Jesus in Vietnam Ministries

BREAKING A GENERATIONAL CURSE

When the Gospel is shared, God opens hearts to understand, and Jesus shows up, lives are changed forever. We would like to share with you the story of just one of the many families God has used your faithful prayers and support to change their lives over the past 20 years. In 2008, Pastor Chinh met a couple (Thanh and Luom) who had all kinds of idols in their home. He shared the Gospel with them and they both prayed to ask Jesus into their heart. Pastor Chinh then explained what God says about idols. They willingly gathered up their idols and went with Pastor Chinh out in the jungle where they smashed and burned them. Luom started attending Sunday Worship with her daughters (Lien, Ut) and son (Dung).

The children also began attending our Children’s Church each Saturday. Thanh, being a fisherman, worked 7 days a week so he didn’t attend church at first. However, later Thanh was not experiencing much success with his fishing business. Mai shared with him when she had her clothing business she worked 7 days a week too. Then she learned God desires obedience first and then blessings follow. She stepped out in faith, started attending church, and God blessed her business with triple the sales. God put it in Thanh’s heart to stop working on Sunday so he could attend church with his family. He has been faithful in attending for many years now. And, yes God has blessed his fishing business and family throughout these years. Their oldest daughter Lien became engaged in 2010 to a non-believer. She brought him to the church and Mai was able to share the Gospel with him. He received Jesus as his Lord and Savior. In 2012 they had a son (Khoa) who started attending Children’s Church when he was 2 years old and still does today. Then, in 2018 they had a daughter (Xuan Thi) who also started attending our Children’s Church at the age of 2.

Thanh and Luom’s second daughter (Ut) married a pastor’s son in 2020. Their son Dung graduated high school last year and now has a good job. He still attends our Children’s Church when he can get off early on Saturdays. We praise God for keeping this precious family faithful in their walk with Him over the years and breaking the generational curse of following false gods and idols. We thank the 2 families here from our JIV Focus Team who have faithfully prayed for and supported this family over all these years, as many of you have with the children you have faithfully prayed for and supported over many years. We are so blessed and so humbled that our Lord would use us (you/us) as His instruments in making a difference in Thanh and Luom’s family for all eternity.

Chua La Tot Lanh! (God is good!) Moi Luc Moi Noi! (All the time!)

We do have a prayer request for Lien and her husband who still live with his parents. They are under constant pressure from his parents, who are very strong Buddhists, to give up their Christianity. This does hinder Lien and her husband from attending church, but they faithfully send Khoa and Xuan Thi to Children’s Church. However, they are now building a small house next to Lien’s parents so they can move out of his parent’s home.

Please pray God will use this physical separation from his parents to remove the pressure they are constantly under not to attend the Christian church. Please pray God will instill in their heart a desire to join the rest of Lien’s family in worshipping together in church so they might grow in their walk with the Lord.

PLEASE PRAY FOR THUY

We shared in the past the heart-breaking situation with Thuy and her father. As a refresher, Thuy attended our Children’s Church for many years even though her father was strongly against it. Her grandmother brought her along with her 2 cousins. After almost 2 years of covid restrictions ended, Thuy did not return to Children’s Church. Then, last year we were filled with joy to see Thuy back at Children’s Church. However, the next few weeks we did not see her. Then, she came back one Saturday and stated her father had beaten her for coming to the church. Thuy, who was always so full of joy and laugher as a young child, looked so sad. Thuy came a couple of times more, but then disappeared again. We praise God that Thuy has been attending Children’s Church for the last month and she has signed up to attend VBS Camp.
Notice her t-shirt below as it says Jesus loves me! Please continue to pray God’s protection on Thuy and God would change her father’s heart (as only He can) to not threaten or beat her for attending church.

PRAISE REPORT

What an awesome God we serve! We are excited to share we received a very generous donation for our building fund to build a 2nd orphanage/love house. We now have 57% of the funds needed to construct a 2nd building. Our current 3-bedroom house is full with 11 children and our housemother living there. Plus, most of our children are entering their teenage years. A 2nd house would enable us to take in more children and separate the boys from the girls.

If God puts it in your heart to help fund this much needed project, please donate here online through our website.

TRAIN UP A CHILD

God is so true to His Word. When we first started our Children’s Church, we prayed asking God to give us a few years with the children to teach them His Word so when they grow up they will still follow Him. Tu is one of many children who grew up in the church and moved away from Binh Chau, but still follows the Lord. Tu, who now works in Saigon, returns to the Binh Chau area to visit family. Whenever, he does he drops by Children’s Church to worship with us. Tu also attended our VBS last summer and helped serve the children. We thank God for using Tu as an example for younger children to stay committed to following Jesus.

We believe a child is never to young to be given the blessing of serving our Lord. We have the youth lead us in Sunday Worship to give them that opportunity. Plus, they sing better than most of us adults 🙂

PRAYER REQUESTS

Please pray for Binh Chau, Suoi Bang, Tanh Linh, and the whole country of Vietnam. A country 2/3rds the size of California with around 100 million people, but only around 1-1 ½% Christians. While traveling through the rural areas of Vietnam, we see temple after temple in every town filled with false idols, but seldom do we see a Christian church. Please pray the Gospel will infiltrate every part of Vietnam and break through every area of darkness bringing the light of Jesus to the lost by planting “old time missionaries” in these small towns and villages. Please pray God will open the door for our ministry (yours/ours) to be a part of His plan to bring Jesus to lost souls in need of a Savior & the truth found in God’s Word.

We currently have 41 children signed up to attend our VBS Camp to be held on June 17-20. Please join us in praying God will draw at least 70 children to our VBS Camp this summer so they might hear of Jesus’ love for them. Please pray God will draw many non-believers to attend our VBS, give them understanding of the Gospel, and open the eyes of their heart to ask Jesus to be their Lord and Savior.

Please pray God will provide a sponsor for each child, the many adult volunteers needed, and every child attending shown and shared the love of Jesus to make this a successful VBS Camp.

We shared in a previous newsletter where the local officials pressured people from Tanh Linh to not attend our Christmas Outreaches. We have continued our outreach to this Montagnard village and several families said they wanted to send their children to our VBS Camp this summer. Please pray God’s protection on these families and He will remove any obstacles the enemy tries to use to hinder these children from attending.

Please pray God will provide the funding needed to fully support the 11 children living in our orphanage/love house for 2024. We are still in need of $9,000 for the children to be fully funded for this year.

Please pray God will provide the funding needed to build a second orphanage/love house to be able to take in more children and separate the boys from the girls as most of our current children are now starting their teenage years.

Please pray God will bring a person to Binh Chau with plumbing skills to resolve our ongoing water issues.

Please pray God will open the door for us to publish Mai’s Eternal Way Gospel message on our next trip to Vietnam by providing someone in Vietnam to edit her presentation in Vietnamese.

We have 24 people participating in our discipleship training classes. Please pray God will use these classes to equip/instill in everyone taking these classes to have a heart and desire to disciple new believers one on one.

We have purchased our tickets and will be returning to Vietnam the middle of May. Please pray God will give us wisdom, guidance, favor, and strength to accomplish all He has planned for us on this trip. May His name be glorified in all we do in the precious name of Jesus.

“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