My team has spent our last month in Ho Chi Minh city, Vietnam. It was a wonderful month. We were extremely busy, but it was good. One day a week, we would go visit a leper hospital. I remember the first day we walked in, we were greeted warmly. We gathered around a picnic table. We brought people in wheelchairs to join the party. Every single person had some sort of bandage on them and they all wore the same green frocks. I was a little intimidated at first. I was praying “God, how can we bring your hope to them today?” All I saw was a hesitancy among them. Then we began to sing….. and the atmosphere shifted.
Joy rang out among them. They clapped their hands with us. They did all the hand motions we did. Men who had no more fingers, but mere stumps for hands were clapping and smiling so brightly. People who couldn’t walk anymore were dancing in their chairs. It was such a beautiful sight to behold.
We sang a few songs with them and then we shared testimonies. We shared a message from the Bible and then spend time praying for them. We gave an invitation to accept Christ and so many did! It blew my mind the first night. I remember thinking to myself “It’s that easy?” I felt like we hadn’t really done anything.
Another time, we went to visit a village. We rode on motor bikes for 4 hours to get to this place. (Trust me, my bum was sore) We handed out food in an elderly home and we visited with them. Then we visited a few families in their homes who had been abandoned by their relatives. We tried to talk with them, but the language barrier was difficult and our translator had an easier time sharing the Gospel with them without having to translate what we were saying. Again, I felt like we didn’t really do much that entire day. Yet still some of the family members received Christ. Even though they received Christ, I was feeling discouraged. I felt uninvolved.
I’m realizing more and more on this trip that its not about the things that we do. We can never “do” enough. I watched a movie on our bus yesterday and it said something that really hit me. (Sorry, I never got the name of the movie) But it said something like this. “Our calling from God is not all about doing, but rather about being.” It’s about who we are. It’s about being the person God is calling us to be; the person He has created us to be.There was nothing we could have done to get people to accept Christ. We were simply ourselves. At the hospital, we shared our stories. We shared about the God who loves us so much, the God who called each of us to come to visit them. In the village, we simply held their hands and smiled. And that was enough.
The people in the village were just so happy that we came to visit them. They rarely received visitors and for foreigners to travel so far- halfway around the world- to come sit with them made all the difference.
Before we left the hospital, we prayed for them all. We walked through the rooms and pray for those who were unable to join us at the table. We would ask God for healing. We would ask Him for hope. The hospital was one of my favorite places. We returned each week and rejoice when some were able to go home. We rejoiced when one girl we had specifically prayed over had been healed. Her face had been swollen and was peeling from the medication that she was on, so much so that when we saw her the next week, I didn’t even recognize her. But God healed her, of that I am sure.
My team and I have talked about how we thought our first two months was not a time for harvesting, but a time for planting seeds. I feel like month 3 in Vietnam was a time for harvesting. We saw so many people come to accept Christ. We got to celebrate as we welcomed brothers and sisters into the Kingdom. I have more stories to come, but this is just the beginning. God’s allowing us to see the fruit of our work so far on the race and it is sweet.
- I am still a little over $1,000 away from being fully funded. My goal is to be fully funded by the end of this month. Please be in prayer for these funds to come in. If you would like to partner with me in all God is doing on the World Race, you can click the “support me” tab to the left hand side and donate. Thank you for your continued prayers and support. God bless you all.
Your sister in Christ,
Kayla
