We were able to have the whole zone together for a special Christmas conference in Hanoi because that is where the District Conference would be and Scott and I could stay the weekend in Hanoi. The whole zone poses for a relaxed and then a more formal picture. The interesting thing is that they are not in companionships. I guess sometime when that is the only one you see day in and day out, it's nice to asociate with a different face, or at least sit by a different face!
Left to right: Elder LeNgyuen (Kem in Vietnam), Elder Trang, Sister Pham, Sister Huong, Elder Nyguen (Tai-in Vietnam), Elder Vo, Sister Hung, and Sister Ly.
Added to the group are the Michels and Scott and I. The reason Elder Tai is laying down is that he set up the picture on my camera to self-take and then he had to run to get in the picture and this is the way it turned out.
Skits are always fun. The Hanoi District did a take on the Christmas Carol, showing Elder Tai, all the benefits of joining the Church, by going back in his life with the 3 angels that show the past, present and future. He did realize that by joining the church and being more Christlike would help him to be a lot happier.
The Ho Chi Minh District did a play on the little match girl. They decide who to go teach, go to a home and discuss the merits of kindness to others after they had passed by the little match girl. Afterwards, right when she was desparate and ready to light her matches to go back to Heavenly Father, the Elders come and give her a different light, the light of the Gospel. They were all very clever and we enjoyed them immensely.
We also enjoyed the Nativity story. They all had to do double parts. Notice how my suitcase makes a great manger. This is the first time that most of these branch builders had the opportunity to act this out as part of a "family" Christmas tradition. They are all new to the Church, no more than three years as I've said before, and it is so important to teach righteous Christmas traditions to remind us of the purpose of Christmas. We also had them write a gift of self that they wanted to give the Savior for 2012.
The next day, we had our spiritual conference. Elder Trung, the Zone Leader, was able to give a lesson on a Christlike principle. That was the first time he has had his whole zone together. We gave them a gift after of a Mission T-shirt and their worm pills, and a candy cane. Overall, it was a spiritual and enjoyable feast being with these missionaries. Oops, branch builders!
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