I’d like to start off by saying the statement is true: You see only what you wish to see.
I’ve had the opportunity to live in the wonderful city of Ho Chi Minh for the past month, and what I originally thought we’d be doing, not surprisingly, turned out to be not what we ended up doing at all.
You see, we were supposed to work in a local coffee shop, helping Vietnamese people practice their English, build relationships and share the Good News with them. But in reality we never stepped foot to work in that coffee shop, nor did we help people practice their English. The coffee shop was transitioning to a new location and during that time we helped paint and touch up the old site, anxiously awaiting the opening of the new coffee shop. They said we’d be the first World Race team to ever help with this new place.
While, at first, I was so disappointed, I cried and was upset that He would place me in the most perfect place to do this kind of work and build relationships and I wasn’t allowed to do it, but ultimately this month was the sweetest and most beautiful surprise. He showed me that I am not in control and if He chooses to use me it most likely be in the way I see fit. Well, that’s 100% of the time actually.
To say the least, Vietnam has my heart. And I’ll tell you one story of why
In District one, 20 minutes away from where we are living, is a hotspot for tourism and foreigners to come. And when you’re eyes are closed to seeing the darkness all around you this city looks lively, colorful, busy, and full of life, but when you open your eyes you’ll never be the same.
Where I’m from, it’s not usual to see a young 20 something white guy walk out of a vacant nail salon or an older white man with the company of a very young Asian girl, who doesn’t really speak his language, draped over his arm dressed in some of the most provocative clothing I’ve ever seen and make-up done to look like a doll; looking more like a play thing than a girlfriend.
We made some friends who are living here permanently, called by the Father, and every Friday night in District one they take walks late into the night, praying over the city and the people, trying to make friends and relationships with prostitutes to hopefully one day pull them off the streets. And one evening we asked if we could join her on these walks. She prepared our minds and hearts for what we were going to see and partake in, that it wouldn’t be easy to see or to forget.
And indeed, it would be I will never forget.
From 10pm – 2am we…Saw a woman who could have been my grandmother’s age shooting up with some drugs right on the side of the street…Made friends with a group of prostitutes who shared with us their lives, showed us pictures of their babies, and told us about their work…Saw foreign men gripping onto women half their age feigning laughter and conversation, for their own lustful desires, trying to fill a hole that cannot be filled…
I felt everything from sick to my stomach to anger to sorrow to rage to heart brokenness.
Watching men walk by and size up the prostitutes made my blood boil and my heart sink all at the same time, how can people reduced to only bodies and sex?? Passing crowds of people seeking empty happiness and temporary satisfaction made me feel miserable for them.
Lust lingered in the air.
I felt overwhelmed and speechless at the end. It’s the mess I had wanted to be in the middle of and yet run away from simultaneously.
These women are enslaved to one of God’s greatest gifts perverted by man.
Those are the times where I truly understand why God is so wrathful towards our sin, why a loving Father is so grieved over making his creations.
If it saddened me that much, how much more does it sadden the God that created them?
Though it was one of the toughest nights I have ever been apart of when I think about it, I probably would have never had the opportunity to do these prayer walks if it hadn’t been for the coffee shop we were supposed to work for being closed.
Thank you Lord, for opening my eyes, for leaving me a wreck, for allowing me to see what You wanted me to see, and sharing a small part in the lives of these women who desperately need freedom but don’t know how to attain it. Thank you for the mess, O Lord, for letting me not stay in my comfortable bubble. Keep bursting it for Your Kingdom, God.
