For the past 2 months, Hyrum has been serving in Hanoi! The excerpts below are from letters hyrum has written home to the two of us. Thank you for supporting Hyrum this past year and for being his dear family and friends. You can write to him at hyrum.mcconkie@missionary.org
We love you!
Laurel (and James!)
June 26, 2023
…..As for what we did, we went finding for about 4 hours. It was honestly so awesome. I was determined to talk to everyone. We started walking to the park from the apartment at about 5:10. We ended up eating dinner at 6:10. I was keeping times because he said that the park was a 10 minute walk. We never saw the park before dinner. Not a person went by that did not hear the sound of my voice. TALKING TO EVERYONE. The 10 minute walk to the park took an hour before we decided to get dinner.
The rain was incredible. Strongest rain and lightning I’ve seen in the north up to this point. Absolutely soaked from head to toe. My doc martin shoes had puddles inside, I lifted up my foot forward, and over a cup of water came pouring out. It was pretty amazing and really fun.
July 3, 2023
Yesterday, we went finding at a nearby park. As we were talking to someone, another man a few yards away called us out and immediately asked if we wanted to come to dinner. We said sure and had dinner at his house last night. There were these oisters with peanuts that tasted so good. This guy only knew about English Club but we knew that the dinner conversation would eventually come to the Church. So we brought a house gift, a Book of Mormon! It is now in their home and I hope that his sister reads it. …. They want us to come back but only to hang out. We’ll text about the book of Mormon reading in a few days.
On Saturday night, we were biking back to the house at about 8:40. As we turned on to another street, we saw 2 people we had just met a few days prior and he had been texting me literally 10 minutes earlier. Their return appointment was scheduled for a few days later, but we invited them to go to mixue with us and they said yes. We sat at mixue near the apartment and it was a great lesson about the basics of the Godhead and the Book of Mormon. It was awesome to see them and they want to come to church next week. Really great people.
Vietnam is the greatest place on earth
-Elder McConkie
July 10, 2023
Today was another day in paradise. I absolutely love this country. The best part of today without a shadow of a doubt was a text that we received from our 2 friends. These are the same 2 people that we biked into the other night and got Mixue with them.
[They] came for their lesson a few minutes early and turns out it was phenomenal! They understood everything super well and have a desire to keep commitments. They will read 3 Nephi 11 and come to church on Sunday. Then this afternoon we were texting with them and here are a few of the things they said:
Quote:
hello we would like to ask for the pages of SĂĄch M?c MĂŽn that you want us to be able to read, and also the link to learn English. Thank you very much
Today is the hottest weather of the year, wear sunscreen or use sunscreen when going out my friends.
Thank you so much for meeting you, Jesus protect us all.
yes! great! what time will we meet this Sunday.
Sorry we couldn't see McConkie yesterday, but we will see you this Sunday. we love everything about the church, how the Book of Mormon was found after years of disappearance. I used to be very confused and didn't know what to believe in for a better life, but now I have faith in Jesus.
vĂąng, chĂșng tĂŽi s? d?t cĂąu h?i cho b?n vĂ o ch? nh?t nĂ y, c?m on b?n r?t nhi?u
yes, we will question for you this Sunday, thank you so much
this month, we are holiday summer,if not work we will go on Church, we can go on Church thurday and sunday every week this month. this is schedual this month of us. that is Thurday at 6 pm and Sunday at 9pm. we are so happy when go to Church. Thank you so much. thank Jesus because let us meet. Amen!
Unquote
THERE IS SUNSHINE IN MY SOUL TODAY! These are some amazing texts. ……. among the greatest texts I’ve ever received and better than any ESPN notification ever. Faith in Christ that is founded on the Book of Mormon, it does not get any better than that. I’m really excited to keep teaching these 2.
It is so extremely hot. I am being fully honest and accurate when I write that every day is listed as feeling like anywhere between 110-125 degrees fahrenheit from about 12pm to 5pm. It is scorching hot. It feels like a sauna. For how many people live in this city, it is wild to watch how much of a ghost town everything looks like when it’s this hot or when it rains. We are trying to find in the mornings and nights because afternoons are desolate except for a few spots. It has been hard to stay hydrated with how much sweat we are losing. Even this morning (Monday) I woke up from the nastiest calf cramp I’ve ever had. ….We are losing so much water every day. I have never lived in a place this hot. Yet we still hit the streets. SO AWESOME!
PS- that friend who sent those amazing texts, he came to church and texted us tonight that he wants to baptized on July 28th! Let's gooooo!!!!
July 24, 2023
We have quite a few lessons. A lot with members and a lot with friends. It’s kind of wild. we taught 4 yesterday and 4 today. They are quick, efficient, prepared for, and effective. It’s awesome.
Great food from the week has been: BĂșn RiĂȘu, Kebab, QuĂĄy, Duck Soup, Biscuits and gravy, Italian Sandwich, com tr?ng, bĂșn cha giĂČ, bĂșn thĂĄi.
We played basketball a few times this week in the morning. I love it and I love that elder Vuong loves it too.
I sat on the chair last night and just pondered, life is so crazy and missions feel like a mini life. SO MUCH has happened in the last year, it’s hard to imagine that I have a year left. There’s no way year 2 can be as exciting as year 1 right? 2 weeks home MTC, 2 months of ‘ignorance is bliss’ in Provo MTC, 4 months in Lebanon with a Tennessee Christmas and Thanksgiving, worlds largest transfer to 4 months in Saigon with Elder Vuong, …then getting on a plane once again to open an areabook, train in HĂ ĂĂŽng for 2 months, getting a new PMG, and then reuniting back with elder Vuong in Ba ĂĂŹnh. So much has happened. I’ve learned a whole lot, and I’ve contributed to gathering Israel. I now know way more about the source of Doctrine.
