Tuesday, March 21, 2017

The Year of Miracles 3/20/17

   

Tuesday, March 14, 2017

The Week of History Lessons from Kim Ess 3/12/17


Sunday, March 12, 2017

The Week I'm still a kid 3/5/17

Hi!!

All is well!! 

Co Phien's family is doing great! They're keeping commitments, coming to church, and reading the book of Mormon on their own!!! They're so good and I'm grateful everyday that we get to be a part of this with them. They are always so happy when we come over and always have a billion questions for us. And I realized some of the questions I don't even know how to answer and so I was really grateful for Co Xoa, our member help, for coming along. 

Ba Ut, the old lady on the boat, is slowly understanding. She doesn't really understand how to pray even though we've taught her like three times now. She burnt her leg on her rice cooker... #cambodiaprobs And she likes to rock the boat back and forth and make us super nauseous haha We prayed with her at the end of the lesson and she said she felt so good and peaceful and then she remembered about how her boat is always about to flood and sink and got super sad again. We're still trying to figure out how to approach this. 

We had zone conference this week! It was my last one and it was really sad. We talked a lot about how to teach the Sabbath day and then President had me and Sister Mead do a role play in front of everyone and I realized how much I still have to learn about teaching haha President made all of the departing missionaries get up and bear their testimonies. There were lots of tears. Not from me. I'm not a cry baby. Just kidding. I cried. And then we sang called to serve and I cried some more.

Yesterday, we had 6 investigators at church!!! Miracles! And we had branch council where everyone started yelling and it got a little tense and then one of the members said we need to stop it and love each other because everyone is a child of God. they all laughed it off. So I'm grateful they were good at solving the contention!! 

 That is all from me! I am running out of things to write about. This week, I realized how much I still don't know and it kind of excites me. I'm grateful Heavenly Father gives us our entire lives to gain knowledge. how cool is that!!!! We're just going to keep getting smarter!! 

I LOVE this work!! I LOVE the people here. and I love God!!!!

Have a gr8 week!

llooovveee,
Sister Nguyen 




Monday, February 27, 2017

The Week of Gold! 2/26/17


Hi. 

If you ever read any email, please just read this one. Because this was the best week ever and at the end of it, I testify that God lives and, man, is this his work or what?

I fell even more in love with Cambodia and missionary work this week.

Last Monday, we planned for a few lessons with some active members in branch 6. Sister Trinh and Davidson were still with us and all of our plans fell through and we ended up a little far from our area with so little time and so decided to head back home and just go contact in front of our house. We split up and I went to contact with Sister Trinh and our koons went to get a snack and contact as well. While we were walking, Sister Trinh suddenly stops and says "Hey, lets contact them" and turns to three neak mings/Cos and starts speaking Khmer to them.Sister Trinh told them about our free English class in Comkamorn. One of the neak mings said that her friend had just moved there and didn't know where that was. And so I turned to her friend and asked her where she just moved from and she said Kampuchea Krom!! So I asked her if she spoke Vietnamese and she said yes!!! And we said "wow! well we can come  to your house by Wednesday and take you to English class if you want!" and then she said "why don't you just come by my house now?" So we walked with her a little down the road and went up some sketchy stairs into her one room apartment where her two daughters were sitting on their bed. And we told them all about what we do and even our free English class and Co Phien (the mom) says "I am so happy I met you two. I have been looking for something like this for so long!" We came back the next day with Co Xoa and taught them about the Restoration and it was just the best thing ever. We asked them what they understood and one of the daughters, Phung, said "If I pray to God and read the Book of Mormon, then I can have light in my life just like the 14 year old boy and I don't have to live in darkness any more!". We committed them to baptism April 22 and we're so pumped and so are they!!

