Over the course of the last six and half months, I have come across extraordinary people whose stories simply can not be ignored. They are the humble servants who give it all away, not expecting anything in return and the bold freedom fighters who live according to their passions and beliefs. I have sat in countless rooms, tents, huts, shacks, hotels, and coffee shops this year and listened to beautiful stories of heartaches, redemption and pain, yet I have not come immune to the way it grips my heart.
This month, our ministry looks a bit different than it has in the past months. We are in Da Nang, Vietnam and we hang out in a coffee shop pretty much all day long, talking to students, singing karaoke at open mic night and drinking more frappuccinos than we should. Vietnam is a beautiful country filled with some of the warmest and kindhearted people that I have met, but it is closed in the sense of sharing about religion. So we share our True Love this month by the way we invest in our new friends lives, teaching and tutoring English, and answering any questions they have about us, including our faith.
We quickly saw this way of ministry portrayed by a wonderful man who has already become our close friend. His story is a testimony that captured my heart and is more precious than my words will be able to convey.
His name is Mr. T. and he runs the awesome coffee shop that we do our ministry in this month. Looking at this happy, quirky and energetic man, you would never know about his past and the places God delivered him from. I had the privilege of listening to his story on Monday.
When T was nineteen years old living in this city with his Buddhist family, he was forced to evacuate to Hong Kong with his aunt and his two cousins, due to political unrest. He lived in a cramped and dirty refugee camp for over two years. He was a young man with plans and dreams that seemed to fade away with every day that passed. He questioned if he would ever be able to return home to the country that he loved and his parents who raised him. He suffered abuse and neglect within the walls of the refugee camp, and it built a deep seated anger and sadness within his heart. The only thing he enjoyed at the refugee camp happened on Tuesdays and Thursdays when two missionaries, Annie and Sophia came and spoke in English to the refugees.
T did not know English but he loved listening outside of the door where they would meet. He was a fast learner and developed a close relationship with these women who taught him this language he has come to love. These women also shared about God’s love, praying, and the peace that only comes from Him. T listened to these things with apprehension as he was Buddhist and was not interested in altering his beliefs.
Several months after these two women left, T woke in the middle of the night with a strong desire to end his life. He recalls going outside and standing in a huge storm, crying and wanting more than anything to just be dead. He decided at that point that his faith in Buddha did not offer any peace and remembered what the two friends had told him. T put his faith in Jesus on that day and has followed Jesus since then.
He has had many struggles living in this country where the Christian population is .07% but continues to share his heart with the people around him. He recognizes the risk of sharing his faith and was even confronted last year by the police about being taken to jail if he continued to talk about his God. T says he desires to be wise about the approach that he takes to win people for Christ, which brought him to his decision to open up the coffee shop.
His coffee shop is an open aired English speaking coffee shop which is a free place for Vietnamese students to come in and practice their English. This is pretty extraordinary here, as many students pay a lot for English centers which offer the same services. T employs local students and loves on them, showing them by his actions that he is different from other business owners who often cheat their employees out of money and benefits. T also leads with a servant heart and tells all of his employees that he will be the one to clean the bathrooms. I did not think much of that when I first heard it from T, but many of the staff have made comments about it touches them, because in the business culture of Vietnam, this is unheard of.
T continues to look for new ways to love and support the youth, showing them that they too can have the joy and peace that he found in that refugee camp many years ago. It is such a blessing to meet this great man and see the way that nothing is stopping him from his heart to serve and love his people! Please continue to pray for the Christian community here, that they would be uplifted and protected, also for our team as serve and support this ministry while we are here.
Abby-Inspired and blessed in Da Nang, Vietnam
