Vietnam was a shock to me.
I expected it to be hard there. I expected there to be lots of oppression. I expected to have to guard every word out of my mouth.
That wasn’t my experience though.
Vietnam is a closed country, which means being a “M” is illegal. So instead of being “Ms” last month we were students on a humanitarian trip.
We weren’t allowed to preach or evangelize to the Vietnamese people, but we as Americans were allowed to be Christians.
It was ok for us to speak about God (Weezy as we called Him last month) out loud.
It was ok for us to pray in public.
We could wear shirts with scripture on them.
We could talk to any foreigner we saw about God, just not the Vietnamese.
I think going into the month I was expecting to have to be something like a ninja spy for Christ. That if anyone even found out I was a Christian I was going to be in big trouble. But that isn’t how it was at all.
Like just about everything on the World Race what I expected and what I got were very different things. My expectations are either way high or way low, and somehow no matter where I go in the world what I expect and what I get are always different.
In Vietnam we worked with an organization called Orphan Voice. They are an amazing group of American and Vietnamese men and women working to help the orphans of Vietnam in several ways. They are dedicated, passionate, and compassionate; but more than anything they are busy, busy, busy.
We did lots of things in Vietnam including swim lessons, visiting the elderly, garden work, painting murals, visiting orphanages, chaperoning youth events, and home schooling. Every day was a new adventure.
By doing so many different things I was able to constantly rely on God for the strength and energy for each day.
It was also such a blessing to be able to spend time with our contact and his family, who are from Kentucky. It was a nice taste of home far far away. They welcomed us into their home and into their family. Spending time with their five daughters were some of the best memories from Vietnam.
The other exciting thing that happened was that I got to see an old friend in the middle of our traveling while in Ho Chi Minh City.
All in all Vietnam was a great surprise. We got to see God work through us in little unnoticed ways. We got to leave a mark on a neighborhood. We got to show love to a lot of kids. It was altogether an amazing month.
When we have better wifi I will add pictures of the murals and people,
Love you all!
Audrey
