Hey folks. So we are firmly implanted into ministry here in Siem Reap, Cambodia, but I wanted to take a minute to share with you all a bit about Vietnam.
Vietnam is a closed country, so ministry looked a bit different there than in previous months. We actually had to be careful about speaking the name Jesus. We had to be cautious with our intentions behind conversing with people on the street. We also had to rely on the Lord a lot for guidance and direction toward what our purpose was for the month. Due to it being a closed country, we spent almost all of our ministry time teaching English in schools or tutoring classes, not directly sharing the Gospel.
Our first area of ministry was at a school in an outlying district that actually was a Christian school for students in the surrounding community. We would wake up every day at 6:00 am to catch a bus at 6:45 am to make it out there by the 8:00 am start time. Needless to say, those days were tiring. I would be lying if I said every day there felt really fulfilling, but the kids were really great and we have some treasured memories from those mornings.
Our next ministry was with a woman who teaches kids out of her own home. She and her family are Christians, but not all of her students are believers. This was collectively, I believe, our favorite area of ministry for the month. Our host was so fun and accommodating and her students had a lot of joy toward learning. Fortunately, the Holy Spirit decided to move in her home while we were there and one of my teammates was given the chance to actually share the Gospel with a couple of students who had never really heard much about Jesus.
Our last ministry was at a small home-based school near downtown Ho Chi Minh City. This happened during the evenings and pretty much involved us attempting to teach and converse with adult students for 2-3 hours each night. It was exhausting, but yet again, we came away with some great memories from those classes.
All that being said, Vietnam was my most challenging month on the race thus far. I found myself pretty deep in a spiritual funk the entire month. I spent a good bit of time running away from the Lord and as a result found myself not investing well with the ministry we were doing and running away from loving my team well. I wish I could adequately explain all of what that looked like, but frankly, I don’t think I even know yet. It was a month of spiritual highs and lows, with a lot lower lows and plateaued peaks. Since then, I have learned a lot about myself and my walk with the Lord. I also learned a lot about how much I hate being in a place of spiritual wilderness. Yet, I know that the Lord is faithful to provide and demonstrate His vast love even in the wilderness. And as such, I am eager to see what all the Lord continues to teach me from spending month 5 in Vietnam.
Check out this video to get an idea of what our month was like!