They also said really great stuff like...
(Our third lesson)"Sister, I was reading in the BOM yesterday about baptism by water. Why does it have to be by water?"
"I am so happy we met each other. I am so lucky!! And I'm so grateful you are here to lead us to God. I've been looking for something like this for so long and now I finally found it! "
"Ok. SO on Wednesdays and Saturdays, we go learn English and then every other day you come here and teach us about Jesus? and then on Sundays we go to church!!"
(In church. Yes they came to church!!!!!!)"Are we about to sing, Sister? I can't sing. How am I supposed to be a Sister like you if I can't sing???""
"Ever since mom met you, she's been smiling and super happy all of the time and it's for no apparent reason. It's so weird!"
"Wait. I can pray whenever I want? I don't have to wait for you to come over to pray!!"
They're literally so good and so humble and so receptive. And I find it such a privilege to be a part of their journey. God really does prepare people and I WANT EVERYONE WHO IS OUT THERE ON A MISSION OUR ABOUT TO SERVE TO KNOW THAT!!!
We also went to teach a referral from the Elders this week. Her name is Ba Ut and she lives on a boat and we had to teach her on her rocky boat. Unfortunately her boat neighbors were blasting some really loud karaoke and we had to shout to her the whole time...she is already deaf in one ear haha. She kept complaining about her cough and that she was sick. We asked her she felt in her heart knowing that she has a loving Heavenly Father. She responded, "It hurts really bad. I haven't stopped coughing. I am so sick" hahah. Her boat also kept rocking back and forth and she thought it was so funny that I was scared and so she sat there rocking it. Hahah.
Yesterday, we had our Asia area conference and I really liked what they focused on. Families. Responsibilities of mothers and fathers. Temples. Conversion. Etc. Etc. I think it was everything that our members really needed to hear. I hope they got something out of it.
Last night, Co lien, a less-active, had us and the Elders over for FHE. She said "Anh Ca, Chi Ca!! I've been a member for years and this is my first time ever doing FHE!! I'm so happy you are here!" It was a really tender moment. She's been pretty sick lately and hasn't been able to go to work and make money for food for the 6 people in her home. So we made dinner and brought it over. After sharing a message with her, we sat and ate. I watched her grandkids just swallow the food whole and asked them if it was good or not. They said "Wow! Anh ca, Chi ca!! You make really good food. This is the first delicious thing we've eaten in so long!!" I asked Co Lien what they eat every day and she said eggs and MAYBE some fish sauce. And then I looked at them and immediately lost my appetite. The food was so good but then I thought about how privileged we are to have so much food to eat every day and how much we complain to have nothing to eat and how much they struggle. And so i put aside my portion and we just left the rest of the food for them.
I learned a lot this week. So it was probably one of my favorite weeks and it made me want to go home even less. There's not much I, personally, can ever do to help anyone. But I know that that's what God is here for and He wants all of us to just go around and spread that good news. He brings us so much joy and really does help us overcome a lot of grief and sorrow. What a blessing.
Sorry that was a novel. I love you all!! Have a GREAT week!!
Love,
Sister Nguyen 



 Picture 1 A bunch of Vietnamese living on house boats
 Picture 2 Ba Ut's house? boat? 
 Picture 3 Biking Co Xoa home after a lesson 
  Picture 4 Viets
Picture 5 This is Chi Van. She is so good at everything like khmer and vietnamese and so beautiful. I want to be like her. 
 Picture 6 CHI QUYNH!!!! 
Picture 7 A really cute girl from FHE last night 

This Week 2/19/17

This week was great!! 

We picked up an investigator's that the old sisters were teaching. Her name is Oanh and she works for one of our members and is so eager to learn and knows so much! Her family however is part of a different church so she has been hiding the fact that she is learning with us and is too scared to get baptized. She did come to church this week though!!! 

Our other investigator, Chi Lin is in Vietnam. 

Our Sunday got a little funky because of some things that have been going on with branch 10 and so I went on exchanges to branch 10 church with Sister Oanh and it was a blast! A lot of the members were so kind but kept asking when I was going home and then sang "God be with you 'til we meet again" to Sister Leavitt and I because we are down to four Sundays now. NOOOOOOO.

Do you want to hear funny things that happened at church?

