Welcome to Asia my new favorite continent!
This month was probably one of the best so far on the race! New continent and new team! My new team is Team Mosaic. It is an all-girl team with 7 awesome chicks!
This month we spent half at debriefs and half with our ministry host. We were placed in a rural village in Vietnam teaching English. We taught all ages and it was the best! For someone that can barely speak English, my first language is gibberish, I was a little scared of how to do it, but I realized doing it through song is much easier.
We lived with a pastor that created the center to help kids learn English but also to share the love of Jesus. Vietnam is kind of a closed country, in the case of people can be Christians but being a missionary is a no go. During the month our host has us experience what farmer life was like and meet Christians that have sacrificed so much to serve the Lord.
We spoke to several pastors that have been arrested and their houses or churches were burnt down and were threated because they wanted people to know about Jesus. I have the utmost respect for Christians in this country because they are willing to put everything on the line for the sake of Jesus’ name. [Times have changed and this is no longer allowed, but the country still has very strict rules on religion and missionaries, so please pray for your brothers and sisters in Vietnam!]
Since we could not openly share the gospel to locals, we had to learn how to share Jesus through our love. Now that sounds cheesy, but we lived by John 13:35 and loved each other. We learned to love these kids like Jesus loves them. We realized if we can’t say Jesus’ name then we have to show them and that is what we did. At times, teaching English got exhausting and the energy wasn’t there, but my team keep pushing through and shared the love of Jesus so well. When there are people around you that do not have freedom in faith like you do, you do not take that for granted.
Along with getting to learn how to only share Jesus through His love, I also fell in love with the country. Vietnam is absolutely beautiful! The village we lived in was filled with beautiful mountains and waterfalls! Also, with our time with our host we were able to learn and perform a traditional Vietnamese dance! I loved my time in Vietnam and is definitely one of the countries I would love to visit again. The Lord’s love is no secret here and I continue to pray for this country to come to know God!
