so we have been here in ho chi minh city for about 5 days now and i must say that the ministry times we have spent here have worn us out spiritually and physically. after out initial lodging location fell through because the local authorities had issues with a large group of americans staying with a known local christian, we found ourselves staying at 1 hotel for a day and then we moved to another place we assume will be our home for the next few weeks. opportunity knocked for a few of us our first full day in the city. there was a chance to get connected with some local students (whose names i cannot mention) and head out to one of their ministry sites which happened to be a hospital ward dedicated primarily to the care of AIDS patients. as hard as it is to be a christian here and carry truth to the nations, it becomes even harder when you are talking to people who are living in physically dying bodies and spiritually dead bodies who become further away from Christ with each passing generation. one lady told me that she felt that Buddha had given her the sickness as a punishment for her sins and that it would be wrong for her to ask buddha to forgive her much less heal her. after presenting truth to her she said that she could not betray buddha for Christ and that we could no longer continue this conversation. at least a seed was planted and God promises that his word never comes back void. my contact and i were the last to leave the hospital and upon going outside we saw the rest of our group being questioned by security guards. our visit to the hospital might be our only visit. so after coming back to the hotel afterwards i was informed by our squad leader that girls had been shuffling in and out and our hotel seems to be a local hangout for prostitutes. great, my day could not get any HEAVIER!! that night we stayed in the lobby and talked and prayed. after about an hour of that there came voices echoing down the hallway, and to my relief they were in english. some of our girls had gathered at the end of the hallway on the bottom floor and started worshipping and praying to God through music. that night we started doing what the prophet Isaiah speaks somewhere around chapter 35 in which he predicts that a highway will be build and that only the righteous will walk on it. we have started building that highway right there in the hallway and pretty soon there will be no lions or other ferocious beasts wandering there. we are changing the atmosphere through our worship and our prayers over the building. starting at 10 at night and running all through the night we have people teaming up in pairs and praying for 1 hour blocks until the next morning. being radical for Christ just means obeying his commands and that is how we are approaching vietnam