1) A less-active named Co Be never comes to church and is super catholic now or whatever but still lets us visit her and her daughter Chantha. Chantha is good and has been coming back to church every week. They asked us to talk to branch president about giving Co Be's grand daughter a baby blessing. We got everything set up and they ended up doing it in the middle of Sunday school...haha. And  check this out. President Kim Ess tried to sit the six month old baby on a chair by herself!!!1!!! HAHAH. And then Elder Leavitt came up and said nononono. We have to hold the baby. It was funny haha. 

2) This week's relief society lesson was about the Word of Wisdom. They got super side-tracked for twenty minutes (class was only like half an hour haha) and started talking about poop and how to make going to the bathroom easier. "Well, I guess it was a good solid talk" - Sister Leavitt 

3) We were talking in Sunday school about listening to the promptings of the spirit. Co Binh enthusiastically said "YES!! I have heard the Holy Ghost speak to me before!! One time a chicken walked into my home and I tied it up and was going to eat it. But then I heard 'maybe, it's not your chicken' and then i double checked and it really wasn't my chicken!!" Then she brought up that story every other ten minutes for the rest of the hour. 

Things are going great! I love the people here. They are really so special. We saw The Lord's hand a lot this week is leading us to where we needed to be at the right time. He lives! I know that for a fact. Anyway, have a great week!!!

Love,
Sister Nguyen 
 Picture 1 Our trainers are living together in house! And now we are living together too!!!
 Picture 2 We waited outside Chi Kim's house fortwenty minutes...turns out she wasn't home lol 
 Picture 3 Elder Quang who just ended his mission a few transfers ago came back to show off his beautiful fiance and bought us vietnam shirts

Picture 4 Co Be's grand daughter who only has hair on one side of her head also hahah 

Sunday, February 19, 2017

The Week We Found a Family!! 2/12/17

Hello!!

I got Sister Mead this week! And it has been a blast. She is super gung ho about the work and is exactly what I need this transfer! 

We finally contacted a referral that Chu ba came us. She just came back from Vietnam. And we taught her! She has a husband and a nine year old daughter and she is so willing and excited to learn with us! We are hoping that we will be able to start teaching her whole family so soon! 

This week, I got to go back to branch three for a day and saw almost everyone and I have pictures below look!!! They're the best and they are so loving and kind. Ba Xum saw me and got really excited and then we sat down and prayed with her and she prayed, "Please bless sister... right in front of me...to the right... She left me for a while. Maybe 5-6 months. But she remembered to come back for me" It was funny because she didn't remember my name and also I've only been gone for like six weeks hahah. But it was way sweet. 

Chi Kim a super less-active came back to church finally! We had an experience where we went to visit her and found her holding her super sick one year old who was hooked up to an IV. She asked the elders to come over to bless her baby and the elders came over and we sat and pondered for a second and decided that since the baby already got proper medical care, it as really Chi Kim that needed the blessing. We were really happy she came to church and she even asked us to come back over next sunday to do FHE with her family. Her husband is not a member yet so hopefully this is going to open some doors!!

That's all. Here are some cool pictures from transfer day when our entire MTC group was there! The elders still think I smell dang it. 

Ok! Have a great week!!

love,
Sister Nguyen 





Sunday, February 5, 2017

The Week of Transfers! 2/05/17



The Week of Change 1/30/17



The Week of Angkor 1/23/17

Hello. 

This week was GREAT! 

I was gone Mon and Tues. and then Wednesday, we had district meeting and English class and so we didn't have any lessons and ended up having to bust our butts to see everyone we needed to see! It was a miracle and blessing. The Lord provides. 

We saw Co Hien, our investigator, on the side of the road and she totally tried to dodge us and said "maybe in four years..." and then busted a move and left. We are devastated but know that one day, her heart will be softened and she'll be so blessed when she accepts the gospel. 

We had a combined New Year party down in Branch 6 and I saw a lot of people from Branch 3 and was so happy I cried. I got lots of mom hugs and it was the best day ever. 

Yesterday, in sunday school, the members sat and argued about satan for like 15 minutes. The topic was the Book of Mormon...the saints here aren't quite there yet but they are working so hard and their hearts are in the right place and they mean well!!! 

The members are finally opening up to us! So we are excited to get to work and be able to actually work with them! Plus they tell me all the time that my vietnamese is so rough and so now it's like starting ALL over again and it's actually really exciting! 

