So we find ourselves now in Central America, entering our 9th month on the race. Currently we are working with Vision Nicaragua in a town called Chichgalapa. We sit at the base of an active volcano and even had a small earthquake a couple nights ago (though I didn’t feel it). Before I get into what we’re doin now I’ll fill everybody in on the past month.
Our last month in Southeast Asia was spent in Vietnam. Now Vietnam was a very different country from those we have visited up until now. Much of Vietnam is closed and does not allow openly sharing the gospel. While there are churches in Vietnam, they are only allowed for foreigners or internationals from other countries. Any churches that are for the Vietnamese are forced to be underground. While we were there, we could not speak about working for a missions based organizations or even say the word missionary in public. This definitely made communicating a bit tricky, especially when asked about why we were visiting and what we were doing in Vietnam.
Initially we started out in Ho Chi Minh City, formally called Saigon. It was a pretty westernized city, much like any other Southeast Asian city we has visited. It’s definitely a city that foreign investment seems to have brought about an economic boom. Everywhere you go there are new offices and apartments going up. There is definitely tons of money going into that city.
While in HCMC we were able to work with a contact that Casey had worked with when she was going to college in Texas. It was very helpful to meet people whom we had a familiarization with as apposed to most other contacts whom we have never meet or spoken to. The team that was in HCMC were amazing! They did everything possible to make us feel welcome and loved. I don’t think we could have asked for a better group of people to partner with. We were able to do a few days of prayer walks, got to sit in on one of their international services and also work at a coffee house while we were there. The coffee house was a unique opportunity. Many Vietnamese come to the coffee house to learn English from native speakers. So we were able to sit with businessman and students alike. Again you need to keep in mind we weren’t able to talk openly about Jesus or the gospel, but at times some of our team were able to work it into the conversation. We also had the opportunity to visit an orphanage that is supported by the owners of the coffee house. It was such a blessing to see the love that these children were receiving when they would so often be overlooked by most others.
We only stayed in HCMC about week or so then moved up to Hanoi, the capital. We were told to expect a very different experience while we were there. It is the center of government and thus it would be much stricter. Keep in mind also that Vietnam is a communist country. We arrived the night before Tet, the lunar new year. We had no contact setup, just a place to stay. We were a little worried about our food situation since almost everything was closed due to the Tet holiday. Well we happened to find a restaurant called the Gecko just down the road. This restaurant and the employees became the focus of the rest of our time in Hanoi. We were able to get to know much of the staff and truly build relationships with them. We ended up working in the restaurant most days, helping take orders, make drinks, work in the kitchen, wash dishes and just be with the staff and customers that came through. It truly was God in action allowing us this opportunity. How many restaurants do you know would allow complete strangers, foreigners no less, to basically show up and start serving their paying customers? Well they definitely welcomed us with open arms.
While we were in Hanoi we also had the opportunity to prayer walk, write out scripture verses on rocks and place them in different locations in a park, we also sat at the park and had a couple worship sessions while Carrie and Kris did some awesome paintings. Tons of people showed up for these events and even though we couldn’t speak directly to them about who we were and what we were doing, the Spirit was definitely there and we know God can use that just as well as direct conversation. We then flew back to Bangkok to meet up with the rest of our squad and headed back to the Western Hemisphere. We stopped off in LAX airport for a 12 hour layover then headed to Central America.
So now you’re up to date with where we are now in Nicaragua. This month is definitely going to take some adjustment. Central America is hot and only gonna get hotter. We have been blessed though once again with amazing contacts and can’t wait to see what God has in store for the last leg of our journey!
Support update. We have now raised everything that we needed to raise for our time on the World Race. That’s a total of $28,600! What a miracle so many of you have helped us be a part of! Casey and I can’t thank you enough for all the prayers and support you have blessed us with. There is no possible way that we could be where we are today if it wasn’t for all the prayers and faith that you all put in us!
