10 Months to Live

April 13, 2014

As you should all know, general conference was a solid 10.

My favorite talk was by Bishop Gary E. Stevenson. (The guy that talked about the Olympics.) He related this mortal life to the short "four minutes" that some Olympic athletes have to do the absolute best that they can, and ultimately win the gold medal. In life we have about 80 or so years if we're lucky, and the gold medal is eternal life. But like the Olympics, one small mistake, can completely alter the outcome and we may lose the prize. Fortunately God is super nice and has this super cool plan that Jesus Christ is the center of. And, if we make a mistake, it can be resolved and forgiven through the Atonement.

Here's the thing, you have to use the Atonement and repent to fix the mistakes each and every day. We have no idea when our four minutes are up and the race comes to and end. To be honest, I was really scared to hear that because I'm really afraid of dying. I know you all make fun of me for that, but it's true. Specifically I am afraid I'm going to die in a car accident. I think I have this fear because of the car accident I was in just a couple days before beginning my mission, but eight months later and I'm still super nervous being in or around cars. Point is, I shouldn't be afraid of dying. I shouldn't be afraid of it BECAUSE if I die, it just means I get to go back and live with Heavenly Father again!

...I'm not even sure if that's what the talk was about, but that's what I was thinking about the entire time. Here's the link so you can read it for yourself. https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2014/04/your-four-minutes?lang=eng

Other news: I'm in a trio now! My two companions are Chi Vy and Chi Tien. We're having a good time kickin' it in the Thao Dien branch until the transfer ends next week. End of transfers means transfer predictions! I think I get more anxious about transfers then I did about getting my actual mission call. Here's what I'm thinking: I go to Hanoi, spend four transfers there, then go to Cambo and die with Sister Litchfield. Die = finish mission. Missionary lingo is pretty weird. Like your trainer is your mom, then when you train you have children of your own and people always ask when you're dying or when you were born. Missionaries are weird. If you know how to do math you may notice that I only have six transfers left...yep. Better start getting the "Welcome Home Sister Egelund" posters ready. BTW I'm expecting posters...with sparkles on them. Please.

Alright. That's it. See ya around.

Love,

Sister Egelund

P.S. I went to the store last week and started talking to the cashier about these tricked out speakers they were selling. He thought I was interested in buying them so he tested them for me...by playing the Jonas Brothers.

I covered my ears and walked out. 

#Temptations #SatanIsALifeRuiner #iMissTheJoBros

Pics: They have Banana Republic in Vietnam...I died.

And here's a shopping/mirror in the elevator/Viet guy in the background photo.

Bubba Gump Shrimp

April 6, 2014

Favorite thing of this week:

Sister Tien and I have an investigator named Phuc. He's a pretty chill kid just going school and working at the Pizza Hut. He was scheduled to be baptized on the 27 of March, but Sister Tien and I were nervous that when we taught the word of wisdom, the baptismal date would have to be pushed back to due to problems with drinking alcohol. We taught the lesson this week and Phuc told us he would only have a problem with coffee. He committed to try and quit...but he would need at least one month - longer than his scheduled baptisimal date. After we brought this up about his baptismal date he got quiet for a second and I was really nervous that he was going to say he didn't want to be baptized. 

".....Okay", he said, "I will stop drinking coffee in three weeks." Fabuloso! (13 Going on 30 reference)

Then, our member help mentioned that if he were to be baptized on the 27th I may not be there because transfers are on the 25th.

"Okay", he said, "I will be baptized one week earlier - the 20th of April."

"That only gives you 20 days to stop drinking coffee", I replied.

"Okay"

"You will also be interviewed at least the day before, so you need to stop drinking before then."

"Okay, I will quit within 19 days."

"Let's try to quit within 18 days just to be sure."

"Okay. I will stop within 18 days."

And that's how it's done I guess. He has this huge list of all the logistics of when we will meet with him, how he is going to quit, all the drinks he has to go buy so he won't be tempted to drink coffee, etc. etc.

