1972 book of LDS/Mormon lessons & discussions in Vietnamese, Richard C. Holloman Jr."s copy

Saigon: Church of Latter Day Saints, 1972. First Edition. Hardcover. 10.5 x 8 inches, bound in full dark blue leather or imitation leather, with "Discussions" stamped in gilt on spine and "R. C. Holloman" also stamped in gilt. About 150 mimeo'd pages, on printed on rectos (front sides) only, mostly in Vietnamese, although there is a section in English toward the rear titled "Pre-Discussion Lessons, Southeast Asia Mission" followed by an English-Vietnamese word list, published in Saigon in 1972. Very good condition; Holloman has made some pencil markings and minor ink notes or corrections to the first 15-20 pages. Most of the lessons take the form of discussions and dialogues, conducted by a fictional Mr. Hoang who functions as interlocutor and teacher. RARE, we could locate no similar books on Worldcat/OCLC. The owner of the book was Richard C. Holloman, Jr., a church elder. Holloman co-wrote an article on the LDS Church in SE Asia that appeared in the August 1980 Ensign, in which he gives the history of LDS presence and missionary activity in Vietnam, starting in 1962. By 1968, there were over 5,000 LDS servicemen in Vietnam, and there was a dedicated missionary presence there, under the aegis of the Hong Kong Mission and its then-president, William Bradshaw. With the withdrawal of US troops that began in earnest in 1972, the Church, which had a formal presence in Saigon, began to recalibrate LDS activities in Vietnam. Bradshaw wrote to Elder Hinkley, who gave him permission to send 4 missionaries to Vietnam to oversee Church activities there. On April 6, 1973, President Bradshaw, in company with Elders James Christeansen, Richard Holloman, David Posey, and Colin Van Orman, flew to Saigon. The elders began formal study of Vietnamese the next day, and on April 8 President Bradshaw reorganized the Saigon Branch presidency. Nguyen Van The was set apart as branch president, with Dang Thong Nhat and Lester Bush as counselors. The membership was around ninety-five, including four active Melchizedek Priesthood holders and six or seven Aaronic Priesthood bearers. Holloman writes, "With only a few exceptions, the elders followed the normal proselyting procedures of LDS missionaries. They learned the language quickly and associated freely with the people, even though the evidence of war was ever present in the rolls of barbed wire along most streets and the armed guards at every corner of the city. Occasionally they heard sniper fire, and acts of sabotage destroyed buildings. The sky was sometimes black with smoke of burning oil and other material, but the elders were hampered little in their work." By the early 1970s, a number of LDS tracts and lessons were in print in Vietnamese. Holloman writes, "The elders soon recognized a need to adapt the standard missionary lessons to the Vietnamese audience. Not having a Judeo-Christian background, most Vietnamese could not understand references to prophets, apostles, revelations, angels, God, and Christ, all of which are referred to in the first discussion. The elders created special lessons or explanations to supplement the regular lessons. Until they mastered the Vietnamese language, however, it took the elders three or four hours to deliver each lesson. At first, they needed six months to teach the full set of discussions." Holloman must have had in mind precisely this book as he was writing his account. Very good. Item #h43666

Price: $200.00