A foreign campus teeming with motorbikes and an incredible number of students in a small place can be an overwhelming place to visit when one has neither a targeted location to go (or even a distinct purpose). Nevertheless, we were expected to “do ministry” at a university, so off we went with our Christian Vietnamese translator.
Wandering around near the main building, we spotted some girls who kept peeking our direction with huge smiles on their faces and decided to go chat with them. Twenty minutes later we found ourselves being invited to visit their class (professor included, though she didn’t know it yet). Boarding the elevator to the tenth floor, I asked God to guide us in our interactions with the students.
After chatting for a while with students eager to practice English and talk to Americans, the professor showed up for class and we prepared to leave. Expecting the “who are you, and what are you doing in my classroom” response to our presence, I rose to greet the professor when she came in, and soon began sharing about our journey….”We’re traveling around for a year and volunteering in all sorts of ways, working at orphanages and with AIDS patients and things like that…” I paused before adding the last bit, taking a step of faith into unknown territory in this foreign land. “…and with Christian churches.”
“Oh! Are you a Christian?” the professor immediately asked. “Yes, I am,” I responded, praying in my mind as I said it.
“OHH! So am I! I am a born-again Christian!” she said exuberantly. “Do you know about a Christian church in Ho Chi Minh City?”
As it turned out, this non-Vietnamese professor had been living in the city for seven months, praying to God to help her find a Christian church family. She hadn’t found one yet. (below, me, Sara and Krystle with our translator and the professor)
Thank God we know about several through our ministry contacts…and now we get the chance to not only bring her to church, but get her connected with local believers. Furthermore, our visit to the campus had two-fold purpose: we invited the two girls and several other (non-Christian!) students to join us at church Sunday and at a coffee shop afterward. (Vietnamese students LOVE hanging out at coffee shops, maybe even more than Americans do!)
We left the campus with praises on our lips, thankful that God had heard her prayers and had brought us to the university to encourage and bless her and help her find a Christian family.
“Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight.”
