Braithwaites in Vietnam

Mai brought her children over to learn to bake cookies.  Was almost like being a grandmother again for me.  Miss these little pleasures in life.  Doug and the Branch President going to make the tithing deposit at the Bank. A going away dinner for the MacDonalds.  We will miss them.  They have been our source of information and advice since we got here.  Now, we are the senior, senior missionaries.   Teaching a new investigator in our apartment.  These are the times I know I will always remember.  The Spirit is strong, and there is a feeling of peace and calm in the room as the teaching progresses.

A woman thinks its okay to weigh and cut up a durian on the bus.  It is not okay, they smell awful!   Old buildings and market near the river in Thu Dau Mot Visiting one of our branch members  Mai and her family invited us to visit her pentacostal church.  There were some similarities to ours, but we especially likes the karaoke sing-along screen and the two organists at once.  Love riding on these red dirt roads.  I see this all the time when riding my bike.  Kids are just so friendly!  Through the window at the Cau Dai Temple in Di An  Just thought this was a particularly picturesque breakfast  This is the gong they pound every hour to signal the change of classes at our school.  A wonderful sound! This is my friend, the ticket taker on our bus home from school.  WE have to change busses at the station, and she is always waiting for me to make sure I get on HER bus to get ho...

Impossible things we see on the road:

I am attracted by the pattern and colours of multiples:

 Preparing coconut candy for TET in the Thao Dien building.  The woman in the apron is the birth mother of one of our missionaries.  Such a wonderful story: this elder was adopted as a baby from Vietnam by a couple in Colorado.  At 18, he was called on a mission here in VN when Sister Cuc Nga (another senior missionary who makes it here mission to find lost members here) heard his story, she searched the villages in southern VN until she found his birth mother.  She was able to re-unite the two.  The mother moved to HCMC, where her son was able to teach her the gospel.  She was recently baptised into the church. Viet Anh School dressed up for Tet Doug was selected to be a judge for the Bahn Tet contest at school.  Families work hard to get together and make this specialty, which takes many hours of preparation.  Families preparing Bahn Tet  I was asked to host a booth with american food for the school festival. ...