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It all happened in about twenty minutes…
Last night, I had dinner at my favorite street food stand around the corner from our hostel. May, the stir-fry queen, knows immediately what we will order and gives us a 5,000 dong discount because we are regulars. After I finish a fantastic plate of beef fried rice, my teammate Joe and I head up the road to Lam’s pho stand where a couple more of my teammates, Kristin and Sarah, are eating. Kristin and Sarah are talking to a young woman carrying a toddler on her hip as they eat. We enter into the conversation and in broken English, the woman asks for milk for her child so without hesitation, Joe and I take off with her to the corner store to get what the woman needs. After we purchase a couple of cans, we talk to her for a few minutes and come to learn that her name is Phoug and that she has three children under the age of 10. When it comes time to go our separate ways, she thanks us and the depth of sincerity in her eyes moved me and erased any doubt that we just got played.
As we head back to Lam’s pho stand, I noticed the elderly woman who I see every morning collecting the empty beer cans thrown casually on the side of the road by uncaring foreigners crouching between two motorcycles surrounded by her bags of stockpiled treasure. I stopped and waved at her; the woman was taken by surprise that she was seen but shyly waved back, her eyes glittering as a beautiful smile crept across her face.
My eyes were suddenly drawn to yet another beautiful scene unfolding not even twenty feet ahead of me. I see Kristin sitting on the street eating pho with Fung, a man who uses his arms to walk. A little girl named Ni, who sells gum and flowers every night, was also sitting with them, translating the conversation. As Joe and I come and join them, Lam knows exactly what kind of pho Joe wants and quickly prepares it for him. Sarah pips in to let us know that moments earlier she talked to our friend Lin, who sells the most beautiful handmade paper cards on the street, and Lin said he would pick us up at 7:30 the next morning to bring us to his mother’s house church.
As Fung and Ni wave goodbye and depart in opposite directions, my favorite alumni World Racer friends Danny and Sheri appear, venturing out to grab some dinner. I was blessed to have spent Christmas doing relief work alongside these newlyweds in the Philippines and our paths crossed again in Vietnam as it just so happens that they are living in the hostel next door to us! We exchange stories about the day and as they leave, our favorite sunglasses salesman, Loy, comes up to us. He shares with us that business had not been good that day but quickly begins telling us about his 14-month-old son Kief and his beautiful wife, Tung. After a few minutes, he too heads off in search of more customers.
As I sit alongside my teammates on a busy road in Saigon replaying the last ten or minutes in my head, all I can do is marvel at God's goodness. By listening and acting on the Spirits' promptings, we have built an incredible community of seeming misfits and ragamuffins in just over a weeks time. Our friends are frequently overlooked or deemed a nuisance by foreigners who incorrectly assume they are trying to cheat them out of their money. They are written off as cripples and beggars, undeserving of love or respect.
But we see them for who they are; they are beloved children of the King and they are beautiful. Their warm, sincere smiles that flash across their faces when you take a second to acknowledge their existence and sacred humanity shine brighter than the flashing lights of the night clubs and bars that line the streets. The way their eyes twinkle when you catch their gaze and they know they are truly seen stops me dead in my tracks every time. They are absolutely stunning and it is an honor to be able to do life with them this month.
I am still reveling in those twenty minutes, replaying the events over and over in my mind and marveling in the simple power of living missionally everyday. I experienced the Kingdom invading earth last night. What makes that truth so profound is the context in which it occurred. What I didn't go into was the dark undercurrent that is present here in Saigon, about how drugs and alcohol flow freely and how the only thing most foreigners seem to be interested in is cheap thrills, oftentimes at the expense of the Vietnamese. Prostitution runs rampant and the number of western men walking hand in hand with prostitutes or cozied up in the back of bars with young girls is nauseating.
BUT I remain confident of this: I will see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living // Psalm 27:13
God is bringing the Kingdom here to Saigon through the lowly and forgotten. He is giving us a glimpse of what it looks like to have Heaven invade earth. All it took was twenty minutes and I am hooked.
The light shines in the darkness and the darkness cannot overcome it //John 1:5
I only need $2,800 to be FULLY FUNDED!! My final deadline is March 1, which is also my birthday 🙂 I would love it if you would prayerfully consider partnering with me!
