Vietnam was the last Asian country we visited on the World Race. Team Relentless spent the month in Ho Chi Minh City. With a population reaching 6.2 million, it is Vietnam’s largest city. Vietnam is a communist country and very much closed. We were not allowed to say that we were missionaries or say anything about the Race being a mission trip.
We lived in the center of what is known as ‘the backpacking’ district. It is the area where tourists come to visit. Our team lived in a hostel found down a narrow alley with lots of little shops. We lived in a different district than our ministry sites to protect our contacts. This way, we just looked to be tourists.
We found that living on $4/day for food was possible by buying street food. It was a blessing to be able to do just that too. Most Asian countries have poor food hygiene and street food can make you sick.
Most tourists do not get to experience Ho Chi Minh’s bus services. However, because we lived in a different district, we had the opportunity to use buses to travel to our ministry sites. We had 2 ministries that month:
Teaching English to children– Monday – Friday 2 teammates would leave in the morning. We would ride a bus for 30-40 minutes and then walk 30 minutes into a very poor ‘village’ in the middle of Ho Chi Minh. We would teach English to 12 beautiful children ages 8-14. (Vietnam has some of the most beautiful children in the world!) I had the privilege of creating the curriculum for these lessons. Every day I would put together powerpoints for the next day’s lesson. I enjoyed having a specific purpose/way to serve my team.
Coffee Shop Ministry– In the afternoons, our team would travel 30-40 minutes and then walk for 15 to a coffee shop known as Grace Café. The owner advertised that foreigners were there and anyone interested in learning English could come hang out with us. We would literally just spend the day talking to people and play games such as Banana Grams and Scrabble to help them learn English. On our last evening there, we were able to share the gospel with about 40 Vietnamese. It was so cool.
Although our afternoon ministry was really laid back and simple, I had a hard time enjoying it. Cody teased me constantly because it seemed so ‘up my alley’, but I just didn’t enjoy it. The conversation seemed to always be shallow and only surface deep. It was just exhausting to talk to new people for 5 hours straight. Cody, however, enjoyed it very much. It was so much fun to see him come out of his shell and feel comfortable talking to new people. He even got to share the gospel with one man.
I will be honest, this was not one of my favorite months. Our ministry wasn’t super strong and miscommunication happened constantly. Team dynamics weren’t good and we ended up losing a teammate (due to family tragedy) in the middle of all of it.
I turned to God a lot this month. I learned to hear His voice in some stressful situations and gained confidence. I made some tough decisions and learned to trust God in the middle of a storm. It is amazing to see how the Lord is teaching me to love those who are hard to love and to fight for them.
What about you? What storm are you in the midst of and how can you trust God? Remember that no storm is too big for God to handle… all we need to do is put it in His hands.
Be blessed!!
