Oh, I am so excited to write and share about last month with you all. Last month was spent in Vietnam and it was truly one of my favorites of all. My team and I spent most of the month in Da Nang, Vietnam.
We had many incredible opportunities come up for ministry, we were quite busy but enjoyed every moment of it!
We got connected with some staff at Fisher’s Superkids, an after school English center for children. Through Fisher’s, we got to help lead games and lessons at a “picnic in the park” weekend they hosted for the children, attend Bible studies with another World Race team, and have some of the incredible Teacher Assistants show us around different sights in the city.
We also helped at a Christian restaurant that uses their business to share the gospel. We got to attend their morning prayer, pick up trash on the streets with their workers, and help clean the restaurant with them.
Lastly, we volunteered at Vision Cafe. Vision Cafe is a cafe that hosts English club each night for students trying to improve their English. The volunteers seek to help students in their studies while also building relationships with them so that they can share their faith. We were able to teach English lessons, play fun games, and spend time with these students outside of class building relationships and letting them show us around their city! Some students were very eager to hear about Christianity and ask many questions about our beliefs. After English club, the volunteers would take us around to try street foods (avocado juice, fertilized duck eggs, kebabs, and loooooots of noodles). We felt right at home at Vision Cafe thanks to their endless hospitality!
My team and I stayed at an AirBNB apartment for our time in Da Nang city with a sweet Vietnamese couple. This was one of my favorite parts of our month! They treated us as their own children by taking us to dinner, driving us around, and letting us borrow a sun hat each time we left the house. Even with a strong language barrier, there were many laughs shared in our home for the month. Through Google Translate, one evening our “host dad” came to us and said “We go to dinner now, and at 7:00, we show you around”. This led to an evening of local noodles, an evening walk along the beach, and admiring the beautiful lights downtown. The next morning, they took us to the sea at 5:00am to see the sunrise and go for a swim/run.
Some highlights of the month:
- Joyful Noise (my team’s name)! This team was an incredibly sweet family to me. There was always an open space to share struggles, worries, and questions. They encourage me with their faith and wisdom they hold in the Lord.
- The beauty of Vietnam! Vietnam is truly one of the most beautiful countries I have seen. We had the opportunity to explore a few different areas and see many beautiful sights. We explored up Monkey Mountain, a mountain that overlooks the whole city and holds great history. We also got to explore Ba Na hills, which is a cable car ride up into a mountain that has beautiful gardens, roller coasters, and a famous bridge known as the Golden Bridge.
- My faith was incredibly inspired by the Christians we met and got to hear stories from. The way they serve the Lord wholeheartedly was such an inspiration to me.
I am currently in Indonesia on my final month of the World Race! If you have kept up with my journey for this long, I applaud you and appreciate you! I am amazed with how quickly these eleven months have happened and treasure each moment. I look forward to reconnecting with friends and family in less than one month!
