Christ. Even though trials will come to the members, their families will be blessed and come to know Jesus Christ. God loves His people and will give them strength that their burdens will be light. 

Elder Stevenson told a story about a pioneer company that was coming across the plains and had to cross a river on a ferry because the river was too deep to cross any other way. The company pooled all their money, but still didn’t have enough money to cross. Some of the people thought it would be a good idea to catch some fish in the river and sell it to the ferry master. They caught the fish, but it still wasn’t enough. They prayed that there might be an answer and that they would be able to cross the river without any more delay in time. That evening, they decided to cook the fish because they were hungry. There were several little fish and one big one. As they were preparing the fish to be cooked, they found in the belly of the largest fish, a gold coin that was worth enough to cross the river on the ferry. 

“Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen”  - Hebrews 11:1

Heavenly Father does love us and will give us answers to our prayers so that we will be able to endure our trials. The answers He sends are His miracles; and when you look for the miracles each day, your faith and testimony grow stronger. This is the Lord’s work and we are blessed to be part of it.

We were honored to have Elder Stevenson visit us and give such a wonderful blessing to encourage the sweet people of Vietnam.  

Tet - The Vietnamese New Year Celebration

February 15, 2018

The most import holiday celebrated in Vietnam is “Tet” or Lunar New Year. Tet means “joint of a bamboo stem” or beginning period of the year. The Vietnamese New Year occurs somewhere in the last ten days of January through the first twenty days of February, nearly halfway between winter solstice and spring equinox.

For the Vietnamese people, Tet is a festival of purity and renewal and very intrinsic to the culture of this wonderful people. It is far more than just another holiday celebration; imagine a combination of New Year’s Day, Christmas, Memorial Day and Thanksgiving. Everywhere, EVERYTHING is transformed and completely decorated, and the streets are FILLED with flowers. During Tet, the biggest holiday of the year for Vietnam, the city is practically deserted because everyone has gone home to be with family. Previous to this beloved holiday, it is  incredibly busy and crowded with people at the stores and markets; a bit like the weeks leading up to Christmas, for us in America. Everyone is out and busy getting extra food and new items for their homes to celebrate the new year. It has been a fun holiday for us to see and experience.

Homes are often cleaned and decorated before their New Year’s Eve.  The kitchen needs to be cleaned before the 23^rdnight of the last month. “Ong Tao”, the kitchen god is making an inspection to report to the Jade Emperor in Heaven’s Palace. It is a common belief that cleaning the house will get rid of bad fortunes associated with the old year.

The Vietnamese people believe that there are 12 sacred animals, or chiefs, from the Zodiac, taking turn monitoring and controlling the affairs of the earth. New Year’s Eve is the time for one chief to end his ruling term and pass his power to the new chief. The past year has been the year of the chicken (2017), so Chicken will go with the kitchen god, Ong Tao, to give his report to the Jade Emperor about the affairs of the family and how well the kitchen has been kept. With this report, Chicken will give up his rule to Dog (2018) at midnight. Dog, as the new ruler, then makes his report of the family’s affairs throughout the 2018 year. 

Our translator, Thu, gave us a branch of a peach tree, Hoa Dao, for our apartment. It is a symbol of new beginning and takes the place of the Christmas tree we didn’t have. It has blossomed out very nicely and helps get us in the spirit of this festive time of the year. Everyone needs a Hoa Dao for their homes, so the streets are full of peach trees and branches for sale. In this picture, our neighbor, Phuong, is showing off her new Ao Dia next to our peach branch.

One of the most traditional special foods for Tet is Banh Chung (square sticky rice cake). The people make this cake by soaking sticky rice and green beans for a day, which makes the rice and beans extra sticky. Also, there is pork belly meat soaked for several hours with pepper and onions.

To make the cakes, very large “Dong” leaves (about the size of banana leaves) are gathered, washed and soaked. Two leaves are laid out crisscross on the preparing table. A scoop of sticky rice dough is put in the middle of the leaves and made into a square shape. Next, a scoop of the sticky bean paste is put on the rice, laid out and squared, followed by some pork meat on top of that, and layered with more bean paste and another layer of sticky rice dough. The cake is constantly being squared as the layers pile up. The first leaf is then wrapped around the cake, in one direction, and then the second leaf is wrapped in another, making sure that the cake is square. Finally, the cake is tied with bamboo strings and put under a weight so that all the layers will compress together. 

