Evicted – “expel (someone) from a property, especially with the support of the law.”
This happened.
The ministry that I am working with this month in Vietnam is not afraid of the gospel. For our first week, we walked onto public universities in the middle of Saigon (aka – Ho Chi Minh City) and invited students to our English club. Seems simple, right?
It all started with one of our contacts explaining that we had to split up into small groups in order to not draw attention to the fact that seven amazing American (and Canadian) women were about to enter the premises of an educational institution without proper permission. We followed the command and divided in order to conquer. Next, our contacts lead us into the university in the most conspicuous ways past the security guard, making sure we walked near as many Vietnamese students as possible, hoping they would block our path. Then, we were in!
This worked great for two days. We would split up and walk around the campus, talking to Vietnamese University students about our English club – until we decided to spend some time in the main quad. We were just outside the engineering building, surrounded by thirty to forty students, making small talk and passing around our flier, when the security guard came, yelled in Vietnamese, and then stood there.
Much to my surprise, none of the students around us were phased. If anything, they were more concerned with how we were reacting to the foreign yelling. Lots of soothing words and “don’t worry”s were uttered out of the students mouths. When we asked if we should leave, they sheepishly nodded their heads but quickly consoled us with “but it’s okay, we will see you in class!” And so we left.
Never in my life had I ever felt so much peace in so much rejection. I was grinning ear to ear as we ambled out of the university, with the security guard close on our tails. We lovingly obeyed our authority and exited the premises to end our ministry day a little earlier than expected.
Deuteronomy 31:6 – “Do not be afraid or terrified because of them, for the Lord your God goes with you; he will never leave you or forsake you.”
And as we walked out of that university, the Lord went with us!
