I received a healthy rebuke from my sister in law Alexa in
the beginning of this month. I wrote here an email explaining that I would have
a couple days “off” ministry in the beginning of the month because of the Chinese
New Year here. She reminded me that we never have days “off” in the kingdom
because “You minister
without knowing it, Josh! You never take a week off!” It was a much
needed reminder that when we have Christ in our lives and people see us, they
are getting a glimpse of Christ even without knowing it.
This month we were able to do a lot of really great
ministries. Especially neat because Vietnam is a closed country so evangelism
is illegal. God protected us, and our contacts, from harm as we did His work
this month. We were able to speak in Churches, lead youth groups, visit several
orphanages, pray for the sick, share testimonies and be an encouragement by
just being present.
There was much fruit from
the organized ministry this month but God seemed to work even more through our
“Off” days.
We met one amazing lady, named Hun, during our first trip to
a church down south. She was so impressed by what we did that she felt
compelled to bless us on our “off” days.
We were supposed to have two days of rest in Siagon before
heading on our second trip to a Church 20hrs north but instead we went half way
with her to a beach town named Nah Chang. She paid for everything. We stayed in
her families beautiful guesthouse next to the beach and her and her family
cooked all of our meals (including an incredibly delicious fresh crab feast!).
We thought we were going to just relax there for two days,
which we did, but God had so much more planned
for us. Melina, one of my teammates, threw away her glasses upon God’s
command and is waiting in faith for God to heal her. So God provided her with a
great chance to sow where she desires to reap as we were able to pray for Hun’s
aunt who is blind in one eye. We were then able to pray for there family as her
aunt’s deteriorating health has really affected everyone. Our prayers were an
encouragement and testimony to God’s unending love.
The coolest part though was that God used us, and our
testimonies, to save several lives. We were able to pray for Hun’s nephew and
two nieces to except Christ while we were there. We were on a day “off” from
ministry but God provided us a way to expand his kingdom by three. To pray for
restoration of health and restoration of a family.
