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Niêm vui cho thế giân


December 25, 2019
Xin chào ông bà chú cô anh chị em!

Hey everybody! Sorry if I missed your emails last week, I was very busy last monday flying to Vietnam, so I didnt have a lot of time to respond to anything, so thank you for your patience. Oh, and I'm in Vietnam now! I arrived in Hanoi late monday night, but then got reassigned the next day to Hồ chí minh city in the south, so that's where I am now. I'm in what's known as the Thủ đức district, which is basically like a mini city within the city. It's where all the colleges and schools are, so we see a lot of students all the time. 

My new companion, anh cả Mãnh, is very awesome and good. He's been here for just a little over a year, which makes him the second oldest missionary in all of Vietnam. His name means strong like a tiger, which is pretty sweet. 

We are in one of two apartments in all of Saigon with 2 pairs of missionaries. So in our house is also anh cả Năm and anh cả Tai. They are both way cool cats. Anh cả Năm is a native speaker, but he has been learning english and he is actually very good. 

Everybody here is so nice! I just wish I could understand them, haha. It's an ancient sentiment, but the Vietnamese they taught at the Mtc is not the same language everybody speaks out here. Luckily, everybody is super friendly and patient with my horrible pronunciation, so that's super nice. One thing I have to be careful of, though, is to be always super friendly. Not only because I'm a representative of Christ,  but because I'm so tall! People get really nervous sometimes, so I have to be extra friendly and smile and stuff. 

Anyway, this week has been good. Been teaching lots of lessons, inviting lots of people to church and to English class, so it's been awesome.  

One of our investigators, chú Cường, has  a really amazing story. He had already met with missionaries as a child, but after the fall of Saigon he lost all contact with the church and his only connection was an english hymnbook. So after 45 years of memorizing all the hymns and having nothing else to remind him aboutt the church, he found it again! That is why I love the gospel, it is all about awesome redemptions and stories about hope. Anyway, I hope you all have a merry christmas!

Anh cả Nghị (Elder Wilkinson)

Christmas eve at a members house

Outside the atm

Breakfast! (Sorry sam, I had to)

These cats hang out at the church 

The church

Aw yeah 

Pikachu is very popular here (and so are bootlegs)

Merry Christmas!

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