We are in Vietnam!
This month my team is in the spectacular Ho Chi Minh City, formerly known as “Saigon”. It’s loud, it’s busy, it’s kind of overwhelming for this small town girl, and it is in a communist country that is “closed”… in other words, it’s illegal to be a missionary here. Good thing we are teaching english at a licensed preschool/english school!
I’d say most of us had the same question in mind when we arrived in Vietnam, “just what does a christian do in a country that is closed to the gospel?”. I think I may have figured the answer out… we do the same thing we do in every other country! Just sometimes we preach and love people less with words and more with actions.
Our hosts this month are a couple who have spent the past 10+ years bringing orphans into their family because they saw a need. Working with them is an opportunity to serve two people who have devoted their lives to serving others who are in need. We work at a school along side some amazing staff. This is an opportunity to love and pour into people who spend their days pouring out into the kids. We go out on the weekends to have fun and meet tourists and locals. This is an opportunity to be the salt of the Earth! We strike up tasty conversations and encourage those we meet to think and act and live life a bit brighter. We smile at everyone! We are in an area of the city that doesn’t have any other tourists so we stick out like a sore thumb. Our bright orange uniforms for the school make us even more obvious. So naturally it didn’t take long for the people in our part of town to notice our daily presence and the fact that we walk back and forth from the school every day. This is an opportunity to represent our host and his school! The longer we are here and the more smiles we give, the more smiles we receive in return. In fact, I got offered a ride home from a man on a scooter and a man on a bicycle today! The parents of the kids at our school are proud to know that their children are being taught english by 7 international women this month, and it is so awesome to know that we can help a couple with an amazing vision to build their business and pursue the dreams that God has given them. It is a great blessing to be a blessing.
By God’s grace my team and I have all been safe and mostly healthy so far on the race. I am growing mentally emotionally and spiritually more than I even knew I could. The world is a beautiful place and I feel so blessed to get to see it. And since I started talking about my fundraising goal about a month ago, over $1200USD has come in. I feel so loved. It’s beautifully encouraging and empowering to know that I have people back home who believe enough in me and what I’m doing to give out of their own pocket to support me. Its humbling and motivating at the same time. I am $700 away from being fully funded and the deadline is in 10 days. I am honoured by every dollar that comes in and I appreciate you all so freaking much! If you’d like to contribute to helping me reach the end of my fundraising journey, there is still time! You can give directly on this blog page or through my home church, Port McNeill Full Gospel.
So much love for all of you who are following my journey and praying for me! Thanks so much for reading!