I love this work! I love these people with all of my heart! I can't believe it is going by so fast. 

Have a great week!!

love,
Sister Nguyen 

Pictures from Angkor Wat. I have a ton more but do not have time to upload hehe 





The Week of Change 1/15/17



Tuesday, January 10, 2017

The Week Vietnam Goes to the Temple! 1/8/17

HEY. HI. SO.

This week was great. Super long. 

Our investigator, Co Hien came to church and even committed to be baptized on March 4, just weeks before I leave. Spooky. When we invited her to be baptized she started freaking out and said "I'm not ready!! I havent memorized anything yet! I don't even know how to sing the hymns yet! You have to wait like two or three more months. I'm not ready yet!! I have to learn more!" And so we explained to her and she turned to our member present help and said "they were trying to rush me" and so we laughed hah...

We had MLC this week and Sister Galland and I learned a lot about POSITIVE ATTITUDES. So we are trying to apply what we learned in everyday missionary work and only say encouraging things. Because why be a negative nancy? 

We also went out to one of our farther areas, Ta Khmao, this week to look for vietnamese people and  had no luck, but we found freeeee mangoes and we are gonna go back out this week to try again because word on the street is there are villages of them out there. 

Some of our members went to the temple this week and brought back an incredibly warm spirit with them and it was so present in church yesterday. They got up and shared about their experiences. Some of them got up there and wept and I cried with them. They got up and spoke of the love that was so abundant in the temple and how we need to practice that same method of loving each other. They talked about being dressed in white and how pure and beautiful and so alike to heaven it was. Some of them were sealed to their families and it made me so grateful for the wonderful blessings of the temple. And I am so grateful for eternal families. 

I love this work! There is no place I would rather be! 

Have a great week, folks!!!1!!!

Love,
Sister Chi Ca Wing Nguyen

 Picture 1 FREE MANGOES


Picture 2 Sorry I don't like being in pictures

Christmas in Cambodia - Round 2 1/1/17

Hello! 

My memory card got a virus so all of my pictures have disappeared. So NO CHRISTMAS PICTURES. BOO. 
But here are some funny quotes from branch 6's Christmas activity:
*An RM gets up and shares a super spiritual message about Christ*
One of the members of the branch presidency gets up afterwards and says "Yep. I really like what she said. Today is the 24th of December. The day Jesus was born in Jerusalem"
"Yeah so Jesus was baptized in Salt Lake City, Utah"

We got transfer calls and originally Sister Galland and I were supposed to stay in branch 3 which probably would mean I would have spent a total of 9 months in branch 3. And then President decided to change it and now, Sister Galland and I are whitewashing branch 6 as Viet Sister Training Leaders and English class leaders! So fun. All of the titles actually mean nothing because we don''t really do anything haha. We live about 20 minutes from our new area and have to bike a huge bridge to get there every day and Sister Galland and I are just really tired. 

We are really excited to get to work over here. There are truckloads of vietnamese and we've already found so many people to start teaching!!1! The other day, the elders took us over to Co tho's house so that we could start visiting her from now on. And some random lady walks in and sits down and says "I need help" and then goes off about how someone did black magic on her and she's been possessed ever since. We taught her about prayer and invited her to come to church so...

Another time, we were sitting in saturday english class and the students were introducing themselves and one stands up and says "My name is Thang. I am from Vietnam" I went to sit down next to him and he said that if this is a good church he will join and follow the Lord. We invited him to learn with the elders beacuse he also wants to learn khmer and elder phan is khmer. perfect.

Some random lady came to church yesterday with Co Tho and set an appointment with us on tuesday at 4! 

I miss branch 3 so much. The area over here is really confusing and there are a lot of roads and a lot of shacks because people are so poor but we are so ready to serve and love these people. I am excited and so privileged to be doing the Lord's work! 

Love,
Sister Nguyen

Picture #1 I stole these pictures. This is at transfers at the mission home. Sister Collins ended her mission. I was happy to see her. Now I am sad.
 Picture #2 Funny