Đà Lạt - City of Eternal Spring

Northeast of the sweltering, humid air and the traffic-locked roads of Ho Chi Minh City lies the quiet resort town of Đà Lạt. Situated 4,900 feet above sea level, and surrounded by terraced hills of agriculture and greenhouses full of flowers, Đà Lạt became the ideal get-away for the first ever senior missionary conference of the Vietnam Hanoi Mission. Four senior couples, the mission president and his wife, and two single sisters gathered together for four days of training, inspiration, fun, and fellowship. Our stay was at a beautiful bed and breakfast home with a view of the lake. 

It was like a mini-Garden of Eden, with an abundance of flowers and

 fresh fruit hanging from the trees.

The missionary training, led by President Hassell and his wife, became personalized messages of revelation from the Spirit as we learned those things we can do to improve and draw closer to the Savior.  The power of meeting together, sharing spiritual experiences, and being tutored by the Spirit were sweet blessings in this little paradise away from the rest of the world.

After most of our training, we had a day for exploring the area. Come join us on our adventures in the City of Eternal Spring: 

First off, it was time to sample the local delicacy - fried crickets! Yes - I did it!  (one is enough for a lifetime....)  (P.S. - tastes like chicken!  j/k)

Tiger Waterfall is the closest waterfall to Đà Lạt. The falls were beautiful, and we took the ride down to the falls in a toboggan. The walk back up the trail revealed interesting cultural and scenic views.

A cable car ride and visit to the Truc Lam Pagoda was next.

One of the highlights was a train ride through the country side to the Trai Mat Station.  The rolling hills are covered with terraced agriculture and rows upon rows of greenhouses lining the countryside - full of orchids, mums, roses, and all kinds of flowers.  

View You Tube video of train ride HERE. 

From there we visited the Linh Phuoc Pagoda - full of mosaics made from broken pieces of colored glass. 

Scenes from Đà Lạt 

Colorful street shop

Tasty snacks at the night market

Lunch time from a street vendor

The fairy book adventures had to come to an end, and the seniors packed up and headed home.  We are grateful for those who made this conference a success.  We are grateful for the faith, power, and testimony of each one of those who came.  We are grateful to our Savior Jesus Christ for the opportunity to serve Him in this beautiful country of Vietnam. It is, indeed, a season of miracles....

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

The Tân Sơn Nhất Branch of Ho Chi Minh City

Little feet straggled in, filling up seats in the front of the chapel. Teachers held fingers to their lips as the children settled in.  All 6 of them, then one more, then another.  Eventually 10 children were in their seats.

Fidgeting hands and swinging feet kept little minds busy as they waited.

Finally, it was time to begin. 

The song “I Will Follow God’s Plan for Me” opened up the Tân Sơn Nhất Branch 2016 Primary Program. Later, the first two verses of another hymn were sung by the little group, followed by the congregation standing to their feet and joining in for the last two verses.  Choked with emotion, I could no longer sing.  There I stood listening to the future church leaders of Vietnam sing praises to their Savior and of the restored Gospel of Jesus Christ.  In Vietnam!  The embodiment of all the dreams to build the future with eternal families stood before me singing lustrously, in Vietnam!

Primary Children of the Tân Sơn Nhất Branch

Primary programs and children singing usually elicit tears from my eyes, but here the emotion was different.  This was Vietnam! I can still hardly wrap my head around these images.  As I walked the streets in a war torn country decades ago, I could never have dreamed to be here listening to the songs of Zion by the 2^nd, and sometimes 3^rd generation of faithful Saints.  We are truly grateful for all the miraculous events that have brought this reality into existence, grateful for the current peace.

 

Later, the branch of Saints joined together for a pot luck dinner – hungry hands reached in to serve up platefuls of food - and before we knew it – the food was gone!

Enjoying fellowship, friendships, and good food following the potluck.