This process is repeated many times until there are enough cakes to fill a big kettle of water to be put on an open fire to cook for 12 hours. This takes a lot of tending to the fire so that the pot keeps boiling. It has become a tradition with many families to gather around the cooking pot and tell family stories. The cakes are then eaten by family members and given as gifts during Tet..

We watched fireworks on New Years Eve by going up to the top of our tall apartment building and watching, alongside several other residents from our building, the various displays of fireworks in the city. It was a convenient way to observe the  fireworks, as we were able to see three different displays.

We were invited to lunch on New Years Day at the home of one of our LDSC partners, Nhi.  She has a foster mother in her life, that helped her when she was a teenager. She wanted us to meet her. Before meeting Nhi's stepmother, I felt impressed that I needed to take a present and found the perfect potted plant to give her. While we were there, Nhi introduced us to her brother.  He speaks English well and made our visit more enjoyable because he could understand us. This made it so we were able to visit with and get to know  the other guests more. Our dear friend, Dong, came with us, too and we were glad that he did.

After Lunch, Nhi’s foster mother took Nhi and I up to the top floor of her home, where there is an ancestral altar. She shared with us that this altar was set up to offer respect to her recently deceased husband, who had a heart attack three years ago and passed away. When I found out about the death of her husband, I felt great compassion for this kind woman and put my arms around her. She was overcome by my gesture, and in an instant our hearts were “knitted” together. I felt the Spirit prompt me that she needed someone to mourn with her and feel her heartache. She misses her husband very much. I know that the Lord sent me there that night for the purpose of sharing in her grief and giving her some comfort by letting her know that someone, a stranger even, cared and understands her pain. That experience has made us feel close to one other in a deep and meaningful way, and to have a desire to spend more time together.

..."as ye are desirous to come into the fold of God, and to be called His people, and are willing to bear one another's burdens, that they may be light: Yea, and are willing to mourn with those that mourn, and comfort those that stand in need of comfort, and to stand as witnesses of God at all times and in all things, and in all places..."      --Mosiah 18:8-9

Tet is all about families and feeling the connection of coming together. Living family members of ancestors are invited to the cemetery to burn incense and honor the dead by cleaning their graves. Most people also put food, fake money, paper clothes and other items that the family member think will bring those who have passed on a little comfort and let them know that they are not forgotten. This is called ancestor worship in Vietnam. From what I have observed it is another way of honoring and remembering family members that have passed away. 

Ho Chi Minh City and The Wheelchair Factory

January 2018

As part of our duties as Latter Day Saints Charities Country Director in Vietnam, we need to train new senior LDSC missionaries. The McDonald’s are leaving the south area and Elder and Sister Ellsmore are taking their place. We were excited to be able to visit Vietnam’s most southern city, as well as say goodbye to old friends and hello to new ones.

While in Saigon (Ho Chi Minh City), we visited the factory of our wheelchair provider, Kien Tuong. Tuong, in the last two years has had a stroke and since then his son, Quoc, has taken over the family business. While we were visiting, their family invited us to have lunch with them at their home. 

Before lunch, Quoc took us through a tour of the factory behind their home. They have another factory in the city and employ about 120 people in their operation. The family works hard to deliver a quality product and the business is flourishing. We are excited to do business with them because their manufacturing company directly benefits the Vietnamese people on all fronts. 

Tuong started the wheelchair company after the Vietnam War about 35 years ago. During the Vietnam war, he was a helicopter pilot and artillery expert in Southern Vietnam. When the city fell to the north, he was captured and sent to a re-education camp for two years.

After being released from the camp, he used his knowledge and creativity to start a bicycle business using the metal from the storage containers left by the Americans after the war. He took the metal and rolled it to make tubes, then shaped them into a frame for a bicycle. His bicycle business soon thrived.

