Weekly Email! - Hanoi, Vietnam

I know the title says weekly email but it's more like Transferly email, here it is for the big group.

Hello everyone! I hope all is well and that everyone is healthy and happy! I certainly have both of those things as I continue to live in paradise. Vietnam is simply amazing. I have almost been in Hanoi (capital city, north Vietnam) as long as I was in Saigon (biggest city, south Vietnam) and I love them both! Far to many people ask me what place I like more and it's hard to answer. I would just barely rather live in Saigon than in Hanoi, but I would also just barely rather spend a tourist vacation in Hanoi. Hanoi really is traditional Vietnam. It has kept the Vietnamese culture very strong even though there are a lot of tourists. I love the food and the History. I get to bike past a huge lake in the middle of the city on the way to the church everyday and it's just a joy to live here. 

My companion and I both really love basketball and have found a great place to play in the mornings. It is a place called the new quarter and it has 3 hoops, 1 full court. It is such a great thing that my love for the Lord and His gospel can increase without losing any of my love for the greatest game on the planet!

Life isn't all easy however, we are working hard day in and day out and sometimes even after we have given it our all, we sit down at the end of the day and think that we did absolutely nothing to really contribute to the building of the Lords kingdom in the grand scheme of things. But we just go at it again the next day. But I am learning that the Lord remembers our efforts on those days, I know He does.

There is this Vietnamese dish called Bún Ch? and it is amazing. And this past week, a member took us to eat it at this great place downtown and it was amazing. It's pretty much really good smoked/grilled meats in a super delicious fish sauce. And then you also eat it with rice noodles and it can be eaten with fried eggrolls and lots of greens. It's amazing. I'm trying to learn how to cook Vietnamese food before I come home, there is SO MUCH to learn but luckily my companion knows it all. He is teaching me and I want to master it. But nothing is like the original stuff here. Delicious!

In the last month I got the chance to see some more people from my MTC group that I haven't seen since the MTC, almost a year went by but it was so great to see them.

The scriptures really are incredible and they are the Lords words for us. The living Prophets and Apostles are also able to describe Gods will for us. Lately I have been studying the lives of previous prophets of the church in this dispensation. They all have a different story and it's so interesting. But all of them are just great examples of consistently becoming more like the Savior. The duty of the Prophet to be help others come unto Christ is not his duty because of his calling, but because of his covenants. the same applies to me, I have less than a year left on my mission but I have a lifetime of sharing the Gospel ahead of me, just like the prophets and all those faithfully keeping covenants. The Gospel really is the greatest source of long lasting joy.

-Elder McConkie

June and July 2023 Messages - Hanoi, Vietnam

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 Sách M?c Môn 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.

vâng, chúng tôi s? d?t câu h?i cho b?n vào ch? nh?t này, 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: Bún Riêu, Kebab, Quáy, Duck Soup, Biscuits and gravy, Italian Sandwich, com tr?ng, bún cha giò, bún thái. 

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 Hà Ðông for 2 months, getting a new PMG, and then reuniting back with elder Vuong in Ba Ðình. 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. 

Third Transfer in Phú Mỹ Hưng, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam

Hello everyone!

So the last few weeks have been excellent. I am still with Anh Cả Vương in Phú Mỹ Hưng for the third transfer in a row. It’s been amazing. We have gotten super familiar with the area and have been able to help a few different people accept and follow the Gospel of Jesus Christ. At this point, there is no doubt in my mind that regardless of who, where, what, or when, life with the Gospel of Jesus Christ is better than life without it. 

Here are a few stories. When I first got to this area and met my comp, we both established that we really like basketball. So we started a basketball activity for the branch. The church buildings here are just rented out space in a bigger building so we are yet to have a classic, beautiful, hardwood church basketball court in Vietnam. But we will get there one day. Anyways, because of that, we just find a place to go play for the basketball activity. It’s usually just a park where we go and play pickup with a bunch of people already there. I have yet to see anyone nearly as tall as me and also yet to see anyone else who can dunk. But it’s super fun to play with these people. And my Vietnamese basketball vocabulary is getting better and better. Basketball, like the Spirit and music, is a universal language and I love it.

Yesterday we had a district conference. This is the equivalent of a stake conference but for a district. There were just over 200 members there. Since we don't have a church building big enough, we rented out a big hotel conference room downtown. Great talks were given by the leaders of the church in this amazing country. My mission president (President Hughes) is the priesthood leader for both the missionaries and the members in this country. He spoke about a temple in Vietnam. He helped all of us understand the importance of a temple in vietnam. He also helped us realize how much more needs to be done in order to have a temple. We are a ways away and it's a big mountain to climb. But we are going to work until we earn a house of the Lord. 

Temples are of incredible importance and worth. These people have all been promised eternal families if they follow the Gospel and they are looking forward to a temple. What a blessing it is to have the house of the Lord!

Love you all and hope you have a great week!

-Elder McConkie

PS. Hyrum’s mom here—he didn’t attach any photos with his email so I will put some on here that he has shared with me over the past few weeks. Teaching the people, working with his amazing companion elder Vuong and all the other missionaries, the food, and basketball are all things he loves so much. Also pictured are some interesting sights around his area, and the little yellow truck where the elders enter to get their $3 haircuts. Love to you all, Laurel