(Video summary of Vietnam at the bottom of this post!)
Our last few days in Vietnam were incredible. In my last post, I told you that I was confident that the Lord would show up in ways we couldn’t anticipate, and he did. I kept a note on my phone and added to it when I felt like I saw the Lord very clearly. When I did this I would mark down which hour of the 156 we had left that it happened. Needless to say, the note was very long.
With 135 hours left in the city, I went to get a smoothie a block away from our hostel. There was a smoothie place much closer, practically right outside our door. It was also much cheaper, but it was closed that morning. So instead I went to the Smoothie Factory. I planned to start a new book while drinking my smoothie. It was in this hour that I met a new friend named Linh. She works at Smoothie Factory, and started having conversations with me while I sat in the restaurant. Again, one of my favorite things about Ho Chi Minh City was the local student population. There are many high school and university age students that want and, for the sake of furthering their studies, need to improve their English skills. Linh wanted to work on her English, and from her boldness to chat with me we became friends. We got to hang out in the park a few times, go see a movie, she introduced me to some delicious street food, and recommended which smoothie I should have each morning.
Half way through our last week is when I was reminded of the month-long lesson I had been learning. Patience. The Lord had called me into a season of patience, something I did not have much of – especially in relation to ministry. I was constantly ready to see the fruit of what I thought I was doing, instead of partnering with what the Lord was doing and celebrating whatever fruit came from that. I was so excited to be spending time with Linh and another friend we met in the park named Tracy that I had totally forgotten the hard parts of waiting. That’s how sweet the fruit was. That is how well the Lord loved me, in the waiting and in the excitement of the last week.
If the waiting had been so miserable and painful and I couldn’t see how the Lord was still present and still loving me then I probably would not have been able to truly see the goodness of the fruit that came after the waiting. But even in the learning and growing that came in the first 3 weeks of our time in Vietnam, I could see the presence of the Lord and how he was loving me daily. How faithful of Him to reveal Himself that way to me. I know being patient won’t always be like that. I know sometimes I will have to wait, and wait even longer then wait some more, But I’m thankful to have started this learning process when I did. I thankful that the Lord wanted me to just get used to looking for Him and seeing Him and not just looking for the fruit and seeing the fruit.
These are my friends, Tracy and Linh!
Here’s a little summary of our month in Vietnam! We had the opportunity to live in the country for a month and find our own ministry. For us this looked like helping first and second graders learn English and prepare for their Christmas program and we got to visit a local orphanage and put on a Christmas skit. For most afternoons we spent time in the local parks and coffee shops meeting students and helping them with their English. We even got to play elf and help a woman decorate and prepare for her office Christmas party. It was not an easy month, but the Lord really showed up. Spending a holiday away from home was also new to all of us, but I’ve got to give a big shout out to Team Fernweh for making it a little easier. We got to go away for a weekend to the beach and have some adventures there too.
Thank you for your love and support! Cambodia is awesome, and HOT, and we’re teaching English all day every day. I can’t wait to tell you more about it!