About ten minutes were spent figuring out how he is going to have time to do all of this. At the end we just sat for a moment in silence and Phuc looks up from his list and just shouts "Okay!!" and smiled. He's totally ready and completely willing! #Gold

Least favorite thing this week:

It's beginning to rain. Meaning lots of rain...nonstop like in Forrest Gump...rain that floods to your waist...I'm not ready for this.

Here's some selfies...

Eat. Pray. Love.

March 30, 2014

A couple months ago a recent convert asked me to describe Vietnam in one sentence.

I told him "Vietnam is a place that everyone takes care of one another." If I could choose two words to explain to you all what Vietnam is all about I would say LOVE and CHANGE.

Taylor Swift still rocks my world all the way over here in V-nam. Also, do you like my polka dot gloves? Gotta fight off the sun somehow. 

Love

To be honest, the way they show love is different than the way we are all used to, but the members here are so willing to help one another and do it with pure love. They don't go bake cookies for their neighbors. They don't go out on play dates with their kids. And for me, being so used to all of those things at home, I thought they were so important. I mean chocolate chip cookies and casserole are my favorite, but they're not how you show love. The intention behind those hours of baking and the monthly visits by home and visiting teachers is what is important. Are we visiting people for an hour to catch some gossip, out of obligation, or because we want to go on a tour of someones house? Or is our intention of visiting other members to help them feel the love of our Savior and to find out how they're spiritually and temporally doing so we can help them overcome challenges?

There's a little self reflection for you this week.

Change

Change change change....

Baptism!

First, Anh Dao got baptized and confirmed yesterday so she has become a member of the good ol' Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints! The baptismal font here is a metal frame with a tarp lining thing filled with water. Every time we have baptisms the ordinance has to be performed at least twice because the font is so small and people can't always get their whole body in the water. I was not going to let that happen with my investigator though. So on Friday when we were preparing Anh Dao for her baptismal interview I specifically told her about this problem that always happens and I told her she had to try really hard to get her entire body in the water the first time around. And she did! And it was great.

Another very super duper amazing, exciting, wonderful change: Thanh has decided she wants to be baptized!

Four months of teaching that woman and lots of ups and downs. April 27 is the day! I have three people scheduled to be baptized that day.

...and it's three days after transfers. Let's all keep our fingers crossed that I'll be here for that.

Out of things to say.

Peace out girl scouts.

That little kid is the same kid who told me I was "same same a woman." The other day he played all of his favorite One Direction songs for us and danced around and told me about some song 'What Does the Fox Say?' or something like that. 

Voldemort is a Lamanite

March 23, 2014

Oh uh helloa. (That's how we answer the phone in Vietnam)

It's Sister Egelund here, coming to you all the way from a gross internet shop in Vietnam,

We just wrapped up a successful week and we're anticipating another one with lots of lessons, lots of love and probs lots of weird experiences. Who knows what kind of goofy things are going to end up happening. We do plan to end this week with the baptism of Chi Anh Dao though! Anh Dao is a super sweet girl who's like 22 and loving life and has these awkward tendencies when nothing is said that makes me like her a million times more.

You know the quote by President Hinckley "Forget yourself and go to work"? I tried so hard doing that the first four/five months of my mission. I tried to completely forget about clothes, makeup, shopping, jokes, all of it! And for the past six months I have not felt like myself and I've felt so uncomfortable. I've realized that sometimes I just need to be Emily and go shopping a little and tell a joke every once in a while. There's a difference between losing yourself in the work and entirely changing who you are to fit the "perfect sister missionary" stereotype. I tried so hard to be the always smiling, cardigan wearing sister missionary that you see in The District that I've felt so awkward through this time. So, I tried to be a little more Emily and a little less Trinh this past week and now the sun is shining and I'm feeling like a 10!

I related Harry Potter to the Book of Mormon in the sense that you cannot just start in chapter 20 of Harry Potter and expect to understand the story. If you do that, you have no idea who the heck Voldemort is and it's just confusing. Same with the Book of Mormon, you have to read from the beginning to get the whole story.

Relating the Book of Mormon to Harry Potter totally made sense and for the first time in a long time I felt like myself!

