The Week of Happy Families 9/19/16

Hi All! 
This week was great! Or at least I think. I don't remember a lot. We had an activity at church and they made Banh Xeo and it felt like home for a second. It was way weird. We went around sharing with the members about bearing testimony and have committed a lot of them to bear their testimonies next fast sunday! They agreed. We're pumped. My favorite thing that happened this week was when we went to go visit one of our active member families, Co Nga and Chu Salin. THEY'VE CHANGED SO MUCH since we've been here. Now, their youngest son, Bo is learning with the Khmer elders and is planning on getting baptized in a month! They said it's been a huge blessing and they're really hoping all of their other sons will come back to church or start learning so they can go to the temple together. Co said, "I have committed myself to reading the BOM everyday so I can help Bo understand the word of God and set an example for him" AND they have started praying together every night as a family. Well, I literally started crying because i just felt so happy for them and I know for a fact from the very depths of my soul that this gospel blesses families IF we act upon on our faith. Well that's all I can remember. Here are a million pictures because I keep forgetting to send them. 

I LOVE YOU ALL

bye

Sister Nguyen

Picture 1 My old comp Sister Soem and I thuggin' it with our High School Musical shirts

Picture 2 We went to get sandwiches for Sister Brown's Birthday! 

Picture 3 FHE at Co Lan's house. Our after lesson snack was mangoes with salt and fermented shrimp YUM

Picture 4 This cool pic of some of us contacting for English class

Picture 5 EM Thao who comes proselyting with us every week 

Picture 6 BANNH XEO 

Picture 7 Floods. When stilt homes come in handy. You can't see, but right behind sister Trinh is a guy shoulder deep in the water fishing with his hands

Picture 8 DOG

Picture 9 rain 

Picture 10 Pho for trinh's birthday 

Picture 11 tuk tuk 

Picture 12 behind the curtains for this play we put on for English class about the good Samaritan

The Week of Floods, Bread, and No Gas 9/12/16

Xin Sdei! 

The weeks just keep getting better and better and so I'm thankful for all of your prayers!

This week had a lot of potential to be the worst week ever, BUT IT WASN'T.

The rain has started and our bottoms are soaked for more than half of the day, but we are still trucking. 

On Thursday, Chi Trinh prepped super yummy curry to eat and only had to throw it on the stove. When she went to turn the stove on, WE WERE ALL OUT OF GAS. So we threw it in the crockpot to eat later and called the gas people. We left and came home later that night and realized that the curry had taken a really wrong turn and turned into this mush that looks like you would feed it to someone who just came out of a coma and forgot how to chew. Also, the gas people never came so for the next three days, we lived off of our microwave and gross leftovers hahah We have literally been eating bread and instant noodles for every meal. Yesterday, we were on our last bag of noodles. Each of us had one bowl for lunch and were still so hungry but since it was Sunday, we didn't want to go out and spend money. But it was as if Heavenly Father really knows our needs or something! Because we went to visit Co Phuong and she gave us two bundles of bananas to eat and we were so grateful! After church, a truckload of members were inviting us over to dinner and FHE and we were completely shocked because normally, no one invites us over and we didn't even tell anyone about our stove problem #miracles Chi Trinh and I were reminded of this scripture that we always share with the members that if they try to find God first, they won't have to worry about worldly things. 

This week, I learned about patience and really prayed for opportunities to develop it. 

We were sitting in Vietnamese class this week and this super old Om pulls me over next to him so I could translate in Khmer. Every time I tried to stand up to go help someone else, he would pull my arm and make me sit back down. I was getting super irritated but remembered that sometimes Heavenly Father answers our prayers through others. So I just sat and stared at Om just pondering this opportunity I was given to work on patience. I asked Om about himself and his family. I kept asking him questions and he asked me "what do you want from me??" I told him I didn't want anything and just wanted to get to know him. He told me his family ran away from him and my heart basically broke into a million pieces. He said, "Since, I've met you, I've been super happy. Because you always translate for me. Do I make you happy?" I told him of course! and that he could treat me like his very own daughter. He looked at me smiled with his three toothed smile and said thank you. 

