A couple of cool stories

We've had some fun experiences this last week and a half.  On Sept. 25th we had dinner with the Calls.  They have some friends from Vietnam, Alex and Jeanette Tam, who had lost a daughter to suicide a few years back, and the Calls thought they would like to meet us.  Bro. Call felt like they had never really recovered from the loss, and they see us as a couple who have gone on with their lives successfully and managed to find happiness, so wanted us to talk to them. 

It was a great dinner, and the Tams were the ones who helped us!  They have an amazing story to tell, and I'd like to share part of it with all of you. 

Bro. Tam was born in Vietnam in the early 50s, just before the Geneva Treaty divided Vietnam in two countries, the North and the South.  Most of the people he knew worshipped their ancestors, and none had heard of Jesus Christ, but Bro. Tam said he always believed in a Supreme Being, "A God of all things I have yet to know".  He escaped death many times, the first when he was a boy, and the Communist soldiers were raiding the South, looking for boys to kidnap and force into the North Vietnamese Army.  He was riding his bike to school when he met two men.  He greeted the men and then heard a voice behind him say, "Freeze!  Hands above your heads and don't move".  He looked back and saw a group of men in uniforms with guns pointed towards him and the men.  He panicked, jumped on his bike and fled.  The guerrillas tried to gun him down, but he was too fast.

The second escape was a few years later when he was celebrating the Vietnamese New year with his family.  Just past midnight, guerrillas knocked on their door and asked them to leave their house to join other families in the village.  It was totally dark and the soldiers guarded them with guns as they walked.  There was suddenly a streak of light, followed by the sound of machine guns.  He and his family were being used as human shields!  They dove into the mud, where they laid while they heard bullets streaking overhead.  They stayed there for hours, waiting for the day to break.  His baby sister had stopped crying, and he thought she was asleep, but as day broke, they found she had been shot in the arm and had passed out from loss of blood.  Her injury was not life threatening, and they went on, hiding for 27 days as the fighting raged.  Thousands of people were killed and millions were left homeless during that battle.  Never a day went by that he didn't say a silent prayer to a God he had yet to know.

At 18, he joined the Vietnamese Air Force.  In February 1975, the communist forces were getting stronger, and invaded his village.  His base was attacked, and they were forced to evacuate.  As they were preparing a last meal, and gathering ammunition, a fellow soldier pointed a gun at him and fired.  He didn't know the gun was loaded, and barely missed hitting Bro. Tam.  Meanwhile, their base was being bombed, and as he looked up, he saw North Vietnamese planes.  They thought they were being rescued, but it was these planes that were bombing them!  They were trying to defect to the other side, and were doing it to prove they were on the communists side.  He narrowly escaped, and eventually made it onto a plane that was headed to Thailand.

After many months, he ended up on an Air Force Base in Florida, where he met an Air Force Captain who was a Latter Day Saint.  He helped him find a sponsor in the USA.
 These people lived in Provo, so that's where he ended up.  When he heard about the church, and learned of Jesus Christ, he recognized the truth, and felt he finally found the God he had been searching for.  He later met Jeanette, who had been one of the many boat people who escaped Vietnam.  The boat she was on saw much hardship, with many people dying as they drifted on the ocean, looking for safe harbor.

So these people shared their story with us, and we realized how blessed we have been.  They didn't talk much about their daughter, but did say that they had taken a young Vietnamese girl under their wing the last couple of years, and she had become like a daughter to them.  They sponsored her, and helped her finish her schooling, bringing her into their home and into their hearts.  We could see that this had been a very healing experience for them.  The told us that they had been interrupters for the Church when they would invite officials from Vietnam to General Conference to help them get to know what the church is about.  They had many great experiences with this, and informed us that the Church has just been recognized in Vietnam, opening the way for missionaries to be sent there to preach.

So a second cool story is about this missionary on the right, Elder Babcock:

He and Elder Harrison, from North Carolina, work in the ward we attend, the Saratoga Ward, and he is from Lehi.
We have been meaning to ask him if he knows Lavonne and her family, but hadn't done it yet.  So Tuesday night we took them out to dinner, and asked him if he knew the Secretan family from Lehi.  He about fell off his chair!  He said he and Kjeisten (their middle son), are best friends!  He practically lived at their home before he came on his mission.  When we told him how we know Lavonne, he was stunned!  He just couldn't believe it.  We couldn't either!  What are the chances?  He gave us some sad news, however.  Kjeisten went to Florida on his mission a few months ago, but his diabetes got out of control and he had to come home.  So we are going to write to Lavonne and tell her we met Elder Babcock, and ask how their boy is doing.

In between all this, I was bored one day, so decided to bake some rolls.  I haven't done that for a long time, and haven't baked any kind of bread for the last 38 years without a bread mixer to help me out.  I wasn't sure I remembered how to do it!  But I tried.  Voila!  I guess I haven't lost my touch:

Then this morning we got to help transport the outgoing missionaries (well, their luggage) to the airport.  We have 26 leaving today.  That is a huge group!  Here are half of them:

They're pretty excited to be going home.  The mission is picking up over 20 today to replace them.  How fun!  Always new people to meet!

So that is our week.  Hope your week has been good.  We hope the flu has flown, and that everyone is doing well.  We really love to hear from all of you on the blog.  The bear story was hilarious!  All your comments were vastly appreciated.  We hope you have a great weekend, and enjoy being together.  Those of us who can't be there miss you!  Right, T? 

Hope to hear from you all again.  Love you much.