Place:
Siem Reap, Cambodia -> bus ride through Cambodia -> stop at a tarantula filled bus stop (nasty) -> 3 days in Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam -> 6 hour bus ride (sleeper bus style) -> Da Lat, Vietnam
When choosing a route on the world race options, I knew there was destined to be a country I was not too thrilled to visit. But, I was relieved to discover on my track, Route 2, there was only one country I was not too ecstatic about. Well, that country was Vietnam. I don’t know why, I just never in my life thought, “I dream of visiting Vietnam.” However, I was going to eleven countries around the world so, it really did not matter if there was one country that did not excite me… it was not about the exciting travel destinations anyway. Needless to say, God showed up and blessed me daily. While I can honestly say, “I wouldn’t mind not going back to Vietnam- ever” God showed me His hand at work, and I am thankful for the month I lived there.
Da Lat is also known as the City of Flowers and according to various travel guides, the city can be confused as the Swiss Alps based on pictures and reviews. (A large exaggeration if I must say so myself… again, just a personal opinion and if it’s your heart dream to visit Vietnam, do not allow my opinion to detour your desire- you’ll probably go and it will be great!) There were beautiful flowers, I’ll give them that.
In general, the place is a closed country. This means: no shirts that imply religious affiliation, no freedom to preach openly, no talking about the Bible or reading the Bible in public, no missionaries allowed, no this, no that, and no, no, no to a bunch of other things.
If leaving my heart in Cambodia was not hard enough, now I was heartbroken, not feeling well, and not able to talk about my God without first closing the windows! Wow, I am really making this month sound awful! Change of pace…
People:
While open Christianity is not accepted, there are Christians! We had the opportunity to encounter people who are learning and working towards furthering the Kingdom. And our job in Vietnam was to simply have conversations and learn who some of these people were. We wanted to uncover these people doing God’s work so future racers could come alongside of them and aide them in their mission.
We were able to meet some students and practice speaking English with them at café’s. While the people in general seemed to always be in a hurry and not afraid to knock someone over while driving their mopeds, the few people we met were friendly and always willing to engage in conversation. The manager of our hotel became our friend quickly and he even attempted to help us practice some traditions of an American Easter.
This was one of my favorite days because we never know what a special holiday on the race will look like. Easter is my favorite holiday! So our manager friend brought duck eggs, crayons, acrylic paints and markers to his friend’s house where we met others and ‘painted eggs’. What an adventure! We concluded the day by sitting at a curb side restaurant and eating some delicious Vietnamese pasta. Most unique Easter ever.
Process:
Our mission was to talk and find common ground with strangers. Just like anywhere, this is a slow and long process. (unless you’re placed in a city where there are many contacts that you can connect with though a church in your home town 😉 this was the case for some of my teammates!) We spent a few hours a day talking and hanging out with people but, most of the month, our ministry and our mission was to invest in the four other women on our team. I will never forget Vietnam because of the people I spent the month with.
Yes, the World Race is a mission’s trip to feed, clothe, heal, disciple and work hard proclaiming the word of God, but it can also be a time of extreme personal growth and formation of one’s character. Because of the four other amazing women I was able to serve alongside of, Vietnam became a month of total vulnerability, rawness, love, and as a result, life-change occurred.
For me personally, I was able to heal from physical pains that were affecting me for three years. I never faced them or really cared to notice how much my physical lack of health was affecting the wholeness of my life, until Vietnam. But in order to really care about my exterior person, I needed to return to the foundational principle in scripture that my body is a temple and dwelling place of the Holy Spirit. Because that is where I want Him to abide, I needed to provide a healthy living environment both internally and externally.
A huge concept that challenged me throughout the month was taught to me by one of my amazing teammates: When a child has a splinter in his hand, his initial reaction is to close his fist tightly and not allow anything to touch his pierced skin. But in order for his pain to be healed, he needs to open his palm before his father so that the splinter can be removed. This simple metaphor is just like our lives. Like my life. I wanted my physical wellness to be taken care of and changed, yes, but in order for that to really happen, I needed to openhandedly sit before my Father and allow Him to remove some deeper roots attached to my desire to be well. And like any child having a splinter removed, I flinched and pulled away, holding on to the root of the pain and not allowing true healing to occur. It is not easy to sit still and allow work to be done that hurts us, but when we hold onto the bigger picture of the healing that comes from our Father- we can openhandedly sit before Him and allow Him to do some great work.
I can honestly say I feel so much better with that splinter removed! And I was so blessed to walk through my healing season with some amazing women.
Prayer
–Vietnam is a country that needs a lot of prayer
-Pray for the Christians there to be fed and encouraged through finding other believers
-Pray for the heart and mind of the government to be softened and change
-Pray for the squad as new teams form after month 4
PS- while blogging is pretty vague for this country, there are some amazing things I cannot wait to share that happened in this country but, I suppose they will just have to wait a few more months so I can tell you in person!
Blessings
Jess
