Merry Christmas from Vietnam

After 50 hours of traveling, my squad and I made it to Vietnam about 3 weeks ago. We spent a week of debrief in Ho Chi Minh City. We spent the week exploring the city, spending time with our leaders and coaches, and debriefing what the Lord had done in Guatemala. We then took a 20 hour bus ride to Da Nang, where we have been doing ministry for the past week and a half.

I have fallen in love with Vietnam during our time here so far. The people here are so kind and intentional, the food is delicious, and the landscape is beautiful. Our ministry host and the ministry we are doing here has also been super cool. Most of our ministry consist of us building relationships with people and introducing the gospel to them. We have built and maintained friendships with people here a number of ways including, beach sports, playing basketball, and going to coffee shops. There are laws in place that put restrictions on sharing the gospel in Vietnam, so it is important that we establish a relationship and trust with people before we share the gospel. Because of this most of the people we share the gospel with, it is their first time ever hearing the good news. This makes for some really cool conversations and experiences with people who have never heard the good news. It has been super cool and eye opening to have spiritual conversations with people who have never heard of Jesus before. One of my closest friends I have here is really close to accepting Jesus, he has been going to church and reading his Bible but he told me has said he isn’t all the way there yet. Please pray for my friend that the Lord would continue to soften his heart and to reveal Himself to him.

We have had some other really cool ministry opportunities as well. I have had the opportunity to work at coffee shop that provides jobs for deaf people. I worked in the kitchen with the other employees who were deaf. It was super fun to try and figure out how to communicate with them and just being able to love on their staff. Our team has also been helping out at an orphanage as well. At the orphanage we get to love on the kids by playing with the kids, doing dances, and teaching them games. It has been a ton of fun, I got to teach a couple kids how to throw a football which they seemed to really enjoy. We also had the opportunity to sing Christmas Carols for a Christmas Eve Dinner at a 5 star hotel. This was an amazing opportunity to share the gospel through Christmas Carols to people at this hotel. This was a really fun and unique way to share the love of Christ with people here. We also have been helping out with our ministry host’s English club. We have helped prepare food for the club and helped out at the Christmas parties held. English club has been super fun and one of the best ways to develop friendships with people here. That is how I met my closest friend here, who is super close to accepting Jesus. Our ministry here has been really busy but absolutely awesome, I am blessed to be a part of what the Lord is doing here.

Thank you guys so much for all of your prayers and support. I could not be where I am without you guys. Please continue to pray for me and my team during our time in Vietnam. Please pray that my team can continue to grow closer together and steward the time we have together here in Vietnam well. Please pray for my friends I’ve made that the Lord reveals Himself to them. Also please pray that the Lord continues to open doors for the gospel to be shared.