This month my team is in Da Nang, Vietnam. Ministry is going to be very different here as it is illegal to evangelize to people – though it is not illegal to be a Christian.
We are staying at a cafe where locals can come Monday through Saturday, 3pm to 10pm, to practice their English and possibly learn more. The cafe has some rooms on the upper floors that we are living in. The guys in one room and the girls in the other.
We participate in the ‘free time’ from 3-6 and talk to whoever comes in to practice their English. The conversations so far have been pretty good, and fun 🙂 Also through some of these conversations the Lord has brought up the topic of ‘god’, religion, and church (without me even talking about it initially!) Through those temporary discussions (we are here to speak English, not about religion and politics) the Lord has shown me that He is working in their lives and pursuing them 🙂 Some of them are either curious and searching, and/or were invited to church by a friend who is a believer.
From 7-10 we participate in and will take turns hosting an English club at the cafe. This is a time where the host brings up a certain topic and questions for everyone to ask each other and answer. Or it might be about how to pronounce or spell certain words. Through these discussions I have discovered that there are actually a few Christians who like to go every evening to practice and learn English 🙂 But there is an occasional police officer secretly joining the discussions as well… one night I had 3 Christians and a police officer at my table. That was interesting…
We can not evangelize or suggest Christianity to anyone. However, if someone asks us questions we can answer. It’s also ok to say that we are Christian. But we still have to be careful; discerning and wise.
My hope is that we can show the love of Christ and lead people to Him in ways that we may not even expect or understand. I also pray that God opens door for me to encourage and strengthen those here who believe already 🙂
Pray for us that all these days and hours of speaking English with others will be fruitful and that we leave a lasting impact 😀 Thank you all who have been keeping me and us in prayer. It’s so appreciated! God bless you 😀 Please pray for provisions as my final fundraising deadline is the 31st of this month.
