It feels good to be able to blog again! I’m sorry it’s been a while since I posted about Vietnam. I’ve gone a whole month wanting to tell everyone what’s been going on here. But, because of government restrictions, I wasn’t able to do so… But, over the next few days, I’ll try and give yall a glimpse on what the past month has been like for me.
The Vietnam government is very “sensitive” about speaking to people about our faith. We were never allowed to bring God into a conversation with a Vietnamese citizen. Now, if THEY asked us about it, about Jesus, about what we believe, then we were allowed to answer their question. But, this rarely happened.
Because the work that we were allowed to do in Vietnam was so limited, we did the one thing that no one could stop us from doing: We prayed. My team and I walked the streets, praying for Ho Chi Minh City and the country.
Some of the locations of our prayer walks.
I asked my contact if the other ministries in the city do this same thing. He replied, “This is the only thing you CAN do. Until the country changes there laws on freedom of religion, this is all there is.”
This was a tough month for me, ministry-wise. Because, it fulfills me when I leave a country feeling like I left them with SOMETHING, you know? I like to look back and SEE the house we built for them, or the well we drilled, or stories about Jesus, testimonies, better hygiene and health, ect. Or even if I’m just leaving them with my friendship, I’m leaving them with SOMETHING that they will remember and stick with them.
So, it was tough to ONLY be prayer walking around the city. Because, my selfish desires didn’t feel like I was leaving them with something. We walked around and prayed for people who don’t know you’re praying for them! Where’s the glory in that, right?
It wasn’t until the 2nd week that I realized how important this work is. I had to learn that prayer is important; that when God hears our voice, he listens. And when we ask for the Holy Spirit to enter a place, a person or to change a circumstance, he does it! Jesus gives us the authority to do that.
We were tilling the land for seeds to be planted. We were doing the behind the scenes work that won’t be noticed. So, the question for me was, “Can you put aside your desires to reap the harvest? And are you willing to do something that you don’t WANT to do, but needs to be done in order the pave the way for the workers who come behind you?”
It was work that wasn’t glamorous by any means. But, one of the things I learned this month was to never underestimate the power of prayer. And to submit to the specific needs of an area. And 1 Thess. 5:16-18 says to
Be joyful always, pray continually, and give thanks under all circumstances.
Part 2 coming soon…
As always, here are some pictures from Nam. Again, I wasn't as "camera crazy" this month because of what we were doing.
We arrived during the annual cyclo races they host in Ho Chi Minh City. Apparently this is tougher than it looks because it's very hard to keep the cyclos upright when you're going at a high speed.
On our day off, we went to the beach!
Me in the waves!
Ok, notice the Jesus statue on top of the hill. After the beach, we hiked up to see it…
And here it is up close…
And even closer! They have stairs that run up the interior and come out on his shoulders.
It was an amazing view of the city (Not Ho Chi Minh).
I wonder who bought this island and built a mansion on it?!
