Where was I in November and why were no blogs written then? Well…. Excellent question! In November, I was in Vietnam. It was a fantastic month, and honestly, I was having too much fun to think about posting a blog. Also Vietnam is a closed country, so posting blogs is extremely sensitive.
So… in saying I was having too much fun, it really was a fantastic month, and so good to see the Lord at work. My team was stationed in Ho Chi Minh City. We were living in a lovely apartment, and we spent our days working above a coffee shop (and yes, we had Pumpkin Spice Latte’s AND Peppermint Mocha’s- a coffee drinker’s heaven!) Our job was to help the precious Vietnamese people who came to the speaking rooms improve their English. Two days a week, we also went to a local soup kitchen to help prepare and serve food, and one day we drove a couple hours to an orphanage where we held and cuddled babies for a couple hours.
In our down time, we got to hang out with friends we met in the speaking rooms, and we got introduced to the delish local food and sights by the locals. A trip to the post office, Independent Palace, and War Museum were pretty much a guided tour with a free ride on the back of a moto. I made many friends and enjoyed doing a variety of great activities with them: tennis, paintball, karaoke, and playing Ultimate Frisbee. I got invited to a wedding of a man I met once, and it was a great cultural experience. Never before have I been the guest of Honour at a wedding- we were late and they literally held up the wedding till we walked through the doors. Walking down the street one day, we got invited to a random roadside bbq where we enjoyed octopus, chicken feet, and some dried fish. On our day off, our team spent one day at the beach- had a great time relaxing, playing Frisbee, and eating delish fresh seafood. Another day some friends took us on a trip to the Maekon Delta, where we toured on a boat, ate delish coconut candy and fresh local fruit, rowed down the river in dugouts wearing a rice hat, and wore a big python like a scarf around my neck.
“Where was it that you saw the Lord at work this month”, you might ask. Well, that is in the moment that a young man asked me to share my testimony, and listened to every word. That is the moment where a mother and her young daughter stand up in church and want to be saved. That is the moment where someone asks you in a group of people, “Why are you so happy all the time?” The answer: “Jesus”, and everyone is incredulous. And that is in the moment where you cuddle a young orphaned child, and pray that they may someday know Jesus. And that is why we were there. It may seem like a slow process when you cannot openly evangelize, but through building relationships with people is where seeds are planted and the Lord begins His work in their hearts.
