Month five is in the books. In just a few days we will be making our first continent switch from Asia to Africa.
Every month is different from the one before, but Vietnam was even more so. Maybe because it is our last month in Asia or because it was my first month with a new team. It could have been due to one of our team mates flying back home a week ago or to being in a closed country where evangelizing is illegal, therefore, our ministry looked a bit different.
In my wanderings around Vietnam I found that my month was generally composed around small passerbys and friends.
Our hosts, K and E, ending up feeling like the best couple of friends I have made since I left home. They were thoughtful and fun. On top of helping us get settled and setting up our schedules they spent quality time with us watching movies, riding roller coasters, sharing meals and playing games.
Three days a week we went to English Club with college students to let them practice speaking with us over games of Uno and Mafia. By time we left we found we had formed a great friendship with these people. They even bought us all dinner to wish us farewell the last week. A lot of laughter was shared between us. We will never forget them.
I noticed Janine making bonds with random girls at little stores and restaurants. Even with language barriers we had a fare share of little notes that our English club friends wrote in Vietnamese for us so we could carry them around to get messages across or order the correct coffee.
Meet Tigger, Bella and Rufus. These three little kittens were found by our girls crawling out of a trash bag next to the highway. Naturally, they scooped them up and brought them inside. We were able to find kitten formula and bottles and take them in for a couple of days before this sweet man stepped up to adopt them.
I met a pair of twins at the train station and a couple of waitresses at Buffalo Wild Wings that repeatedly wished me a Happy Christmas and hoped that I found many good things in my travels of their country.
There was also the wife of our hostel owner, who we never spoke a word to except through Google translate. Yet when it was time for us to go her tears began pouring down her face. I am not sure why she felt so emotional over us leaving, but we were happy to soak her in tight hugs before getting in the cab.
I had a vission this month of a dove decending on someone’s head. While on an adventure day in the ancient town of Hoi An I happened upon a woman. She was wearing a shirt that had a picture of a head on it, and a dove was decending over it. I sparked conversation with her and told her I had had a vission of the image on her shirt. I asked if there was anything I could pray for her. She just nodded and said, “I knew someone would be finding me to pray today”. She went on to explain to me with lack of details that she was just a very sad person and needed prayer for joy to return to her heart. So we prayed, and hugged, and then I left our small encounter.
One day we ventured to the mall. A woman from South Africa saw I could speak English and wanted to chat. Her and her son were in Vietnam for the week to retrieve her 17 year old daughters body to transport home for burrial. She had strangely collapsed a couple days prior and could not be resesitated. We talked for a good 15 minutes. She seemed to be covered in peace and said she knew her 17 year old was with the Lord. “She had a very loving relationship with Jesus”, she stated. We prayed for her continued comfort as she was preparing to make the hard journey back home with a coffin. All she really wanted in that moment was someone to talk her native tongue with I guess. I am so glad I got to hug her neck.
I left my train cabin at some point during the 17 hour shot from Da Nang to Ho Chi Minh. Only to run into the drunk man who had been causing a bit of trouble in the cart next door. I said hello and smiled at him. He said hello and burst into a drunken giggle fit of Vietnamese statements and gestures that I could not decifer. I continued smiling and nodding, saying, “ooooh, okay, I see” and, “Yup, whatever you say dude”, joining in with an occasional laugh. We had a good 5 or 10 minutes of drunken gibberish going before I said goodbye and he wobbled away.
The point is you never know how you may be impacting people in little ways. All of these passerbys I have experienced in the past month have touched my heart in different ways. That is all I really want to do for the ones I cross paths with on this journey. A hug here, a smile there, save a kitten or two, embrace the crying woman, make friends, laugh often, share meals….
Sometimes inside all of that you discover they are searching for something more or lack a joy in their heart. Then you get to share Jesus with them and pray for them while all the feels come rising up between you and a stranger.
So I want to encourage you all to share your smile with someone who looks sad today. Buy a sandwich for that guy on the side of the road with a cardboard sign. It may be his fault he ended up jobless, but it may not. Love him anyways… Take time to pray for the lady who has lost someone dear to her. Invite someone to your home for dinner and laugh a lot with them. You are beautiful humans… Keep being beautiful.
And oh yeah, Merry Christmas from my little team of five to you from Vietnam. This is Tate, signing out from Asia. See you in Ethiopia, folks.