Elder Coffey and I have spent some time getting to know branch members and leaders to find out how we can be of service.  We met in branch council last week - the branch council concept here is alive and well!  They do an amazing job!

Our branch president (second from left) and his counselors (first counselor not shown) exemplify the outstanding leaders the Church has in Vietnam. They are men of faith, men of action, and men of God. It is such a privilege to work with them.

And work with them we do!  Among the assignments we have been asked to do, we are assisting and advising the Young Single Adult group and the Returned Missionaries group, working with the branch presidency on self reliance and welfare needs, providing leadership training for the branch presidency and branch councils, doing apartment inspections for the young missionaries, attending district meetings and English preparation meetings and providing in-service training to the young missionaries, teaching a monthly self reliance workshop for members and for the public, bringing food to the potluck (!!!), teaching a weekly English class, finding people to bring to church or English class, and fellow-shipping and sharing the Gospel message!  And much more. And we love it! There are many ways to be engaged in the service of the Master. Serving a full-time mission is just one of them. But what a blessing it is!

Young Single Adult (YSA) Activity Night

YSA Family Home Evening - Game Night!

Wave Gently and Walk Swiftly...

The first thing you notice in Ho Chi Minh City is the traffic. It's an amazing swift-moving river of torrents and obstacles. Crossing the street as a pedestrian becomes some kind of delicate art form.  It reminds me of when Joshua's priests put their feet in the water of the Jordan River.  When the feet touched the river, the waters parted.  To cross the road in Ho Chi Minh City, you kind of edge out into the traffic and then slowly keep moving forward.  For extra help, you can wave your arm toward oncoming traffic to alert them that a pedestrian is making his way through the river.  The massive flow of bicycles, scooters and motorcycles sort of glides around you, but you do have to keep an eye out for anything larger than you as cars and buses have the right of way.

Once you are in the river, you don't want to stop.  Just keep edging forward so the traffic will be able to predict your direction and move around you.  If you stop, you're likely to get hit. Wave gently, walk swiftly and arrive alive!

It's particularly intimidating at night!

And in case you don't wan't your arms and hands to get tan from the sun, or don't want to get specks in your eyes, or dust in your nose or mouth - they sell a wide array of trendy coverings to keep you clean, dust-free and ....very very hot! It's like 90 degrees out there with 70% or higher humidity!

Rain never stops anyone here.  Just pull out those ponchos and keep going.

Then there are the little shops... 

There are fancy high rises here for modern offices, but not very many compared to the local shops just around the corner. Colorful fruit shops are very common. 

The open markets sell everything you need, and some things you might not want!

Large frogs?  What for?

For this, of course!  Frog Porridge! It's famous!  We are told it is spicy and yummy. Not sure we'll be sampling that one!




The bicycle and motorbike repair shop is a common site - just pull in, wait a few minutes for the job to get done, and your vehicle is ready to roll.

And if you just need some air in those tires - these compressors are on nearly every street corner with the "shop" owner sitting nearby waiting for your business.

The tailor is also just around the corner - every corner! This tailor is right outside our apartment complex. Another one set up shop just a few yards away.  There is no excuse for having a loose hem!

For garbage disposal, these little mom-and-pop shops just put their little (or not-so-little) sacks of trash beside the nearest tree by the sidewalk. As the day progresses, the sidewalk then becomes full of little trash bags as well as anything else that needs to be thrown away.  Street cleaners come by later in the day to pick up the trash and haul it off.

Because almost no one owns a vehicle large enough to transport items, the delivery business is available any time, day or night, rain or shine.  You need it - they'll deliver.

And in case you just get missing Western food, that, too, is just around the corner. I did find a place with an ice cream drink that looked like a Dairy Queen Blizzard- called a "Tornado"!!! You can also enjoy McDonalds and KFC, but none may taste quite like what you are used to.  But not to worry, Vietnamese food is delicious and cheap - and with 100 different varieties of noodle soup, you don't have to think very hard about what to have for lunch or dinner - just order more noodle soup!