Jesus in Vietnam Ministries

SOME OF THE KIDS AT THIS YEAR’S VBS

MAI LEADING THE NEW BELIEVERS IN PRAYER TO ACCEPT JESUS

VBS 2015 PRAISE REPORT
We praise God and thank Him for blessing us with another (our 8th year) wonderful VBS with 150 children attending. This was our largest group ever, but the enemy worked hard to interfere. First, on the last day of school here many of the kids were told they would have to take a series of placement tests starting on June 8th (same week as our VBS). With only 2 weeks left before VBS, we couldn’t change our start date. Normally, the kids would spend all 3 days and nights at the church for VBS, but this year we had kind of a revolving door. Many kids had to go to school in the morning to take tests and then come to VBS in the afternoon. While others had to leave to take tests in the afternoon and then come back in the evening. Many of the non-believer’s parents wouldn’t let them attend VBS as they wanted them to stay home and study for their tests. Second, Caesar went through a hamlet in Tan Thang (where we had 12-15 kids signed up for VBS) and told the parents not to let their children come because we were “troublemakers”. So none of those kids came, but God brought kids from unexpected places. We had 30 kids come the morning of the second day from Saigon to join us. And as in past years, many kids who didn’t pre-register showed up at the church and asked to attend. At any given time we had anywhere from 100 up to 150 at the church. Given the circumstances we decided to go ahead and take the group picture the morning of the first day (picture top left) even though we only had about 100-110 kids at that time. The kids spent a lot of time all together in Worship and then broke into age group Bible studies. There was plenty of time for games, fun, and laughter. Each age group practiced a Bible skit or dance to a Worship song that day and then performed it for everyone the first night. With the limited time they had to prepare, they all did a fantastic job and everyone was blessed. Even a couple of neighbors from across the street came over to see what all the excitement was about. After that we had a big bonfire in the back area where the kids sang songs and roasted sweet potatoes (no marshmallows here in Binh Chau) until 10pm. The kids still wanted to keep going, but being up that morning at 5am, we adults were ready for some sleep. The next day offered more of the same and concluded in the evening with our “Food Court”. The kids have a chance to win tickets during the first 2 days of VBS and then can use them to purchase food prepared by different teams. It creates a carnival atmosphere and the kids really love it. My (Dennis) teams “American jello” was a big hit (it’s a lot sweeter than jello over here). We raised about $100, which the church will donate to the local government for their needy child program. The third morning is the most exciting for us and the main reason we hold VBS. We put all the non-believing kids in one class for VBS and Elder Nhan used Mai’s Eternal Way pamphlet to share about who God is, the Creation, the Fall of Man, our need for a Savior, and then shared the Gospel. Our hearts were filled with joy as 18 kids came forward at the Altar Call and Mai (picture above right) led them in prayer to ask Jesus into their heart as their personal Lord and Savior. Cam On Chua (Thank You Lord)! That afternoon we then gave away 20 new bikes for scripture memorization (picture below left), which is always very exciting. We also gave another 5 new bikes away after VBS to deserving kids with special circumstances. God’s protection was on us the whole 3 days as we had no rain during VBS, no illnesses, no accidents, and no arguments. We praise God for the well and the generator that provided us with plenty of water and electricity when the city supply went off. We also had 30-35 adult volunteers (picture below right) who served tirelessly in unity and love setting excellent examples of God’s love for all the children to see. Chua La Toc Lan! Muoi Luc Muoi Noi! (God is good! All the time!).

VBS BIKE WINNERS FOR SCRIPTURE MEMORIZATION

SOME OF THE LADIES SERVING IN THE KITCHEN

PRAYER REQUESTS
Please pray God will give us wisdom and discernment as we seek His guidance in finding some one to come to serve at the Binh Chau Church to help Elder Nhan.

PRAISE REPORT
In the last 2 weeks we have had 2 of the neighbors around the church (a 64 year old woman and an 7 year old girl) pray to receive Jesus. These are the first neighbors to do that in the 9 years the church has been here. We thank God for answering our prayers and pray He will bring many more to faith in His Son Jesus.

We are blessed to come here to serve our Lord, but it would not be possible without all your prayers and financial support. We thank God and we thank each of you for your faithfulness and can joyfully report God is using you to make such a difference in so many lives. To God be the glory!