Our trip to Vietnam was delayed for about six days due to a new visa law. When we finally arrived at our hotel in Ho Chi Minh City, we decided to walk down the road to find the famous smoothie place our squad leader had been raving about. Bright lights, loud music, hundreds of people, prostitutes and countless foreigners bombarded us as we walked through the crowded street. There were even little girls walking around selling cigarettes. Men were asking if we were looking for drugs because they were looking to sell. It was overwhelming but I knew that we were there for a reason.
Due to the history America has with Vietnam, I was a bit hesitant about how we would be received. Well, my perceptions were wrong! We were welcomed with open arms, and we were able to share the love in our hearts with the Vietnamese people.
Right away we began working with a café that helps Vietnamese learn English. Our first day there was incredible! We had a prayer meeting with the men who started the café, plus some of the new believers who consider the business a second home. A young man by the name of Wang lead the bible study and it was very hard for me to believe that he had only recently asked Jesus into his heart. I must say it was one of the best prayer meetings I’ve been to! The hunger that was in their hearts to know more about Jesus was so amazing. I even met a young lady named Mia who automatically became my sister! The love that resides in the place is so genuine.
I met an older woman at the café who I grew extremely close to. I called her mom because she began to call me her daughter. She started hand feeding me and patting me on the bottom (which you all know made me a bit uncomfortable) but I knew that was her way of showing me love – God was truly testing me. We formed this relationship that made me cry when I was leaving! She said, “Aww, they have emotions like we do.” All these years, this lady, now at 60-years-old, believed that Americans do not have emotions and do not know how to show love. But we were able to show her the love of Christ, which made her want to be part of the family! She said that accepting Christ is the best decision that she has made because she is happy and feels so care free! She doesn’t have to worry about anything because of the joy the Lord has given her.
While at the café there were so many people who decided to be a part of the Christian family. If you could see the transformation in their faces and in their hearts; there was this joy and peace, as if they were no longer blind! They had this eagerness to know our Father deeper, because their walks with Him meant so much. In America we have the freedom to preach and accept the gospel but they have to really dig to find ways to share it. We have a free gift, freely given to us, yet we reject it while others are risking their lives to share it.
I’d heard that we are all brothers and sisters in Christ, but it wasn’t until I came to Vietnam and worked at the café and saw how strangers genuinely love each other that I realized what that truly meant. No matter their faith. Their love goes deeper – agape. I made some relationships in Vietnam that I know will last for a lifetime. I’ve learned to love like Christ. No judgment, no conditions, no want other than to love like Him.
I would like for you to meet our new members in the body! The joy I felt when then my friend, and now my sister, became part of this family is unexplainable. I came to Vietnam not knowing what it was going to be like and now I am leaving, understanding “it is better to have loved and lost than to never have loved at all.”