Lot's of silly things have happened lately too. For example: 

-Many people think I'm a tourist and my companion is my translator...

-My skin is so dark that everyone honestly thinks I'm from India. So I'm now a classic Asian afraid of the dark and I wear a jacket, gloves and a mask when I go outside.

-My English class was getting boring the other day and I had extra time, so I improvised and I had a student teach us some yoga. 

Always an adventure here.

That's it for now!

Keep it real, folks. 

The Vietnamese are always deceiving me

Great story I forgot to tell a few weeks ago:
So the Thao Dien branch president, President Thanh, is from Vietnam and served his mission in the states. After his mission he went to school at BYU and met his wife, Lindsey, who's American. They were married two years ago and moved to Vietnam immediately after. Everyone always asks them when they are going to have children and I have heard them reply the same way each time, "It's all part of Heavenly Father's plan." Well, a couple weeks ago President Thanh and Lindsey came to YSA's family home evening. At the end of the activity President had us all gather together for a photo to send to Lindsey's family in America. The plan was this: The first two photos were going to be normal smiley poses, then the third photo was going to be silly faces. Right before we took the third photo President Thanh shouted "Lindsey is going to have a baby!!" It. Was. Priceless. Our jaws just dropped. Everyone was screaming and going nuts. Haha. Isn't that a great way to announce a pregnancy? Vietnam is heap loads of fun.
So yeah, President Thanh and Lindsey are going to have a cute little mixed Amerasian child like me! Just kidding. The child will for sure be cute though! All the members are hoping it's a boy so someday we can have another Priesthood holder. Always thinking ahead, right?
So that was fun. Some new, not so fun experiences lately:

...the meal when I ate snake.

I ate python...and a dog. PLEASE DO NOT HATE ME. With the python they told me it was chicken and with the dog they just told me it was barbequed meat! Totally not my fault.
BEST PART OF THE WEEK!!
Anh Nam, a guy from my English class was baptized yesterday! When I first started teaching English class in November he was just a quiet guy who seemed somewhat interested in the gospel. Once a week I would see him in class and I could see how he was slowly changing and loving the gospel more and more. Now, a few months later he is a baptized man! Plus, he is the first person ever to be baptized at the Than Son Nhat branch's building! Gosh, that guy is gold!

That's it for this week.
Lesson I learned:

Obedience brings blessings. Exact obedience brings miracles!
Egelund, out.

Ho Chi Minh City missionaries at the war history musuem. 

For the natives to get into the musuem it's only 2,000 - about 20 cents. For me to go into the musuem is 15,000 - 75 cents. Cheap...but I feel ripped off.

Headin' to Cam Bam

First, I'm getting transferred to Cambodia!

PSYCH.

I'm staying in the good ol' Thao Dien branch here in Ho Chi Minh City! I've been serving here since I started my mission, but I'm not complaining. Lots of people stay here for like 6 + months . It's like the eternal area. Once you come to Ho Chi Minh City you never leave Ho Chi Minh City.

Elder Tran and Elder Pham from my MTC district are coming to Thao Dien! Those kids keep me youthful. Haha. There are four sisters that live in my apartment - three Viets and me...the American. Sometimes I feel like an outsider because I've got 0 jokes in Vietnamese, so it'll be nice to speak English with people again. That may sound selfish, but seriously, speaking a foreign language 24/7 is such a headache sometimes. I consider this new transfer a tender mercy from Heavenly Father.

Zoo!

This week was a spiritual high! On Saturday Sister Tien and I had the opportunity to teach a recent convert family who is AMAZING! They've been baptized for about a month now and they're already making plans to go to the temple which is all the way in the Philippines. We taught them about prophets to prepare them for their first general conference. The mother of the family, Co Ha, was so excited when I explained to her that she would be listening to the words of the prophet next month. It was nice to have someone be SO excited for the lesson we shared. I just love that family! Plus Co Ha has a wooden leg that makes her 10x cooler!