  

One day, Tuong was at the entrance of a hospital as an injured man was being released to go home. This man had no legs, as they had been amputated after a war injury, and the doctors had given him all the help they could. Tuong watched them as they wheeled him in a wheelchair out to the front of the hospital to have his family take him home. Wheelchairs were scarce in those days, and the man, realizing that he was going to have to leave the wheelchair at the hospital, said that he would not get out of it. He threatened that he had a grenade and that if he couldn’t take the wheelchair with him, he would blow everyone up. Another man talked to the amputee and convinced him that if he took the wheelchair, others with injuries like his could not get the care he had already received, and that it would be a selfish act to take the wheelchair with him. Softening, he then realized what he was demanding and left without the wheelchair. Quoc’s father, witnessing this incident, was moved, and determined that he could make a wheelchair using the metal parts he had developed in his already thriving business for bicycles, to help men such as this one. This was the starting point for his wheelchair company. He realized all the good that he could do, helping many of his comrades that had suffered during the war. 

We loved our visit to the Kien Tuong family home, they were most gracious, and it was a wonderful opportunity to be their guest. Their spacious home sits in a beautiful tropical surrounding of palms and flowering bushes.

The Church has acquired a property next door to the factory, and is now in the process of fixing it up to be used as a chapel. We took a tour through the house and all agreed that the property is a beautiful setting for a chapel and roomier than most chapels in Vietnam.

In October, 2017, Tuong's son, Quoc helped us do a wheelchair training in Hanoi, and we found him to be very good and personable as an instructor. We invited Quoc to stay in our spare room in our apartment, during the training, and he asked many questions about the “Mormon” church. I asked him if he would like to read the Book of Mormon (Sac Mac Mon). To which he replied that he would. We obtained a copy of the BOM in Vietnamese for him and he read it. At the recent family luncheon, he told us that his father is now reading the Book of Mormon also. Quoc has expressed that he wants his children to be Mormons, but he doesn’t feel that he is quite ready to be baptized himself and struggles with the Word of Wisdom. The missionaries in HCMC are mindful of his progress and are continually working with him. Sharing the Gospel is a great experience. We are taught that it is our duty to be prepared to share our testimony and ask others to look at what the Gospel has to offer them. I love being a missionary and seeing the miracles that take place in the lives of those that embrace the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

New Years Day With Friends

January, 2018

As a Christmas present for the missionaries President Hassell took us to Ninh Binh on New Year’s Day. Ninh Binh is on the Red River Delta, about an hour’s drive from Hanoi. Tam Coc or Three Caves is an area where the meandering river goes through caves and karst outcrops on its way to the sea.

Boat-women met us at the dock and took us down the river to visit the caves. Some places in the caves, the ceilings are so low that we needed to duck so that the boat-women could propel the boat by pushing on the cave roof with their hands.  

Pres and Sister Hassell Elder Morris and Elder Kit

It was fun going with the sisters and elders as a group and we played and splashed and had a good time with each other. These wonderful young missionaries are awesome and their spirit is so strong. We feel privileged to be a part of them and call them our friends.

Elder and Sister Jenkins

Along the river was a movie stage set for the latest remake of “King Kong”. Life size grass huts were built and Vietnamese people dressed as Amazon natives were part of the cast. The Amazon village is still in place as a tourist attraction and adds a lot of interest to this already amazing place. 

Since Ninh Binh is famous for its goats and many restaurants there serve goat meat, this is what we had for lunch. It’s like eating chewy mutton, but the Vietnamese always make things taste good with their delicious sauces. Throw in some rice and a few greens and you’ve got a really good meal.

After lunch we went to see Bai Dinh Temple. This Buddhist temple complex was recently built by a wealthy Vietnamese man. He wanted people to have a place to come and worship. There are over 500 enlightened, life size Buddha statues that line a hallway going up the mountain. It is quite a site because every Buddha is different.  At the top of the property, there are three giant Buddhist temples, the largest in Vietnam. In the main temple is a 100-ton bronze Buddha plated in gold. The whole complex is incredible! 

Sister and Elder Van

One of our senior missionary couples is going home soon. We feel a little melancholy about them leaving. When we first met them they told us how excited they were that the Lord was picking their new best friends. We feel that same way about them, as well as all the elders and sisters in our mission. With each elder or sister leaving there is emotion attached. I heard in a talk once, by Marlon K. Jensen, that all our interactions in the Church are made more enjoyable and productive by genuine feelings of friendship. When we offer ourselves in friendship, we make a most significant contribution to God’s work and to the happiness and progress of His children. 

We have made many friends with the Vietnamese people as well as those missionaries that we serve with and it makes the work here so enjoyable.