Ho Chi Minh City, March 2017

Into the misty mountains…

     

This photo of a work we found in one of the local galleries seems to capture well the ambiance in which we work. Hanoi is a city of “mơ hồ”—hazy, foggy, fuzziness, that softens and obscures boundaries, horizons, and distant landmarks. That kind of ambiguity and uncertainty as to limits or waymarks translates into lots of other aspects of life here, and in particular into our lives seeking to bring the gospel light to those not accustomed to its bright and cheery clarity. We’ve struggled with this as the church organization has sought recognition, and most recently as we have paddled around the pond seemingly in circles trying to find the channel to registration of our newly rented meetinghouses, allowing groups to meet there for religious purposes and related activities. 

                                   

Some say that this degree of uncertainty and ambiguity is deliberate, whether to ensure greater control within the local  realm or to allow inequities in the economic system to be perpetuated for individual gain, but be that as it may, it is a challenge to find the markers or fixed points that will allow safe passage. And sometimes it is frustrating, when even the advice of a senior person about how to do it and what to file, comes back (from someone further down the pecking order) with a request for modification, and the resultant delay to revise the documents, get them stamped, signed and again submitted. Sometimes we know what the codger is fishing for, and our baskets don’t carry that kind of fish, so we keep paddling, hoping for a break in the grayness and a flash of sunshine. But there is often some degree of impenetrableness to the countenance in the images we find here.

       

(Lovingly titled "You have the cookie that I want!" by his infinitely compassionate cookie-baker mom!)

Thankfully those who have previously had contact with brothers and sisters in the gospel see things more clearly and carry some spark of brightness in their countenances. By being genuine in who we are, and consistent in what we say and do, costly or tedious as that is sometimes, we have found eventually, “the front door” and as often as not, a welcoming face. The decades of service without condition by various church representatives, and the unpretentious and sincere friendship by leaders and everyday members, are of immense value to the success of his work.

       

The archetypal images of Asian mountains with clinging clouds revealing occasional sharp and steep slopes, perhaps with a perched pagoda for contemplation, is not an invention of the artistic mind, but often a reality here. But in another sense, it is a metaphor, like the murky mists over the lakes or streams above. When we go into the mountains, we often don’t see the final destination clearly, nor even the path very far ahead to be certain that where we are going is correct. The trail map, the cairns that mark the path across and up the slopes, are the guiding promptings of the spirit. These impressions can be difficult for one inexperienced in such means as many of our young elders and sisters are, to fully grasp and follow. But as they learn, they become powerful. As they take that step forward into the murk, just beyond what they know they can do, or what seems comfortably secure, they begin to develop that vital spiritual sense, an inner compass of the Holy Ghost, promised to them when they were baptized, reinforced when they were set apart. And then they are not just the weak and simple any longer.

                                     

Even in our own labors we see the need for this “feeling forward” in the work. We had such an experience this past week as we went a great distance, seemingly beyond where we ought to go, based on the strategic plan and the guiding philosophy of building “centers of strength.” Sometimes the winding road, the darkness and the associated cloudy mists that made the high beams but a blur ahead of us, forced us to cling to the railing posts on the side of the car as our guide for safety, rather than what we could see ahead. But the spirit said to go, and we went to meet the man who had come down to meet us late last year, and invited us to “come over” and help him with his congregation.

                                     

                                     

They are a tribal ethnic group, who live in the hills above the fertile valleys, and farm in scattered pockets all across Southeast Asia and Southern China. While they have some facility with the language of the “Kinh” the dominant populace, Vietnamese, their own language, Hmoob, is more commonly spoken and used at home and for most purposes. Following the Indochinese war, thousands of their fellows were scattered into pockets in the US and elsewhere, and some of them met our missionaries and embraced the truth. Our friend it seems, may have embraced Christianity via radio broadcasts from a protestant minister of his group living in the Philippines way back.

They were receptive to our message, having first learned of it through contact with an LDS Hmoob-speaking fellow clansman in Minnesota. And now here we were, for the first time teaching the gospel to this branch of Israel in their native land, because Zia had made a friend of LAC on Facebook! The path ahead still seems murky, and certainly is steep and uncertain, but we’re at a point where we can begin to contemplate again “how merciful the Lord hath been” unto the children of men, preparing a way many years before, to bring salvation and the blessings of the message of Jesus Christ unto those who will have ears to hear.