I almost died

Dear Family,

   I am writing this email earlier in the day because I will not have time later. I am very excited for the opportunity to clean the temple today!!!! I have no idea what we'll be doing, but they said to plan to be there from 12:30 to 4:00 so who knows what will happen.  I have never cleaned a temple before and am excited to see how they do it.  Regardless this means anytime to email later in the day isn't much of a possibility because I really need a nap today when I get back....let me explain, no that will take too long let me sum up.

  My subject line really is appropriate today, I could have potentially died...at least.  This morning I was harshly awoken by the light in my room being turned on, I couldn't figure out why.  I looked at my watch and found out it was 12:45 in the am.  My foggy brain then realized there was a very obnoxious noise blaring over my head, yes you guessed it the fire alarm.  It took me about three minutes to actually get out of bed and comprehend what was going on, my companions didn't really say anything to make me move faster so remind me not to rely too heavily on myself in an emergency at night, we might not ever make it out of a building if I was incharge.  Anyway, I knew I wasn't supposed to bring any personal possessions with me, but Chi Hien (Yang) brought her towel to stay warm, Chi Hoa (Hays) brought her journal and scriptures and I wanted to ensure that if the building burned down I had something from home, so I left my glasses and brought doodle bear.  I apologize if this seems to be a lack of judgement, but in my defense I was really confused, very tired and I didn't want Doodle bear to die. Anyhow after an eternity we finally made it into the hall where it was truly deafening.  We made it out side all in a hodge podge of alertness and waited for a half an hour for a firetruck to show up that never did, we did get a green truck with a ladder that stopped by to check the building and I guess really a fireman really only needs a ladder (my apologies uncle Greg).  By the time I finally woke up I noticed myself rocking Doodle bear back to sleep and pondering when we could go inside.  After about thirty five minutes they let us back in the building where of course none of us got any sleep.  It was okay though, Sis Lloyd and Sis Tobias leave tomorrow so it was fun sharing some laughs in our adrenaline filled state,  I will miss them greatly, disney movie quotes really are funnier in the middle of the night.

   So now that I have enthralled all of you with my "terror" filled night I move on to my delightful week.  With only a month left (less than now) it feels like the days are going by twice as fast.  My companions and I have reached a gelling point and teaching is actually fun.  I'm not quite sure how it happened, it most likely has to do with all the prayers on our behalf, which I thank you all for.  You have to make the choice to love someone, but until the love of God enters your heart it feels hopeless. I'm thankful Heavenly Father helped me make the choice to love and serve and then blessed us with the gift of his love, because what is happening in our trio could only be a gift from Him.  What was before silence and awkwardness is filled with laughter and creating good memories.  Our lessons go smoother and we work together better because our planning sessions are more effective. If I wanted to get all humany womnny on myself I could chalk it up to the fact Chi Hays is a better senior companion than I am and truthfully she is, she actually knows how to teach and how to do missionary things, I was simply learning, but I'm thankful Heavenly Father gave me the opportunity to learn.  It has been a hard eight weeks and I'm sure some rough spots are still ahead, but really if you think about it, it took us two thirds of our time here to figure it out, just like it takes two thirds for the three week missionaries.  The work truly is fun.  My tones are still atrocious and I most likely don't make sense, but that doesn't matter, I feel like I finally have something to say and feel the Spirit guiding me to what to say.  The Spirit is the real teacher and can help the person I am teaching understand not just what I say, but what the Lord wants for them, that is a truly powerful thing to be a part of.  I love teaching at the tRc (teaching resource center) on Saturdays.  We teach real Viets and I get to learn how much love God has for them and how much he wants to bless them.  I love those appointments knowing I have to improve, but with the desire to improve, to be a blessing from the Lord to a people who need His blessings so much.  I know I am a  a simple servant of God, but right now I can't imagine being anything else, oh what a marvelous work this is.

   So to illustrate one story of what my teacher thay Tuan is like, which he is leaving next week to go to Vietnam, our trio isn't sure what to think about that, Thay Tuan had words written up on the board and told us to learn them in two minutes.  He told us the better you say the word the better off this activity will be.  He rushed us outside and walked us out to a crazy hilly place.  He sat down pulled out a bag of candy and started shouting at us in tieng Viet. He had given us pieces of paper and started gesturing to them.  We finally figured out the paper was money and we were to figure out how to barter the price down to get the candy we wanted.  He would showcase the candy for sell and we tried to get what pieces we wanted for the price we wanted.  Sometimes it would work splendidly and we, or in one case I got a large handful of pieces for only three doe's while Anh Ca Hai (steele) paid four and only got three pieces.  We spent forty minutes outside shouting at him in Viet trying to get candy, sometimes if we wouldn't pay his price he would eat the candy and we simply missed out or someone else would steal the buy from us.  Apparently this excercise was to teach us how bartering in Viet fruit markets was like, oh it was so much fun.  I know that when I get to Cambodia I will be lost for a long time when people speak to me, but for now I am just so grateful I can follow Thay Tuan when he is teaching me in rapid Northern Viet, which sounds a lot different than sourthern which we are learning.  In Northern accent all the soft d's and g's sound like z's.

   It amazes me how much the Lord loves us and I hope each of you are feeling the same way, God is good.

   Thank you so much for all the packages which I have put to good use sharing with others, let's just say it is so much fun to share food again, I hope Natalie is continuing my tradition at DI.

 

                Everyone have a fabtabulous week, know I pray for you and the Lord delights to answer the righteous desires of our hearts. Sis Dao Fab