I Follow Hope

Letter from 10/29/17 HELLO, This week went by so fast and can't believe I am sending another email. This week was filled with some meetings and some lessons and some funny things and always studying. During the week we have a lot of meetings. We have meetings on Sundays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays usually. They are good. We talk a lot about what we can do to improve the missionary work here. Also we talk about the people who we are teaching and who we could teach. We had some lessons this week. We teach a lot of recent converts who have been baptized within the year. We also have to contact a lot of people via phone when they can't meet. So that's fun. Practicing my Vietnamese. Also some funny things that happened. We met these men and child who were from California. They were coming back from something? But we were talking to them and the little boy says to his uncle "why does she look so different" talking about me. Haha So my companion sai...

October 22, 2017 This week was busy with studying. We had to do a lot of catching up because we had a lot of lessons and lots of meetings! Also made it through my first transfer!! Wahooo. Many more to go. haha My companion only has 1 more! Sooo sad! This week for English class we taught about the body. It was fun. We taught them a song to the tune of head shoulders knees and toes. They are so engaged in learning English. They love it. This week we got one of our investigators to commit to a baptism date! We are so excited for her. She is really good and really interested in the gospel thanks to her fiance! Which is great! This week I have been studying a lot about two missionaries in the Book of Mormon. It's is cool we have such great examples in the Book of Mormon to be great missionaries and have a great desire to serve God. Last P-day we made traditional Vietnamese food! It was great. It was like wrapping spring rolls. haha Sorry not much to say, I love you all and hope you ha...

October 15, 2017 Hello Everyone! I hope everyone is doing well and is loving life. My life is great. I am still alive after a huge storm this week. So last week, We had District P-day. It is a day ( more like a couple of hours) where you "bond" with your district. We went bowling and then ate food. We also did some shopping! It was great! I was totally the worst bowler out of everyone. haha life is great. Also this week we had a Zone Conference. It was good! We learned a lot about repentance, and the importance of the Book of Mormon especially here in Vietnam. It was good and I learned so much! We also got to eat American food kinda... McDonalds! It was good to have a burger and eat something like America. This week has also been raining like crazy. One Thursday we had a big storm and it turned the power out for like 2 hours. Good thing we were at the church. The Church had no power either, so we had our meeting in the dark in the common area. It was fun. and...

A Note from Julie: These letters are sent from Hope weekly. I edit them and attach the pictures she sends. This blog is done by me and not Hope so she may not see any comments that you leave for her. I will try to pass things along but no guarantees. If you want to send her a message, please write to her at hope.nelson@myldsmail.net . Thanks everyone! Love to all!!! October 8, 2017 This week we had a ton of rain. It kept flooding the streets so it was fun to play in. haha. This week was kinda slow. We taught a lot of recent convert lessons. It's great to teach those lessons because they know the gospel and it's more like them teaching us.  Haha. This week we taught Ba Oanh again. We taught her about prepping for General Conference and getting ready to listen to the prophet. She also always gives us a ton of food, but last Thursday she gave us a whole meal unexpected... sooo good! Thanks to Michelle and Kami! They sent me a package of all my favorite things I was t...

October 1st So Many of you are asking me questions so here are some answers: 1. Do we watch Conference?     -Yes we watch it a week later because of translation.... 2. How's Vietnam?     - Hot and humid... 3. How do baptisms work her?     - They get a pool, fill up with water and swim 4. The Typhoon?     - Didn't hit me, but lots of rain on ground 5. How do we do Laundry?     - We throw it into the washing machine and it spins... Haha, I am just kidding. Vietnam is pretty great and pretty well Americanized, which is awesome!  This week was cool and crazy. We had some baptisms and some fun things. Last Tuesday, Thu Hong and I had to help President Hassell with and orientation he does for all the new missionaries and then Thu Hong left with her new companion and stayed with President and Sister Hassell for a while until I got my companions back. Fun! We also do baptisms  on Sunday  her...

This week has been crazy. We have been teaching a lot of lessons and  biking!  Also this week one of the Sister's left to Hong Kong to renew here visa so one of the Sister's in my three-some companionship went to help the other sister in another branch. This Tuesday we have a native joining the mission.  So then we will be back to normal and hopefully the American Sister comes back to Veitnam! haha This week we rode our bike for like 1 hour to a recent convert house. She is this cute little old lady who got baptized a couple of months ago.  She lives like on the courner of our area.  We teach recent converts here for a year after their baptism.  There are many that we teach which is great!  Also on Sunday, we taught a lesson over Skype. There is a Vietnamese sister in Norway who met the missionaries about a month ago and had been learning with them in English but not really understanding.  So she wants us to teach her via Skype.  It's...

Sept 17 This week has been pretty normal. I feel like I'm a native Vietnamese person except when I cross the street.  That is soooo much fun.  It's like sardines and sharks.  It's sometimes scary.  My vietnamese is getting a little bit better.  I understand about 13% of what is going on.   This week we taught a lot more lessons and also we teach english class. It was sooo much fun.  We get to teach the beginners class which is really fun.  A lot of them already know the things we are teaching though, which is great. We taught about weather and sang some songs and asked them which weather they like.  Here is this mission, it's a little different. We wake up at  5:30 am  and druing the middle of the day we take Naps!.  It's great.  Although it is really hard for me to take naps becuase I hate hate that. That's ok it will prepare me for the future when I am older and need naps all the time! haha. Sorry Mom....