Ba Xum is still alive and kind of crazy. She told us she memorized the entire BOM and that literally made me laugh out loud. 

Phi Ngan is doing so well! She is coming to church every week and even tried fasting for the first time yesterday. Hahah she had to leave church because she was so hungry that she was shaking. It was way intense but we are grateful for her faith and willingness to keep the commandments! 

Right when Chi Trinh and I got to church yesterday, Chi Trinh got asked to speak during sacrament meeting and they asked me to play piano. We were both caught way off guard. Chi Trinh was so nervous that she messed up a million times trying to say hi. Also, I don't play piano and I never have. Branch President got up there and said "sorry. this piano player just got shipped over from america" And that's how the church is running in Cambodia. One day, they'll get it down and be super organized and it'll be awesome. 

I love you all. I hope you have the best week!!

Love, 

Sister Nguyen 

The Week of Gibberish! 9/04/16

Sua sdei/ Xin Chao!

This week, Chi Trinh and I are trying to amp our language study and so have been trying to combine all three languages when we speak to each other. Sometimes, we say things in Khmer that end up being really bad things in Vietnamese. E.G. one of the words for how in Khmer translates to "I have to pee" to Vietnamese and Chi Trinh thinks it's hilarious. Hahah

This week, our investigator Chi Loan dropped us because she is following too many religions to add another one on haha. We asked her if we could just read the Book of Mormon with her and she said, "yeah probably not" and so we bore our testimony to her and left. It was way sad. 

This week, I FINALLY GOT TO SEE SISTER LUKE AND IT WAS THE BEST DAY OF MY LIFE. She came into the mission home, we locked eyes and screamed and ran into each other's sweaty arms and just held each other and cried. I think that's what it's like when you meet your loved ones again in heaven, right? If so, that was one of the best feelings ever and I can't wait. That was tender mercy number one. 

On Monday, we took Chi Trinh out for her birthday! We took her out to lunch and let her eat TWO WHOLE bowls of Pho all by herself. And then, we headed back to the mission home where Sister Leavitt bought her a box of ice cream that she ended up passing out to everyone else. And then the other viet sisters surprised her with a cinnamon bun hahah It wasn't much, but when we got home and reevaluated our day, Chi Trinh just cried and said she was just so happy because she had never had a real birthday before. That was tender mercy number two.

Since a lot of the members here are preparing to go to the temple in November, they are meeting with President Christensen to get approved financial aid to pay for the trip. A lot of them asked us to translate for them this week and of course we were more than happy to do so! I got to translate for one of the counselors in the district presidency. President just asked him about his living situation and how long he had been a member and what his source of income was. At the end of the interview, President asked Chu Dung if he had any questions. Chu Dung took off his glasses with tears in his eyes and pulled out a really dingy tissue. He said, "I have waited 16 years for this opportunity" and just buried his face in the tissue and cried. It was such a tender moment. I am so happy the Saints here are finally getting the chance to attend the temple. That was tender mercy number three.

Also, I got an awesome package of letters from the Relief Society back in Lewis Center. Shout out to all you moms, you're the best and I am grateful for your support. Tender mercy number four. 

I love this work so much! I am grateful for this time we have to preach the gospel 24/7. It's crazy to think that this is the only time we'll ever have in our lives that is 100% completely devoted to spreading the word. I know Heavenly Father's hand is in this work. I know Christ lives and He loves us. 

I LOVE YOU ALL. 

Love,

Chi Ca Wing 

My memory card literally just got a virus as soon as I finished this letter so I can't send you pictures dang it. hahah 

 Imagine this,

1 Our entire zone got matching t-shirts with Troy Bolton's face on the front to amp zone unity. 

2 The grossest picture of me and Sister Luke drenched in sweat hugging each other