We Know “Where the Sidewalk Ends”… and Why

Courtesy of Flickr.com/Roadside Pictures

I always wondered what that phrase meant – “where the sidewalk ends”.  With the famous American poet’s book by the same title, I’ve been intrigued by Shel Silverstein’s thought process.  Mental images of neat and orderly urban sidewalks suddenly coming to an abrupt end at empty lots satisfied me only slightly as I figured Shel probably had a much more sophisticated and abstract idea in mind when he titled his book. Something about a magical place of imagination worthy of exploration in our dreams.

Well, we actually found the truth.  We found where the sidewalk really does end. And who would have guessed it would be right here in Hồ Chí Minh City?

"We dare you to try to use the sidewalk!"

You simply cannot get from here to there on the sidewalks.  Somewhere long ago someone decided that the walkway outside their storefront was much too valuable. Seeing as pedestrians are rare, (Elder Coffey and I are among the very few crazy enough to traverse the sidewalks) they opted for creating some additional moneymaking real estate.

 Motorbike parking lots with watchful security guards - they can charge a small fee for motorists to park their bikes on their property.  

 Little vendor eat shops with tiny plastic stools surrounding

 equally tiny tables line the sidewalks in practically every part of town.... 

Courtesy of Flickr.com/Khanh Hmoong

...sometimes blocking the entire sidewalk!

"You'll just have to go around us, ma'am!"

There are also construction zones, promotion aisles for over-crowded storefronts, small businesses...

...and people sitting around just waiting for time to pass - or to maybe play a round of Xiangqi...

Courtesy of Flickr.com/ Matthew Klein

 


The sidewalks even become thoroughfares for motorists, making sidewalk-traversing an adventure in motorcycle-dodging - only to be done by the bravest of souls.

So this dizzying array of dishes, flowers, clothes, fruit, bánh mì, merchandise and a near constant flow of motorcycles on the sidewalk crowd out the pedestrians and force them to the streets for "safe" adrenaline-rushing passage. If you can imagine the streets being safer than the sidewalks!

Yes - the sidewalk ended in Ho Chi Minh City when commercialization and motorists both discovered it. Every day is an adventure! 

Loving our mission in Hồ Chí Minh City!!

Teaching the Swing Dance at the Branch Halloween Party

Haylie Runs Higher

Meet Haylie.  Most people know her as Dieu Tran, but we just know her as Haylie. Haylie is little sister, a dog lover and an avid runner. Especially an avid runner. Haylie knows lots about running.  She does it all the time, running 5 kilometers every day except Sundays, and has done so for the past 4 years. And Haylie is a Mormon.

Her hard work ethics started when she was a child. She grew up 200 km northeast of Hồ Chí Minh City. 

“When I was a little girl my parents separated and my mom, a devout Buddhist, had to raise us by herself. We went to school and also worked odd jobs to help contribute to the family income. We started very young finding odd jobs after school – babysitting, cleaning houses, handing out flyers on the street – just to help pay for our expenses. We were teased a lot for not having a father in the home. At the age of 14, I had to pay for all of my schooling by myself.”

Haylie's mom is in the green dress.
Haylie is in the center, front, between
her two sisters.

When Haylie’s father became terminally ill, she and her sisters traveled to his town to be by his side. As they cared for him in his last months, her notification for acceptance to the university arrived back home.  She didn’t read it until she returned after the funeral months later. By then it was too late. Medical bills had mounted and she knew she had to stay home to work and help pay off the bills with the rest of her family.

During this time, she began attending Church.

“My sister invited me to church and I came off and on for 5 years. I really wasn’t interested at all. What finally changed for me was one day I was feeling very depressed and exhausted. My father had died, I could not go to the university, I felt I had no future. I fell asleep and dreamed that I just wanted to sleep and never wake up. Then I saw someone holding me up, helping me. When I woke up, the missionaries called and invited me back to church. Isn’t that amazing?!”

Haylie was baptized in 2012, the only one of her immediate family to be baptized, and soon served a mission in the Cambodia Phnom Penh Mission. Her love for running continued during her mission and has never stopped.

“I started running 4 years ago to improve my health. I loved it so much I just kept running. My first marathon was 4 months ago. I have now done 4 marathons in 4 months.”

Recently her running passion found her in the beautiful mountain ranges of Sapa, near the Chinese border in northern Vietnam where her 42 km marathon took her through grueling uphill and downhill trails, scenic rice fields and ethnic minority tribes seldom seen by the outside world. This year’s run included 1700 people from 47 countries around the world. It was the Vietnam Mountain Marathon.

It also included cumulative positive vertical meters ranging from around 600m (10km) to more than 4000 meters (100km) –

“I prepared for this run by running up and down stairs – 200 stories of stairs each time.  Plus I ran 5-10 km each day."  Modestly, she adds, "It wasn’t a lot of training.”

Dehydration is a constant threat to marathon runners.  The marathon organizers had sports drinks and energy gels along the way to keep the runners going. 

“But the energy drinks and gel had caffeine, and I was not used to caffeine, so I chose to not take them.”

Early on, at the 8 km mark, Haylie’s legs began to cramp up.  She had to pull off the trail.  

