Jesus in Vietnam Ministries

BIKES FOR TANH LINH KIDS

We praise God and thank each of you who provided the funds for us to purchase 14 new bikes for the Tanh Linh children who attended our VBS Camp in June. The arrival of the bikes brought smiles and excitement to the faces of these children. Plus, it brought quite a crowd from the neighborhood to see what was causing all the commotion.

This gesture of Christ’s love also provided many opportunities to speak with some of the children’s parents who weren’t with them at VBS. Please join us in praying God will use this act of kindness towards these children to soften parent’s hearts and help combat the negative misinformation spread about the Christian church in villages such as Tanh Linh. As these children ride their new bikes in the neighborhood and to school, may each one be a witness for Jesus to share what they learned by attending our VBS Camp. We believe this investment in these children will result in many more children (and parents) signing up to attend our Christmas Outreaches this year and our VBS Camp next summer from Tanh Linh.

PLEASE PRAY FOR THUY

Thuy started attending our Children’s Church back in 2014 when she was 5 years old. Her grandmother brought her to church along with her 2 cousins. Thuy immediately caught our attention as she was a bundle of energy and always quick to smile. Most children back then were very shy at first, but not Thuy.

Thuy faithfully attended our Children’s Church each Saturday and all our VBS Camps up to 2020 when covid hit. We were excited to see Thuy at Children’s Church and Sunday Worship a few weeks ago. But, we noticed Thuy was now very quiet and sad as a 14 year old young girl. Then, she didn’t show up for a couple of weeks, but then returned. Thuy informed us at that time her father had beat her when he discovered she had gone to church. He also told her if she went again he would continue beating her and then “go tear the church down”. However, Thuy told us she was going to continue to come to church (without letting her father know) as she felt loved at church. Thuy has attended the last 2 weeks.

ANSWERED PRAYER

The last few months we have been praying for God to provide a housemother for the children living in our orphanage/love house. God has answered those prayers by bringing back one of our former housemothers. Loan was our housemother for 3 years before leaving about a year ago due to personal reasons. A few weeks ago she heard we were here in Binh Chau and we were looking for a housemother. After meeting with Loan, we were excited at the possibility of her returning. We were sad when she left as she and the children got along so well together, especially our 5 year old twin girls who were really attached to her. Loan is very even tempered, very organized, and loves to cook (which is great as the children love to eat). Pastor Tu will continue to provide spiritual guidance for the children.

SCHOOL PROGRAM 2023-24

Kim has been busy this past month registering our 34 children enrolled in our School Program for this coming school year.
We thank each of you who sponsored a child/children this year to attend school. Your donation of $140 covers the registration fees, books, school supplies, school uniforms, and insurance for the entire year. Plus, it helps stress the importance of an education to the child’s parents/grandparents. Plus, these sponsored children attend our Children’s Church each Saturday, our VBS Camps, and Christmas Outreaches. For those of you who sponsored a child this year or any past year, take joy in knowing God is and has used each of you to impact these children’s lives. Educationally, which provides them with better job opportunities for their future families. And, most importantly, spiritually as they learn of God’s love, mercy, and grace for them through His Son Jesus and taught the truth found in His written Word.

We praise God for the success He has given us over the years to our school program. When we first came to Binh Chau in 2004 we discovered many children in the rural towns and villages in Vietnam did not go to school or went for only a few years. Then they would drop out to help watch younger siblings while their parents worked or actually go to work themselves (some as young as 12-13 years old) to help their family. Since starting our School Sponsorship Program, we have seen many, many, many children graduate from high school and at least 6 graduate from college. To God be the glory!

Above is an excerpt from a thank you letter to her sponsor from Yen, our very first college graduate. Yen now works for a corporation in Saigon and attends a church there serving in their youth program. God is so good!

PRAY FOR VY

In our last newsletter we asked you to pray for the 6 children who live across the street from the church that attended our VBS Camp. We would like to introduce you to one of them. Her name is Vy (pronounced VE) and she will be 11 next month. Vy is such a sweet girl. Vy attended our VBS Camp, but was really sad because her grandmother (who she lives with) said she couldn’t go to the beach with us on the last day of VBS. Upon hearing this, Pastor Tu went to introduce himself to Vy’s grandmother and give her his personal assurance he would make sure Vy was supervised at all times at the beach by him and other adult volunteers. The grandmother accepted this and allowed Vy to go to the beach with us the next day. Vy has faithfully attended Children’s Church each Saturday since VBS. Plus, she comes over during the week to play with the girls in our orphanage. During Children’s Church we have a Bible drill. The children are given a chapter in the Bible to read during the coming week at home. Then, the next week we ask questions from that chapter. The children have to answer the question and read the verse that states that. If so, they draw a string from a box which has a prize attached to it. Vy was so excited last week when she answered her first question correctly and received a prize of a stuffed animal. Thank you for enabling us to reach children like Vy for Jesus. Please pray God will use Vy to bring her grandmother to Jesus also.

The names of the other 5 children from across the street we asked you to pray for are: Ngoc (9 year old girl), Vy (different girl,10 years old), Hao (10 year old boy), He (11 year old boy), and Yen Nhi (15 year old girl). These children have all been attending Children’s Church most weeks since our VBS and also coming to the church to play with the children in our orphanage. We have been praying for the families across the street (all Buddhists) since the church was built. What joy it gives us to see God answering our prayers now through their children.

PRAYER REQUESTS

Please pray the precious blood of our Savior Jesus Christ would form a hedge of protection around sweet Thuy each day. Please pray God will shield her from further physical and verbal abuse from her father. Please pray God would soften her father’s heart as he sees God working in his daughter’s heart. Please pray God will use Thuy to bring her father to saving faith in Jesus.

Please pray for Tam and his family. They are long time Christians with Tam serving as an elder in the church for many years. However, Satan has used Tam’s mothers power and money to now turn him away from God and back to her Buddhist beliefs. Tam is now demanding his wife, children, and grandson stop coming to church also. This has caused great strife within the family as his wife and children want to still follow Jesus.

We thank God for bringing Loan back as the housemother for our orphanage/love house children. Loan has such a heart for children, even though she has none of her own. Please pray God will also grant Loan wisdom and patience as she helps to raise His precious children.

We praise our Lord for opening the door to reach out to the Montagnard village of Tanh Linh last November. Since then, almost 30 people have asked Jesus into their heart. Please continue to pray God’s protection on them and give them boldness to share Jesus with others in their village.

We are ready to implement a new discipleship program for new believers. Pastor Tu will start out teaching these classes. Please pray God will raise up someone in the Binh Chau church with a heart to teach these classes so Pastor Tu might focus more on his many other responsibilities.

Please pray for our witnessing teams that go out on visits each week (adults on Thursday afternoons and youth on Sunday afternoons). Please pray God will give them Divine appointments as they seek to share Jesus with those He leads them to.

Please pray God will provide the funds needed to build an additional building to separate the boys from the girls in our orphanage as they enter their teenage years and to be able to take in more children as God provides in the future.

“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.” 1Thessalonians 3:9