Jesus in Vietnam Ministries

GOD’S PRECIOUS CHILD

All the children living in our orphanage/love house have a special place in our heart and give us so much joy as we see how God has worked in their hearts over the years. One such young boy is Khiem. Khiem came to live in our orphanage in the fall of 2018 when he was 7 years old. He was very shy and initially did not interact with the other children very much. Khiem liked to stay to himself and spent much time walking around the church property. Each night we end the children’s day by praying with them and taking turns reading 3 chapters of the Bible. When it came time for Khiem to read, you could hardly hear him. Mai asked Khiem to come sit by her so she could hear him. Khiem stated he couldn’t read very well. We stated we could help him with that. The next few weeks we worked with Khiem in his reading. What we discovered was Khiem could read, but lacked the confidence to speak up. We smothered Khiem with the love of Jesus and our Lord did the rest. Soon Khiem was not only reading out loud, but we learned he had great memory skills.The next year (2019) we challenged the children in the orphanage to memorize 100 scriptures that year. Khiem was the first to accomplish it, even though he was younger than most of the other children. Then, covid hit and we were not able to return to Vietnam for almost 3 years. When we returned the end of 2022, we found God had done an amazing transformation in Khiem’s life as he was truly blossoming. He not only was interacting with the other children, but really growing in his walk with the Lord. In 2023 during Bible studies, Khiem was usually the first child to answer questions or share what the Holy Spirit had revealed to him on a certain passage of Scripture. His answers were spot on. This summer 5 of the children in our orphanage are now teenagers, including Khiem at 13 years old. Teenagers come with sometimes a little rebellious attitude, but not Khiem. Loan, our housemother, said she never has a problem with Khiem. He is always very polite and quick to do what she asks of him. We spent a lot of time this summer with our orphanage children and witnessed this to be very true. Khiem does very well in school, especially in math. Khiem is so humble and such a joy to be around. Example: the church grounds needed to be cleaned so we asked the children in the orphanage if they would like to help us, which they did. Afterwards, we wanted to give them some money for their efforts so they could buy something when we took them to the market. We went to give Khiem a 500,000 bill (about $20). He said no that was too much. We then offered him 300,000, but he said that was also too much. We then asked him to take how much he wanted. Khiem chose a 100,000 bill (about $4). This school year Khiem is starting 8th grade and going to a different school quite away from the church. We blessed him with a battery-operated motorbike to ride to school. (picture above). Khiem just smiled as he thanked us, but you could see the excitement in him as he rode it around the church property. We praise God and thank you for your faithful prayers and support that God is using to touch His children like Khiem in Vietnam. To God be the glory!

PLEASE PRAY FOR TANH LINH

We first visited the Montagnard village of Tanh Linh in November 2022. Since then children and adults from there have attended our last 2 VBS Camps and our Christmas Outreaches. Our witnessing team continues to travel to Tanh Linh (about a 2 hour drive from Binh Chau) once a month to meet/visit families. We have had a good response from our outreach to Tanh Linh with over 40 people (children/adults) asking Jesus into their heart. This happened despite local Caesar attempts to disrupt and detour our continued outreach to these precious people. The witnessing team recently visited Miss Chinh (who we introduced to you in our June newsletter) in her house and reported it would make an ideal place to start a Bible study in. Please pray God will grant Miss Chinh wisdom as she prays about this most important and life changing (for her/many others) decision.

PASTOR BINH CONNECTION

We mentioned Pastor Binh in our last newsletter and his willingness to be added to the deed of the church property when we update it in the future. We wanted to share with you a little more information on Pastor Binh. We met Pastor Binh about 7 years ago through a mutual pastor friend. Before becoming a pastor, Binh for 15 years was the 2nd in command of the Religious Matters Office for all Vietnam. Definitely, not a friend to Christian churches in Vietnam. In fact, he was tasked with stopping/hindering the spread of Christianity in Vietnam. However, just like Paul in the Bible, God had a different plan for Binh. In his dealings with the church and pastors, God softened Binh’s heart, gave him understanding of the Gospel, and Binh accepted Jesus as his Lord and Savior. After becoming a Christian, his wife and family disowned him. He was left penniless and homeless. But, God sent him a walking angel who gave him a place to stay. The rest of the Binh’s testimony is simply amazing. He went to Bible College, became a pastor, founded a church, and started an orphanage. He became affiliated with a South Korean Presbyterian church and introduced us to some pastors from there in 2018. One of the Korean pastors later came to Binh Chau for 4 days and preached on the book of John. Pastor Binh is now affiliated with a South Korean Presbyterian Theological School and they have a 4 year program, holding classes on Zoom 4 days a month for 10 months each year. The next course starts in November. We currently have 10 people from the Binh Chau Church who have expressed interest in registering for the program.

PAINTING PARTY

We found this summer the pastor’s house and our orphanage/ love house was in dire need of painting. Labor costs have increased so much that Pastor Tu and 3 of the older boys in our orphanage said they could do the painting since they were out of school. This would not only save us money on labor, but the boys would learn how to paint and earn some spending money too. They did a great job and both houses look great now.

SCHOOL PROGRAM SUCCESS

Quyen and her younger sister Nhi have been faithfully attending Children’s Church for the last several months. They both accepted Jesus at Children’s Church earlier in the year. They both also attended our VBS Camp this summer. Quyen recently came to Children’s Church and sadly informed Pastor Tu and Kim she wouldn’t be coming to Children’s Church any more. Her family is very poor and lives/works in the farming community of Suoi Bang. Quyen stated her parents didn’t have enough money to pay for both her and her sister to attend school. So, her mother said she had to quit school and go to work.They explained to Quyen the church might be able to help. Pastor Tu and Kim went to Suoi Bang and met with Quyen’s mother (not a Christian). They explained our school program and stated both Quyen and Nhi have qualified for it due to their faithfulness in attending Children’s Church each week. Therefore, the church would be willing to pay for both of her daughter’s schooling this year. as long as they continued to attend Children’s Church. Quyen’s mother was very happy and said she would make sure they both continued to attend. She then said she has seen so much improvement in her daughter Quyen since she started going to church. We praise God and thank each of you who are sponsoring or sponsored a child in the past. Take joy in knowing God is using you to make such a difference in these precious children’s lives for all eternity.

STORM DAMAGES SIGN

A recent storm hit the Binh Chau area with very strong winds. Our church sign, which is positioned about 12 feet in the air and fully exposed, was damaged along with the lights attached to it. Praise God for no other damage to the church and everyone was safe.

PRAYER REQUESTS

We spent a lot of time this summer mentoring and encouraging people in the Binh Chau church from Pastor Tu down to the children in our orphanage. Both Pastor Tu and Kim called recently and thanked us for spending so much time in this area as things were going more smoothly now. They also stated they could see much improvement in the children in our orphanage, especially with the teenage boys. Thank you Jesus!