Vietnam was the most pleasant surprise. From the city, to the ministry, to our living situation, to the people, to food, I fell in love with ‘Nam. Let me take you on a tour. Buckle up, sit back and enjoy the ride as much as I did.
(Sidenote: Africa internet is a joke, so hop on over to my Instagram to view photos of Vietnam.)
The City. Danang is on the east coast of Vietnam on the beach. The beach in Danang is in the top 10 most beautiful beaches in the world. The rare thing about the beach in Vietnam is that if you go for the sun, you can have the entire beach to yourself. The Vietnamese locals go to the beach between 5-7am and 5-7pm. No one is on the beach during the day except a handful of foreigners who are stupid enough to soak up the sun in the hottest part of the day. Going to the beach in the morning is literally one of the most interesting experiences you will ever have. The beach is covered with thousands, yes thousands, of locals doing Zumba, walking backwards, swinging their arms, burying themselves in the sand and swimming with buoys tied to their wastes. Their exercises are pointless, but I didn’t have the heart to tell them. There is calm classical music playing from the loud speakers and everyone is outside enjoying the most beautiful sunrises.
In addition to the beach, there is a river that has 5 beautiful bridges, including the dragon bridge. This popular bridge blows fire and smoke every weekend at 9pm, where hundreds of people gather to get sprayed by water while the bridge is shut down. We rented bicycles and could ride from the center of the city over the river and to the beach in 25 minutes. It was so liberating to ride along the water with the wind in our hair, getting a leg workout and stopping to buy fresh coconuts on the way home from our evening shift at the café.
The Food. Vietnamese food is so fresh. Praise the Lord they believe in fresh vegetables! (Something that is rare on the Race, when rice is a staple in so many countries) DRAGON FRUIT!!! Almost every dish is a noodle bowl. Rice noodles, egg noodles, thick rick noodles, round rice noodles, skinny rice noodles, hot noodles, cold noodles, fish nugget noodles, pork noodles, vegetarian noodles…You get it. There is also the famous spring rolls that you make yourself with pork on a stick and also banh mi which is a sandwich on the corner of every street. The food is super cheap, so we could eat sandwiches or noodles for about 85 cents a meal. They also have fresh fruit shakes on the streets. My recommendations: coconut shakes and red dragon fruit juice with lime.
They also have great American food, including a little hole-in-the-wall, Tan’s Pub & Surf Shop, ran by a woman named Tan. She makes the best fish and chips and will sit and tell you story upon story of her time during the war. She was a prisoner at one point and almost died when she escaped and also was a cook for the American soldiers. She has a heart for Americans and we had a heart for her. We believe that someday she will know our Savior!
The Hostel. We stayed in a hostel by the river. One thing I have re-discovered this year is my love for hostels. Its a cheaper hotel that welcomes backpackers, families, loners, etc. to stay and find a family for however long they are in a city. This hostel was a large, four story house that always played music that filled the foyer (including the Carpenters, which made my day). The same five people were always working and would make us pancakes every morning. We had our team times in a common room, that we basically took over and had quiet times and watched movies with our new friends. We met the coolest people from Boston, Hong Kong, Spain, Ireland and other countries and made sweet friends. Hostel life also allows for the sweetest conversations about Jesus because everyone who travels and stays in hostels are usually searching for adventure and meaning in life.
The Ministry. Our ministry was the coolest because we just got to make friends. We worked at Tipi Café which exists to help Vietnamese people come and practice their English. The opportunity for them to get jobs either in Vietnam or abroad is so much greater when they speak English. They come and drink coffee while they sit down with foreigners and talk about anything and everything. We asked questions about their families, their education, their jobs, their hobbies about a thousand times in that month. They love talking English, no matter with whom or what topic.
Each night of the week was a different event to change up the monotony of small talk. Sunday was a talk show, where one person on our team would speak on a topic and engage them with discussion. We spoke on living our dreams, filling our life with uplifting things and other motivational things. We actually quoted Scripture, we just didn’t reference it (because Vietnam is a communist country). It was so sweet to see God use His Word even when they didn’t know we were sharing it. Those were sweet discussions where we got to go really deep with the people there. Monday and Tuesday night were free talk nights to talk about anything. Wednesday night was karaoke. Thursday night was game night. Friday night was Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? and then Saturday was acoustic night. Every day brought new customers and regulars that we got to meet and invest in.
The People. I made some of the quickest, sweetest friends in Danang. From staff at our cafe, to customers, to other backpackers in and out of our hostel, we connected in such a way that was only the favor of God. The Vietnamese people are so kind. They will help you with anything, even if you don’t speak the same language and have to use hand gestures. They will graciously try not to laugh at you when you fail to pronounce the ‘ng’ sound incorrectly over and over again. One thing that I loved about them was their bravery. People would come into the café by themselves, start up conversations with strangers and then get up and sing karaoke. I would never think of doing that at home. I met one girl who said, “Every day I try to do something that scares me. I could die tomorrow so I want to experience everything.” All Vietnamese people want you to be a part of their family, and they succeeded, because I feel like I have so many life friends that I left back in ‘Nam.
YOU’RE NOT JUST EXPANDING YOUR EXPERIENCE ON MISSION TRIPS – YOU’RE EXPANDING YOUR FAMILY.
The thing that this month taught me was that evangelism is such an easy, natural thing. On the Race, sometimes your ministry description is evangelism, but most days, like this month, it is a common conversation just because God is an integral aspect of every part of our lives. I can’t talk about my job, my future, my past, my hobbies, my family, my home or anything else without talking about the One who holds it all together. He is the drive behind every decision I make and every relationship I have.
EVERYTHING I AM IS BECAUSE OF EVERYTHING YOU ARE.
