We were just finishing up breakfast when he walked up. “Sinchau!” we all said and kind of
looked at each other. None of us
knew who he was, so we waited to hear what Chin Sahn had to say. He explained to us that this man was
the brother-in-law of the man who owned the land we were hoping to
purchase. He had just come by to
say hello and greet us. This was
an unexpected but definitely God ordained moment, as we had been hoping for an
opportunity to meet the people who owned this land. We were told they were rich men who had no need to sell it,
therefore, would be charging much too high a price for it. He told us about his 2 wives and 11
children and about the 30-40 children his brother-in-law has, as well as a bit
about the land of course.
Conversation was going wonderfully and then, I saw him looking at me and
heard him asking Ruth a question.
She turned to me and asked, “Did you just graduate University?” This was the first in a series of
questions that followed as this man tried to marry me off to one of his brother-in-law’s
children. Not just any kid though;
his 6″ tall, 30 year old, English speaking, well-traveled, very rich, architect
with two degrees kid (or so he tells me…). Needless to say, conversation was pretty entertaining for a while,
as we realized this could be a wonderful way to get our land (just kidding mom…and
dad).
We’ve been in Vietnam for almost two weeks now and have had the
opportunity to meet many different people. We’ve met men who have first hand experienced the hardships
of war and prison.
We met one boy who was introduced to us as an orphan. He had walked from his home to meet us
and we had an opportunity to hear a bit of his story. His father had passed away and he lived with his
grandmother. He had two siblings
and a mother, but didn’t see any of them often. We still don’t really know why he was introduced to us as an
orphan, but it opened the door for us to ask questions about what that word
really means to this culture.
We met one man who came to know the Lord after his aunt was
miraculously healed from cancer.
During one home visit, we were caught off guard by a
beautiful woman who spoke fairly good English. She was a mother of one whose husband of two years lives in
Canada. She’s a vegetarian. So is he…when he’s in Vietnam
anyway.
We met one man who claimed to be a prophet of Cai Dai. It took him no time at all to make
comments about our size and weight and tell us about the nuclear fallout that
will take place in America to drive us all to Vietnam. Let’s just continue to pray that
prophecy doesn’t come true.
We’ve met mothers and fathers, family and friends. We’ve reunited with old friends and made
connections with new ones. We’ve
met many people and heard many stories.
And it’s only day 14. I can’t
even begin to imagine how many more we’ll hear as days turn into weeks, weeks
turn into months. Here’s to more
stories than I can possibly tell, more relationships than I can possibly count!