This week was spent teaching everyone about the importance of a living prophet - Thomas S. Monson, or as the Vietnamese pronounce it "Thomat Et Montun". Haha It's crazy that nearly a year and a half ago President Monson announced that I could serve my mission at age 19, and now here I am in "the land of my people" teaching the happiest message in the world! I will forever be grateful that a month before the announcement was made in general conference that the spirit was prompting me to pray about serving a mission. I'm grateful that I decided to wake up that Saturday morning in November and watch the first session of general conference in my footie pajamas. And I'm grateful that our living prophet is receiving revelation to guide us.

Zoo!

God is good. God is great.

Yesterday was zone conference with my mission president, President Moon and Elder and Sister Funk of the Asia area presidency. The conference was EXACTLY what I needed. I could go into all the details, and I could write for hours about all the wonderful things I learned. Here's the gist of it: The first vision is super duper powerful - so memorize it. And if you wanna receive revelation you have to read the scriptures, pray and go to church. Heavenly Father is just waiting to help us but we have to use our faith and walk towards Him. "Come unto Christ. Come unto Him. And by his grace be made holy again. He's calling your name. He's waiting for you. With arms open wide - come unto Christ."

https://www.lds.org/youth/video/come-unto-christ-2014-theme-song?lang=eng&cid=email-shared

I love you all and hope you're feeling like a million bucks.

-Sister Egelund

P.S. The zoo was awesome last week!

Same Same a Woman

March 2, 2014

 

Sorry I don't have too much time to email today because I'm going to...THE ZOO! Yeeeheee! If you're my friend you probably know that I am like obsessed with the zoo. Elephants and tigers are my favorite in case you care. I can't do the snakes though. Not about that life style.

 

Here's a recap of the week:

Everyone is FINALLY back home after doing who knows what for the lunar new year. You may be asking yourself, "Emily told us about the lunar new year over a month ago, why are people just barely getting back home?" WELL THAT'S WHAT I'M SAYING. It's been like a month since the holiday and things are just barely getting back to normal. The Viets really know how to party hardy.

So the work is finally back on track and we have been able to teach lessons more regularly. The mission goal is to teach 20 lessons a week because this year is the 20th anniversary of the church in Cambodia. Teaching 20 lessons a week is super difficult though. Most everyone works at least 12 hours a day so they cannot meet in the afternoon, and those that are available in the afternoon live fairly far. Lots of time is spent biking around the city trying to meet with everyone. Then in the evening after hours of wandering the city we go back to the church building and teach two or three lessons in a row. Exhausting to say the least. I still have yet to teach 20 lessons in a week though. Whau whau whau. My record high is 14. I am determined to get 20 in a week though at least once in my missionary life. BTW, my missionary life is down to less than a year now. Tomorrow is my six month mark. I've got the wrinkles and heinous tan lines to prove it.

Gosh, I wish you could all see my calve muscles. I'm jacked from all the peddling around.

Saturday we didn't have anymore to teach though so we went out contacting in our neighborhood. Like I've shared because we're not allowed to just go up and down the streets and make the initial contact with people so a great way to make conversation is through shopping. We went to a really nice western pharmacy to but Muscle Milk. If you're my friend you probably also know that I am a muscle milk addict. Too bad so sad they didn't have muscle milk but I bought a few other things. While paying I had a hard time figuring out my money and I jokingly told the two girls working at the cash register (in Vietnamese) that I'm an American and I couldn't figure out their darn Vietnamese money. They gave me a few courtesy laughs and asked how long I'd been living in Vietnam. When I told them four months they freaked and thought it was so cool that I could speak Vietnamese after just a short time. We got to talking and I invited them to English class and then they were hooked! They were so excited to be able to go learn English then their manager comes running out from the back room and asking me all about English class. These people flipped. It was sweet. Before I knew it they were trying to give me things for free because I'm going to teach them English for free. The manager is also a tour guide and offered to take us on tours of Vietnam for free and gave me a huge tour guide book - all because I'm going to teach them English for free. Haha What a fun contacting experience.

That's all for now.

-TheRadAsian

Line of the week:

Sitting at a place that sells drinks, talking to a potential investigator, and her 13 year old son walks out and says in English, "Trinh, you is same same a woman."

...no idea what that means.

Welcome to my life.