Jesus in Vietnam Ministries

NEW HARVEST FIELD (1)

We are excited to be returning to Vietnam on November 1st and would like to share with you some amazing doors/connections God has opened for us to serve Him on this trip. In early 2018 a young mother (Thi) brought her 2 young children (Nhu Y, 3 years old and Tan Thinh, 2 years old) to live in our orphanage/love house. Thi asked to stay with her children for a short time until her children adjusted to their new home. Thi ended up staying for 3 years until she left this year for a job in Saigon. We discovered Thi was originally from a tribal village in the central highlands of Vietnam. Thi was very shy at first due to a lot of Vietnamese looking down on tribal people. However, Thi made an immediate connection with Mai. Thi had accepted Jesus, but knew very little about the Bible. As Mai began to mentor her, Thi shared that Christians came to her village years ago, planted a church, and her whole village accepted Jesus. Her village is atop a mountain and difficult to reach, but the pastor goes down the mountain every 2-3 years for additional training in God’s Word. Thi also stated there was another tribal village half way down the mountain that does not know the Lord. Thi asked us to teach her the Bible so she could return to this village and tell them about Jesus. We were excited for the connection God had given us through Thi to go visit her tribe and the other tribe close by. We planned
to visit in 2020, but then the pandemic hit. However, our desire to visit these tribal villages never left our hearts and prayers. This past month we sent Pastor Tu, Kim, Khanh, and Quang to Thi’s village to meet the pastor, visit Thi’s family, and explore the area for our visit later this year. The picture above shows Thi’s brother and family on the right and Pastor Ze in the long blue shirt. They were very excited for the Binh Chau church to visit them. After our delegation returned to Binh Chau, one of Pastor Ze’s elders called Pastor Tu to let him know he would be happy to take us around to the other tribal villages in the area when we come to visit on our return to Vietnam. Praise the Lord! We thank God for bringing Thi and her children to our orphanage/love house over 4 years ago, for God using Thi as His instrument in connecting us with Pastor Ze, and for their willingness to introduce us to other tribal villages in his area. What an amazing God we serve that answers our prayers and gives us the desire of our heart to serve Him.

NEW HARVEST FIELD (2)

While in Vietnam in 2019 we were contacted by a pastor in a different province in the central highlands who had heard of our orphanage/love house. He was told we not only take care of their physical needs, but we teach them God’s Word and encourage them to serve the Lord. Pastor De stated he was from a very poor village, had 7 children, and couldn’t afford to feed all of them. He wanted to send one of his sons to us to be equipped to return to his village and serve the Lord as an adult. Unfortunately, we returned to the US shortly after that, and due to some miscommunication, nothing materialized concerning his son. In 2021 when the country was locked down from covid, we began distributing mercy food boxes to families in Binh Chau and Suoi Bang. During this time God reminded us of Pastor De and how he must be struggling to provide for his family. We asked Khanh (who grew up in the Binh Chau church and now works in Saigon) to try to locate Pastor De. After much research/phone calls, Khanh found a pastor who knew Pastor De and gave Khanh his phone number. He told Khanh it was hard to get in contact with Pastor De because the phone service in that mountainous area was very poor. Khanh called Pastor De and he “happened” to be in an area with good service. Khanh informed Pastor De we would like to send him money for him and his family. Pastor De stated there was no way to send it directly to him due to no service on the mountain. However, he could travel to the bottom of the mountain to collect it. Khanh also found out Pastor De was planning a VBS for the first part of 2022. We then sent Khanh to Pastor De’s village to serve at the VBS. After Khanh arrived he discovered the local government had canceled the VBS due to fear of a covid breakout. However, our connection with Pastor De was strengthened. On the same trip to the central highlands, Pastor Tu, Kim, Khanh, and Quang also visited with Pastor De. Pastor De welcomed them with open arms. He now has 8 children, and after meeting the church delegation, he stated he would love to send 4 or 5 of his sons to live in our orphanage/love house. We praise God as Pastor De’s entire village of 67 families are Christians. Pastor De said he would welcome us to come visit when we return to Vietnam. In fact, he stated he and some of his elders would be happy to take us to other tribal villages in the area that do not know Jesus. He said we couldn’t go by ourselves due to close government scrutiny of anyone evangelizing in these villages. However, 2 of his elders are policemen and Pastor De works part time for the government. He stated who else is the government going to get to be policemen for his village since everyone in it is a Christian. God has certainly given Pastor De and this village His favor and protection. Pastor De also shared he left his home village, which is about a 3-day drive from his current village, over 40 years ago. He said his home village does not know about Jesus and he would love to take us to that village too. We can hardly wait to visit both Pastor De and Pastor Ze and see how God will use us for His glory. Please pray God will give us many Divine appointments to share the Gospel in the tribal villages He leads us to.

NEW HARVEST FIELD (3)

In 2019 we met a couple in Vietnam who served in an area about 2 hours from Binh Chau where hundreds of tribal people live in many different villages. Between covid and being elderly, they returned to the USA in 2020. We have also been praying for God to give us a connection to visist this area. As only God could arrange, a family from this tribal village moved to Binh Chau about 2 years ago. Over this time, we have given this very poor family mercy food baskets on several occasions. Linh (the husband) accepted Jesus and was baptized by Pastor Tu in the Binh Chau church. Last month Linh came to Pastor Tu asking for the church’s help. He and his wife had an argument and she took their 3 children and went back to her mother in their tribal village.
Pastor Tu shared this with us so we asked him, along with Kim and Elder Ba Phuoc, to take Linh back to his village to speak to his wife. What a Divine appointment God gave them! Linh apologized to his wife, she accepted, and agreed to return to Binh Chau with their 3 children. Pastor Tu, Kim, and Mr. Ba Phuoc were able to share the Gospel with Linh’s wife (Hang), her sister (Ngoc), and her mother (Mrs. Na). Praise the Lord as all 3 asked Jesus into their heart! We had been praying for God to connect us with a family in this village so we might have opening to visit ourselves when we return to Vietnam next month. God is so good all the time!

The church witnessing team was so excited that they returned to this village last week to visit with Mrs. Na. She introduced them to a neighbor that she wanted her to know about Jesus. Kim shared the Gospel and this lady also accepted Jesus. Plus, Pastor Tu was able to share the Gospel using Mai’s Eternal Way presentation to a group of neighboring children. Several of the children prayed to ask Jesus into their heart as their Lord and Savior. To God be the glory!

We can definitely see the finger print of God as He opens these 3 tribal areas to us. Mai has a special affection towards the Montagnard tribes as she and her family lived among them during the war. What an answer to prayer and a special blessing it would be to share Jesus with these precious souls 60 years later.

PRAYER REQUESTS

We feel strongly God has allowed us to make these connections so we might be able to share Jesus with many, many people in these tribal villages in the future. Please pray God will give us wisdom, guidance, and favor with those He leads us to in order to share and show the love of Jesus to each of them.

Please pray God’s protection on the new believers in Linh’s village from persecution from non-believing family members or neighbors. Please pray God will open the door for us to disciple them and He would give them a thirst and hunger for His Word.

We leave for Vietnam on November 1st. Please pray for safe travel, all our luggage to arrive with us, and good health while we are in Vietnam. Please pray for guidance from the Holy Spirit in all we do and all we say in order to bring glory to God.

Please pray for the country of Vietnam as there are indications they may be regressing in their views of religious freedom and implement old laws still on the books that would put restrictions on sharing Jesus outside the walls of the church.

“How can we thank God enough for you in return for all the joy we have in the presence of our God because of you.” 1 Thessalonians 3:9