The waterways of Vietnam are a major means of transporting people and goods during the workday. But when the sun sets they inspire a sense of calm and quiet. The majority are not lighted with either navigation aids, or other external lights aside from what may spill over from the homes and businesses that line the banks. So if the boat isn't home by sundown, you just make due through the night until morning. And since the diurnal variation between summer and winter is pretty minimal, usually that means a good 12 hours.
While the waterways are a lifeline, this fellow who came by my window this past week is obviously relying on a different sort of lifeline. I'm not sure if he had dropped something and was looking to see who below he might have hit, or if he was just checking with whomever was "on belay" below. I was impressed with his agility in moving back and forth and even to a degree up and down to clear the view. I wish I could state that his work had improved my vision, but the sky is still grey a lot of the time, and seeing the horizon is the exception rather than the rule. Spiritually however that is also where we often are, unsure of the horizons ahead of us, peering through a glass darkly in hopes of distinguishing some landmark to guide our steps home. Sometimes like the boatmen after the sun has set, we just need to wait for further light and knowledge. It comes I am finding, as we wait.
Perhaps that is where this next photo is leading. Reliable sources of guidance in navigating life, the lifelines that can suspend us safely above what seem like the jaws of death and despair, are found through the line of righteous priesthood keys that are established to bless every individual on the earth. I am impressed that literally every soul on earth has a priesthood leader, if they wish to find them, in place doing all they can to bring the blessings of the gospel and in particular the blessing of the Atonement of Christ, to them. We learned recently from the Asia area presidency and area authority, Elder Woo, how we can do that better for ou members, and for all those who need these blessings, living and also their deceased ancestors.
These faithful leaders from Vietnam and Cambodia gathered for the area training meeting in Phnom Penh recently. I love this photo for what it shows in the faces of these brothers. Of course they were learning through translation, which was in large part provided by volunteers such as this beloved friend from Hanoi with whom we were reunited briefly, Elder Trinh.
I've commented before on the esteem given to teachers. In the new year, the most important greetings and wishes for good fortune are offered to your family. Day two is dedicated to honoring and respecting one's ancestors, hence visits to the tombs, to family shrines, or the pagodas, are activities often filling this day. We plan, since that day falls on Sunday this year, to encourage our missionaries and members to make that a day for family history- updating records, gathering stories, and otherwise sparking the "spirit of Elijah" to work upon people here. The third day of Tet however, is devoted to esteemed teachers. There are several "Van Mieu" or "Temples of Literature" in Vietnam, the most noted in Hanoi, but we recently visited this one in Bien Hoa, reconstructed since the war and modeled after an earlier structure, where we found this shrine to Hong tu (Confucius) in the court yard before the larger shrine to Uncle Ho and a cadre of other learned sires from the past. I think it is apropos that these two dedicated young teachers of wisdom and knowledge revealed from heaven stand here, and would venture to suggest that greater truths than what Hong tu could unfold are to be found in their message.
Being a mission president is a great opportunity to bless people in many different ways. In a developing area of the church, one is really a multi-purpose leader, at times ministering to welfare needs for the poor, on other occasions it is listening to a young elder struggle with his testimony or seek to free himself from past transgressions, or teaching a newly called leader how to listen to his counselors, and at others helping mature saints with the next great step in their progression. Sometimes, as with this dear family it is several such steps at one time. Elder Q will soon join us after training ini Manila, but before that he and his sister will be sealed to their mother and their deceased father. The chance to be an usher along the path they are following always brings smiles of true joy. But each of these others whether mixed with anguish or intense delight is no less than the range of emotions Christ himself felt in teaching and ministering long ago.
