Hello All!
It’s been awhile. Back to back closed communist countries (blocked internet) followed by limited African wifi has made sharing my newsletter difficult.
A brief catch up. In Viet Nam my team, Team Overcome, was based in Ho Chi Minh City where we were seeking out new ministry opportunities for Adventures in Missions. It was a very different month than we had experienced before or have since. It felt a bit touristy at times and looked very touristy because we could not post anything about the ministries we met. Some of the individuals we met are overseeing illegal house churches. One person we met said the only way we could work with his ministry is if he snuck us in. We did illegally attend a women’s conference at a house church. It was illegal not because of the church but because foreigners are not allowed to attend non-registered churches. Despite all of that, Viet Nam did not feel oppressed or oppressive to me. We were actually allowed to freely share our faith and testimony in the parks or with individuals as long as we shared it as our opinion. I have heard that other parts of Viet Nam, especially the country side is still very closed, yet HCMC is more free because of the high amount of tourists. We attended two registered churches and both were alive.
China, on the other hand, is still very closed. Though we could get wifi at the bakery near our house, Facebook and Gmail are blocked. Additionally, we were asked to not post about our ministry sight and to be careful of the words we used in emails. Emails are scanned in China and religious words will be flagged. To protect our ministry contacts I chose to fast the internet for the month of April: no email, no Facebook, no blogging. This allowed me more opportunities for rest and bonding with my team and quiet time with God. China was amazing because I was able to use both of my degrees (education and librarianship) to bless the school. I made contacts there and friends and would like to return some day.
Now we are in Swaziland at the El Shaddai orphanage. This is all squad month so our entire group is together and we have added our second Exposure participant, Banele. Banele grew up here at El Shaddai and is the first Swazi Racer! El Shaddai is such a blessing because the children are fun and loving and beautiful and the location is stunning. We are on a mountain, surrounded by mountains. Wyoming has the best sunrises and sunsets in the world; however, Swaziland is a very close second.
Thank you for your prayers. Our Squad has so much favor and it is all because you are lifting us up daily. We actually flew Qatar Airlines (very nice) from Beijing to Johannesburg. Our layover in Qatar became a day in Doha because our flight was canceled. The airline put us up in a nice hotel and fed us. We were so blessed to catch up on sleep and email and skyping our families! And we landed in Africa without jet lag. God is good!
Love to you all!
Rebecca
