I remember before the race looking at this list of 11 countries I would be going to and seeing Vietnam and thinking WOW that's a way at the end. Well It's already come and gone. So fast… too fast, really. I never expected to love Vietnam so much it was just one of those on the list. I thought hmm, don't necessarily know much about it and I'm not excited about it but ok. Well it's funny how on the race some of the countries you look forward to most don't end up being your favorite after you go. Then there are those countries you were unsure about or didn't really care about going to, end up being some of your favorite ministries and places in general. This is Vietnam for me. Our contact was Tony, an awesome man of God . He is from the states and has been in Vietnam with his wife and 5 girls (all adopted) for the last 5 years. He and his family was my and my teams favorite part of this month. They are such a beautiful example of how a family is supposed to operate. We spent basically everyday seeing and spending time with someone in their family. We got close with them real fast and became members of their family for the month. Within the first few days we felt like we had known them for years. So amazing and such a blessing the bonds made with our team and the Brewers
For our ministry in Vietnam our team partnered with Tony and worked with Orphan Voice His ministry. Orphan Voice is a ministry with many different facets to it. There is an orphanage where we spent most of our time, there is a home for special needs kids, and there is a home for at risk girls and women and children coming out of sex trafficking. We spent almost all our time at Promise House the orphanage. I love kids and was expecting to see little kids about 2-6 ish years old. Well I was surprised when we got to the orphanage and the kids were older than I had expected. Most around 9-15. It was so sweet though to build relationships with them, even though we can't speak the same language we would try and teach each other English and Vietnamese. It was so fun at Promise House. Our time was always full of lots of laughter, running around, and hand games. Our team also painted and cleaned around the orphanage which was fun and good for our us having several artsy people on our team. They were excited to use their skills this month. During the month our days usually were broken up into morning and afternoon ministry. We would go clean, paint, and play with kids in the morning, and then have a 3 hour lunch break. I loved mid day naps. How come we don't do more of this in America ??? ; ) In the afternoon we would go back and do the same. Days went by so quickly. Sometimes in certain ministries, you count down the hours and minutes until the day is over. Here, there didn't seem to be enough hours in the day, we always left excited for the next day and a chance to see our friends we had made . Saying goodbye at the end of the month was hard, but we leave knowing that these kids are receiving excellent care, education, and most important love. God's got them and they will forever be in our hearts.
