MERRY CHRISTMAS and xin chao from Da Nang, Vietnam! As of December 14th, my new team and I have been stationed here at Vision Cafe for a couple of weeks. My new team includes Tiffany Romeos, Calla Wier, Chandler Adams, Brieanne Kluck, and Elaina Schnelle. You all should follow their blogs and their Facebook pages to keep updated on our whereabouts for the next four months, as we’ll be a team at least until the end of our four months in Southeast Asia. I love these girls and am stoked to get to know them better during this new season of the Race!
A little bit about our ministry this month: we are hosted by Vision Cafe, an English cafe for Vietnamese students, ages 18-28ish, to come learn English every night during the week from 7-9pm. Our role is to have conversations with the students and to help them grow their vocabulary for their jobs, as it’s highly beneficial to know the English language. We come up with a different conversation topic every night (such as food, travel, family, hobbies, culture, etc.) so they are always learning something new! The goal of this ministry is to build relationships with the students during English club, and then invite them out to explore the city during the day, where we are able to freely share the Gospel with them. In English club it is advised to not talk about Jesus, because sometimes the secret police will join the class and we could get in trouble because Vietnam is a closed country. A tricky situation to say the least.
Because of this, I have been asked multiple times why AIM would send us to a place where the Gospel is not allowed.
Well, in the nicest way possible, that’s kind of the whole point of this trip.
To reach the unreached.
And in a place where the Gospel is prohibited, the unreached are plenty.
So our job as Christ-followers is to follow in Jesus’ footsteps and do as He did. Seek the lost. Bring them into the light. Share the love that God so freely has given all of us. Introduce the hope that these people are desperately searching for.
If I love Jesus, which I do, I will do anything to follow Him, at any cost. To a non-believer (or even a lukewarm believer, sadly), this is a wild concept. “You’d put yourself in harm’s way for this Jesus?”
Heck yeah I would. Because He died for me when I didn’t deserve it, so I owe my life to Him. And if that means risking my own life to bring His children back to Him, I’ll do it.
The other night, we were talking about the differences between Vietnam and America. One of the questions, naturally, was pertaining to Christmas traditions in Vietnam.
“How do you celebrate Christmas?”
We discussed in groups.
One of the students answered and said, “Well in Vietnam, people don’t really celebrate. Not unless you follow the Christian religion. It’s not a national holiday, we don’t get off work. Many people don’t even know the actual day of Christmas. Is it the 24th? The 26th? We decorate and stuff, but most people just think it’s a fun time of year to celebrate with Santa and Christmas lights. I was reading the other day about the actual meaning of Christmas, which is the birthday of baby Jesus. Daniel gave me a book on Christianity and I’m curious to learn more about it. I don’t follow any religion.”
Wow.
I was kind of shocked actually.
I mean, I knew coming into this month that Vietnam was a closed country and a part of the 10/40 window (a rectangular area on the world map that is described as “unreached by the Gospel”), but I guess I just didn’t put two and two together.
THESE PEOPLE CELEBRATE CHRISTMAS BUT THEY HAVE NO IDEA WHAT IT MEANS!!!
Is that crazy to anyone else or is it just me?
These people put up Christmas trees, decorate the streets with lights, dress up as Santa Claus, and even play Justin Bieber’s Mistletoe Christmas album in public (for real though, it’s just about the only Christmas album they play and it cracks me up every time), but they have no idea why they do these things. It’s just an effort to get excited about something I guess. Or an excuse to buy gifts for themselves and others.
Sounds like America in a way.
Except we have the privilege of knowing the difference.
We have the privilege of choosing whether or not to celebrate Christmas as the birth of our Savior, yet so many of us choose to ignore the true joy of Christmas.
Some people put up the tree, decorate with lights, dress up as Santa, and play Christmas music for weeks, but do these things out of worldly intention.
Let’s wake up people!!!!!! We have the BIGGEST JOY at our fingertips. We have the light of the world waiting to invade our hearts, yet so many choose to keep him out and instead run toward empty, earthly desires, coming up dry again, and again, and again.
Friends, if there’s one thing you need to read this Christmas season, it’s this:
God cares deeply about you.
No, read that again, and meditate on it.
God. He cares deeply. About YOU, friend. YOU!
The same God that set the stars in place, filled the oceans, created every species of animal, and designed all of human kind in His image, yeah that God, he cares about YOU!
He wants in! He wants to be invited into your heart.
He wants it so bad that 2000 years ago, He sent His one and only Son, Jesus Christ, to walk the Earth as a perfect, flawless human being to teach us how to live, and present as a perfect sacrifice to our perfect God so that we might live in Heaven with Him forever. This is the Gospel. This is the reason we celebrate Christmas. Is it the reason you celebrate Christmas?
Y’all. Don’t take this for granted. Your Father in Heaven wants to live life with you. Living life in intimacy with Jesus, let me tell you, is the sweetest way to live life. You don’t want to miss out. He’s such a good Father.
So, that’s my mission this month in Vietnam. To share this special gift we’ve been given with anyone who’ll listen. The world is hungry for this hope. Will you be a light for the Lord this Christmas?
xoxo,
Allison
