In December I will be back in one of my favorite countries, Vietnam! I went to Vietnam at the end of my teaching contract in 2016 for my summer vacation and I was blown away. I considered, (and still think about) moving there to teach English for a while. When I first chose this route, I have to be honest, I picked it because I really wanted to find myself back in Vietnam and with a wider capacity of time to explore and meet people.
I visited Hanoi, Sapa and Cat Ba Island while visiting, but never made my way down to the southern part of the region. There’s no telling where I’ll be placed when December rolls around, but one things for certain, anywhere in Vietnam will be incredible. I was able to experience the bustling city, where my friend Eliza and I learned the ways of the road on motorbikes and how to properly haggle. We spent time in the rice fields walking and talking with locals at our home-stay. We even had the opportunity to stay on our own private island (surrounded by cockroaches and monkeys) where we got active and hiked, swam in the ocean and kayaked. Vietnam truly holds a special place in my heart and I’m so excited to live there for a month and see it in a totally new and raw way.
Vietnam is still technically a communist country, with one of the fastest growing economies in the world. Even with growing reforms and restoration in political relations human rights are still limited in Vietnam, especially when it comes to religious rights. Over 80% of people in Vietnam claim no ties to any religion, while 8% are Buddhist.
There have been changes made in the government in Vietnam to allow more churches to register – opening up more avenues to religious freedom. The reality is that Vietnam is a communist country and the problem with that is when a church says their first loyalty is to Jesus Christ and the church and not to the Communist government, that makes the government really uncomfortable. The Communist Party is all about control and giving the people more freedom of religion significantly reduces their power and control over them. They then use harassment and persecution to try to regain their control over the religious community.
It’s easier to say you believe in nothing than be persecuted for believing in Jesus.
There with be times that we won’t be able to say what we are doing in Vietnam, we won’t be able to say the name of Jesus because we could be persecuted, or create an environment where our hosts could be persecuted. But that’s okay, because the power of Jesus is so much stronger than what we are capable of doing.
“There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love. We love because he first loved us.” 1 John 4:18-19
I’m not really sure what Vietnam will look like this time around. I won’t be going as a traveler or a tourist – although I’ll have my moments as one. I’ll be going to spread the gospel and share hope, love and truth with a country that is bound by fear and condemnation.
God is at work in so many different ways in my life right now and in the lives of my teammates. I know that God is in control and He is preparing something incredible for us to be apart in Vietnam.
“So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.” – Isaiah 41:10
