Each month on the World Race looks different. Living situations, ministry contacts, food and culture all change as we jump from country to country. This is month 6 of my race. It was originally labeled as “Challenge: Asia” on our route because the country we would be visiting was designed to be unknown to us until a few weeks before we were to arrive. When it was revealed to us that we would be traveling to Vietnam, I knew that they got the “Challenge” part right. Vietnam is the first and only closed country that we will be visiting on our 11-month journey.
So far on the race, we’ve pretty much had complete freedom. We’ve had teams worship openly in markets, we’ve done street evangelism, we’ve led services in dumps and villages and we’ve had the opportunity to share with everyone we’ve met. This month our freedom has been slightly restricted. We have had to tone down our American tendency to jump right into things and, instead, sit back and wait for opportunities to reveal themselves. In a country where the majority of the people are earnestly seeking out chances to practice their English with foreigners it is a challenge to stay on the “safe” topics when all we want to do is share the most important thing in our lives with them.
We may not be able to freely share with everyone we meet, but we are doing our best to spread love here. Our walks around the park where we strike up conversations with locals, our morning spent selling flowers with youth on the street, our words of encouragement to the men fighting past drug and alcohol addictions and our lovely rendition of “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough” at an orphanage/nursing home may seem small to us, but I have to believe that these instances are being used to open peoples’ hearts to His love.
The team on a 2-day trip to a nearby province
(usually not a good thing to stand on the shadow)
Alyssa and I sporting the local hats on the Mekong River
