There I was, standing in an elevator with one of the
Vietnamese girls who works at the hostel we lived in. She was carrying a stack
of dirty dishes to take to the kitchen on the first floor. It was Sunday morning,
and I was meeting my team downstairs to leave for church (a government approved church for internationals – Vietnamese people aren’t allowed to attend Christian churches in Vietnam)….
“You look very nice” she said.
“Thank you! I’m on my way to church.”
“What is
church?“
In all my life, this was the first time I have ever met
someone who has never heard of church. I knew in my mind that there were plenty
of people who’d never heard of Jesus, but here I was, standing face to face
with one of them… Welcome to Vietnam.
Being a closed country, Vietnam can be bad news for us and people
we are working with if are known as missionaries, or even want to talk about
God. This gave us a really unique opportunity to not just talk about Jesus, but
literally be His hands and feet. It was the month that I talked about Him the
least amongst the people I met, but it was one of the months that I have never
ceased to feel His presence completely saturate all our situations. We spent
about 10 days in Ho Chi Minh City, and the rest of the time in the northern
city of Hanoi. If you’d like to hear more about our time in Ho Chi Minh City, I’d
love to share with you over some coffee when I get home 🙂 We were flying solo in Hanoi,
so I’m going to share all I can through my blogs!
spread the love of Christ without using words. Here is a brief overview of some of them…
take Valentine’s to the U.S. Embassy in Hanoi on Valentine’s Day. We trekked on
downtown to the Embassy, but didn’t quite make it to the Ambassador because of
security reasons. However, we were sure able to brighten some of the guards’ day with
cards and chocolate!
Scripture verses on them, and place them throughout the city as we prayed over
those areas. We had a ton of fun doing this and are hopeful that people who have open hearts will stumble upon the paths of these rocks.
dishes at a restaurant to just be a blessing. We knew from day 1 in Hanoi where
we wanted to volunteer…. The Gecko. You can read all about our experience there
in my upcoming blog!
on our bucket list, but once we got to Hanoi and realized we weren’t
endangering any established ministry at all, we let the good times roll. The
name of Jesus filled the Vietnam air as we grabbed the guitar and worshipped at
the city lake! Carrie and I painted while the rest of my team sang praise songs
right outside of a well-known temple. I think a lot of people thought we were street
performers, so many gathered close to listen and take pictures. Garrett began proclaiming
God’s goodness and interceding on behalf of Hanoi, and for all the people who were
crowding around us. If someone were to ask one of my favorite moments in life
so far, this would be one. Literally shouting praise to Jesus in the middle of a
bustling communist city. My heart wells up so much just thinking about it! A
few policemen did come over to check us out, and immediately when I saw them I
started praying for them. They sat down near us for a while and then left 🙂 Divine provision,
Divine protection. Thank you Jesus.
temple that we were singing near, but when they saw us, they stopped by. Casey chatted
with them for a while and then they left for the temple, all except one girl who
stayed behind. She chose to be immersed in our worship of the living God instead
of going to the temple to pray to idols made of stone. Powerful things happen
when truth is declared. The people who came to us may have just come over by intrigue. But no matter what, thinking about what was happening in the spiritual makes me so excited. With every note played, every word sung, I picture angels in vast array fighting the evil of lies and confusion in that place.
the very end of our time in Hanoi, God made it clear throughout that we were
exactly where He wanted us to be. I can tell you this – Christ may not be welcomed everywhere,
but that doesn’t stop Him from moving and working in those places.
