It was still hot 10 days ago while Gigs was here visiting from Bangkok. We went with him to the top of the Lotte building. So now we have a photo of Hanoi from way up high.
Sister B. is one of the few missionaries in the mission that speaks both Vietnamese and Kmai, having studied the latter while on her mission. Pretty impressive, and a skill our mission president greatly appreciates.
Last Monday we traveled by bus to Hai Duong with V. to
visit her calm, sweet 90 year old grandfather who has been
hospitalized. We traveled at the request of V's mother, X,
who wished for Lewis to go and see him, mostly, I think, because she
is worried and he is an American physician. The grandfather has
had a long and challenging life and is obviously deeply loved by his daughter and granddaughter.
Can you catch the fond love on V.'s face?
Her grandfather has some internal bleeding in his digestive system somewhere, the source of which has not been determined, and may not be since he does not wish to undergo an endoscopy. It was a pleasant visit, though Lewis was not convinced he was of any particular medical assistance since there was no diagnosis and no other ways to evaluate the patient other than the ways that had already been tried, or had been offered but refused. The medical staff were clearly helping him to stabilize with blood transfusions and an IV. So he just offered a friendly visit, confirmation that the treatment was appropriate and some friendship and goodwill. And then we went off with V's uncle for a while so that the grandfather could rest and V. could spend a few hours with him.
It was a very good trip with V, allowing me some time for good conversation with her on the bus. (No, my Vietnamese is not good, her English is good.) She has a very good heart.
Tuesday and Wednesday were filled with the usual District meeting, lesson preparations and teaching. One of the nice things on Wednesday was that P. came to talk to me (I have office hours available at the hospital for anyone who wishes to talk or ask English questions while Lewis consults and lectures) and told me about some of the really good things that happened over the course of an evening with conversation with her son in which she had employed some of the communication principles we had taught in the Family Relationships class that she had attended the Saturday before. It was very fun to hear her description of what had happened. She has been working on improving this parent-child relationship for several weeks now and it is pretty exciting to hear about some of the good things that are happening.
She later, while we were in Phnom Penh, emailed us with a question about social media for young people, which Lewis took some good time to answer with links to some good resources and told her he'd bring her a Vietnamese copy of "For the Strength of Youth" when we come back to the hospital on Wednesday.
We were in Phnom Penh (flew there on Thursday morning) for a "Seniors' Retreat", a couple of days of meetings with Jim and Char Christensen (mission president and wife) and the other senior missionaries currently assigned to the mission: Elder and Sister Leavitt--office support in Phnom Penh, Elder and Sister Spencer--member/leader support in Battambang, Cambodia, Elder and Sister Van Brocklin--public affairs in Phnom Penh, Elder and Sister Oveson--Perpetual Education Fund and Church Education System, also in Phnom Penh, Elder and Sister Meinser--LDSCharities in Cambodia, Elder and Sister Hymas--LDSCharities in Southern Vietnam, and Elder and Sister Noorda--LDSCharities in Northern Vietnam. They all are doing good work and in very diverse ways. We didn't take formal photos of us in meetings, but here are a couple of shots while we were out and about after the meetings, before we headed back to VN.
The meetings were very helpful and we came away with some good insights into the work the other senior missionaries do, how we can help support them in what they do (hurrah for working together rather than separately!), and also some insights into how to better assist and be a gentle help to the young elders and sisters we work with so far away from the mission home. It was good.
Lewis spent a chunk of time on Sunday helping T. transfer his paper mission application onto the online version. T. is a thoughtful, sound-thinking, hard-working, self-supporting, good young man, currently serving as a counselor in the Elders Quorum. Whichever mission president gets to work with him is, in my opinion, rather blessed in that regard. He will be definitely missed when he departs.
And here is another photo of some of the people we love here:
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