“It kind of scared me – I never had cramps before.  I didn’t want to take the caffeine.  I cried.  I massaged my legs.  I prayed a lot. And then – the cramps went away.  It was amazing!  Later they came back off and on, but I was still able to run. The last 7 km I had to climb one last high mountain. I was afraid the cramps would return. But they didn't. I went up the last mountain and down the other side without stopping and ran all the way to the finish line. Others were tired at this point, but I was able to finish strong.”

And the strategy paid off – Haylie came in 3^rd place for the International Division and 2^nd place for the Vietnamese Women Division.

When it comes to facing  challenges, Haylie puts faith in the front. She knows first hand the meaning of the scripture:  "But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings of eagles; they shall run and not be weary; and they shall walk and not faint." Isaiah 40:31

Living the Life in Ho Chi Minh City - Now...and Then

Now...

We live in a fairly nice apartment, simple, but adequate. The apartment is about a 23 minute walk from the chapel.  It is 12 stories high and we live on the 8^th floor.

Our apartment is bright, cheery and comfortable.  Tile and wood floors are the flooring of choice here, with two spacious bedrooms (all things compared to our apartment in Hong Kong, of course), lots of closet space, two (yes – two!!) full bathrooms (his and hers – for sure!), a good sized kitchen which the mission has outfitted with a microwave, counter top oven and other Western “necessities”, dining and living room, and a flat screen TV with loads of US channels on it.  Not that we have had time to watch any!

Of course, there are some idiosyncrasies. There is no dryer, so you hang your clothes wherever you can - on the balcony or indoors. Either way, in the heat, they dry quickly.

And in order to get hot water in the showers, you have to remember to turn the hot water on 5 minutes prior.  But truthfully, there are days when you don’t need any hot water to shower – we are so dripping wet from the walk home that we are grateful for the cool, refreshing water in which to recover.

But at least the bathrooms have hot water if we need it.  The kitchen, on the other hand, does not.  Just one of those things – no hot water for the kitchen. Pretty typical for many homes in HCMC. So, to wash dishes safely, we heat water in the “coffey pot” and a large stock kettle, and add it to the sink.  This takes several trips back and forth – heating water and pouring it in the sink.  But it does the job!  No complaints here.

But perhaps the best part of our apartment is what we can see, and hear, out the balcony. Out the back from our balcony, we can look over the houses and buildings behind us, to see little stacks of old narrow four or five story homes ornamented with tropical plants and singing pet birds, all nestled in among narrow winding alleys. 

It's very quaint.

An old apartment complex also greets us behind our home, with a little courtyard and a round-a-bout with lush trees.

And somewhere down there is “Frank”. Frank is our friend.  We haven’t actually met Frank in person, but he greets us and everyone else each morning, as if on cue, around 4:30 am.  His lustrous voice echoes out through the sleepy little community as if to say, “GOOD MORNING EVERYONE!!!"

We don’t know what Frank looks like, but this is probably pretty close ....

We are told that the mind can learn to tune out certain sounds while sleeping, and focus only on the sounds it chooses to hear.  So far this hasn’t happened.  We hear Frank at 4:30 am. 

And Then...

Yesterday Elder Coffey and I had an assignment on another part of the city, and it just so happened that it was near my old home where I used to live. When I was a little girl, I lived in Saigon with my family from 1968-1972 - exciting years, to be sure.  My father worked for an international engineering construction company, so we were here as "ex-pats". I still remember my address - 26B Chi Lang, but they long ago changed the names of the streets. The new name is Phan Đăng Lưu. 

And there it still was, bringing even more memories flooding back - good memories and happy times. The purple Bougainvillea vine still hangs over from the house next door - just like it did decades ago. Now-a-days small shops and businesses crowd the front of the house but back then the house had nothing between it and the busy and wide Chi Lang Street.  

One of the reasons Vietnam holds dear memories for me, is that it was here that I "found Jesus". A friend took me to a church meeting, and I still to this day remember the sermon.  It was about looking up and finding the light.  And it was here, indeed, that I first "looked up".  

It was also in Vietnam that I was baptized by immersion in an outdoor font at the Interdenominational Church of Saigon.  

And it was also here, as I studied the Bible, that I discovered my baptism was not fully complete.  Peter, in teaching in Judea and Jerusalem, "said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. For the promise is unto you, and to your children, and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call." Acts 2:38 - 39.

Paul asked the people of Ephesus whether they had received the Holy Ghost after their baptism. When they answered they didn't know anything about it, he "laid his hands upon them, the Holy Ghost came on them; and they spake with tongues, and prophesied." Acts 19:6. 

And so it was in Vietnam, in this old house, that I first learned about the Gift of the Holy Ghost by the laying on of hands by one who had authority.  And that knowledge set me on a quest to find - and to receive - that supernal gift. 

In time that quest led me to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, where baptism by authority and receiving the Gift of the Holy Ghost have been restored to the earth.

I have ever since been a grateful recipient of the power of the Holy Ghost in my life and the restoration of the fullness of the Gospel.

A Young Single Adult activity

This blessing is why Elder Coffey and I are here in Vietnam - to share this sacred message of the restoration of Christ's Gospel and offer these blessings to whoever will hear. 

For as Peter says, the promise is available for anyone."For the promise is unto you, and to your children, and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call." Acts 2:38-39. 

People are out there!