The task of training leaders here is sometimes akin to what this image depicts. The new year, "Tet," is welcomed as a celebration of spring as well as so many other relationships. Bringing spring into bloom and celebration at the right time, no matter the latitude, sometimes requires a bit of help. So these trees at the Van Mieu, have been stripped of their leaves and banked in cooling sod, to "force" them into bloom at just the right moment of need. As we have just organized three new branches here and done all of the interviews, calling and setting apart of the leaders required to lead and minister to the members of these branches, it may at times have felt like we were doing some "forcing" of young leaders into bloom. But I am comforted by the fact that God has often called the very young, the weak and the simple to become great and strong, to learn of him and take upon them his yoke- John, Samuel, Joseph and even Abraham are examples that come to mind, and are not that dissimilar to Canh, or Tien, or Quang today.
I've thought for some time about writing a short post just on the topic of what can be done on a moto, as the slang here terms these two wheeled beasts of burden, mobile homes, RVs and family "vans." Whether it is carrying a family of four, or nursing a child of six months, eating breakfast on the way to school behind dad, texting your friends (either as driver or passenger!), reading the newspaper (again in either spot), patting the dog, balancing structural steel, a coil of hose, ladder, or gross of 10 foot sugar cane stalks bound for the nuoc mia street vendors, it never ceases to amaze one what the "xe may" means to society here. Should it surprise one that sales top 18-20k vehicles each month in the city, and that cruising the avenues brightly lit for the new year will be relished by young and old alike?
The decision to serve as a church volunteer in Vietnam many years ago took me out of the political life of America during a particularly troubling era in American political history- the Watergate scandal and the subsequent events involving then-president Nixon and his successor Pres. Ford. It would appear that the opportunity to serve here again has repeated this pattern, at least in terms of the various opinions strongly voiced concerning the election of 2016 and what may ensue from the reign of Mr. Trump. What I learned though as a young person in Asia, and perhaps again now, is that there is no Savior other than Jesus Christ. Whether one proclaims himself, or others portray one as having those ultimate virtues that will ennoble society and exalt the race, the perfecting of mankind happens individually, through the toils and sorrows of repentance, the enormous effort of forgiveness, and the healing balm of Christ's atonement. Politics may influence the surroundings for such, but it will not nor cannot replace the decisions of individual hearts.
We each have to cultivate our own fields. We each have to burn over things at times, pluck out the weeds, rebuild the rows, ensure that water and nutrients reach the plants. And when we do that, with the good seeds of the gospel, our lives, like this sweet family plot, are brought into life-sustaining production to the good of ourselves, our families and others. If we only have eyes to see, the message is all about us!
Christ invited his followers to "take my yoke" upon them, promising that as they labored with him in their lives, the task would be light, and that they would find rest. Submitting to that yoke requires a yielding of our hearts to his, and often it happens best when we are trained up from our youth to do so. I delighted in the curiosity this young buffalo showed us as we walked by to visit a potential meeting site a few weeks ago. If you look closely you will notice the cord through his nose, preparing him for the time when a more sturdy ring will enable him to want to follow the lead of his master and trainer. While that would be horrid in the hands of someone who cared only for themselves without regard for the buffalo's welfare, the analogy struck me powerfully. Can I be instantaneous in my response to the nudging and lead of my Master? To do so, to be easy to entreat, quick to hear, automatic in my response to his still small voice, so clearly interested in my welfare, is to both know Him, and the eternal life he promises us.
There is such joy in what we are doing. We see small steps, simple things, yet with a sweet savor. We met with Sister H and her mother to prepare the paperwork for submission to the authorities in one of the western provinces so that a small group of saints could gather in her small farm cottage. It can't have been any bigger than the log schoolhouse in Kirtland was, yet after several prior frustrations, it seemed like the Red Sea had parted to reveal a palace. Though the meetings are yet to occur (such paperwork usually takes a few weeks to weave through the various offices) I can imagine this place to become as meaningful to the saints who will worship here as were the waters of Mormon described by Alma the elder in the book of Mosiah, chapter 18, "how beautiful are they to the eyes of them who there came to the knowledge of their Redeemer; yea, and how blessed are they, for they shall sing to his praise forever."
