Jesus in Vietnam Ministries

PRAY FOR HA IN SUOI BANG

After our Heavenly Father allowed us to establish His church in Binh Chau, we began praying for all the smaller towns and villages surrounding Binh Chau where no Christian church existed. One of those towns was the farming community of Suoi Bang about 20 miles from Binh Chau. We were told the local authorities were very anti-Christian. As our church witnessing teams started visiting families in Suoi Bang, a couple of families started attending the Binh Chau Church. In 2010, we started holding Sunday evening Worship services in Mr. Sau Cong’s house in Suoi Bang. However, after a few months Mr. Sau Cong split from the church as he felt he knew enough about the Bible to be his own pastor. Unfortunately, this happens quite a bit in Vietnam. A few weeks later the local Caesar stopped the meetings in his house.

We continued to visit families in Suoi Bang and in 2012 God gave Mai the blessing of leading Mr. and Mrs. Ba Quang to faith in Jesus. Within a few weeks we started holding weekly Bible studies in their home, which led to Sunday evening Worship services. God added to our numbers as our weekly attendance grew to 25 or more each Sunday. Local authorities didn’t give us official permission to meet there, but they never stopped us. God even gave us favor to put a cross up on Mr. Ba Quang’s house. Once in a while, they would come, sit outside, and listen to what we were teaching. The house church was growing, but the enemy was ready to strike.

A disagreement between Mr. Ba Quang and another man in the church resulted in another split. A year later another couple left and started holding church in their house. Then our Lord took Mr. Ba Quang home and Mrs. Ba Quang left Suoi Bang. We continued to pray for the 2 houses meeting, but only a couple of families attended at each house. Last year one of the house churches became affiliated with another church, hired a pastor, and constructed a small church building to meet in. This year the local Caesar came and closed the church down saying they didn’t have permission to meet there. The other house meeting place only had one family attending. Satan was working hard to stop the Gospel from spreading in Suoi Bang. Despite all the obstacles the enemy was throwing at us, we never ceased praying for Suoi Bang. We felt strongly the Holy Spirit was telling us to keep praying as God will open the door for us to return to Suoi Bang.

We now introduce you to Ha. She accepted Jesus many years ago, but her husband didn’t want to have anything to do with the church. Ha was very faithful in attending the Binh Chau church until covid hit. Last year her husband became terminally ill. Pastor Tu visited Ha and her husband, shared the Gospel again to her husband, and he prayed to receive Jesus. A few days later, he went home to the Lord. While in Binh Chau this summer we had many conversations with Ha. She has the same heart we do for children and each Sunday brought fruit, bottled water, etc for the children living in our orphanage/love house. It’s a custom in Vietnam to celebrate the 1-year anniversary of the death of a loved one. Ha invited the church to her house, not to celebrate the anniversary of her husband’s death, but to celebrate God’s love, mercy, and grace in bringing her husband to saving faith in Jesus in the last days of his time on this earth. About 20 of us from the Binh Chau church attended while most of Ha’s friends were non-Christians. We sang worship hymns and Pastor Tu presented the Gospel. Ha is well respected in the community, operates a small business, and has the room in her house to hold meetings. Please join us in praying Ha will open her home for us to hold Bible studies there.

NEW SIGN INSTALLED

Last month a storm hit Binh Chau and destroyed our church sign and lighting. This gave us the opportunity to replace it with a brighter sign and installed it higher for more visibility. Plus, we were able to stabilize the supports more to resist winds from future storms. Praise God as no one questioned us replacing our sign.God is so good!

DECLARING THEIR FAITH

Dung, a longtime member of the Binh Chau church and one of our witnessing teams, works in a factory about 15 miles from the church. Dung doesn’t miss an opportunity to share Jesus and did so recently with a co-worker, Nhung. Praise God as Nhung asked Jesus to come into her heart as her Lord and Savior. Dung then shared the importance of being baptized. Even though Nhung lives in a town about 30 miles from Binh Chau, she came to the church, met with Pastor Tu, and was baptized during the Sunday Worship Service she attended.

Thu attended our Children’s Church and VBS Camps as a little girl until her parents moved to Pham Thiet, about an hour and a half away. Thu later moved to Saigon to attend college where she also learned English. While in school she worked as a nanny to support herself. In August Thu accepted a position at a new resort close to Binh Chau and moved in with her grandparents. Thu had accepted Jesus as her Lord and Savior when she was young, but never had been baptized. Her grandfather, Elder Ba Phouc (pictured above wearing a blue shirt) was beaming as he was the first in his family to become a Christian. Now Thu represents his family’s 3rd generation of believers in Jesus.

ANOTHER BAPTISM

Thi, who has 2 children living in our orphanage/love house, recently visited her children with her friend Lam from Saigon. Pastor Tu shared the Gospel with Lam and he accepted Jesus as his Lord and Savior. Lam then was baptized during Sunday Worship.

GENERATOR STILL GOING STRONG

When God allowed us to build His church in Binh Chau in 2006 there were many days the power was shut off. This happened sometimes during church services. We purchased a small generator to overcome this obstacle. However, as God enabled us to build our kitchen our small generator wasn’t able to supply all the power we needed. We asked for prayer and God provided the funds for us to purchase a commercial size generator. Many years later it’s still providing power during any power outage. To God be the glory!

PRAYER REQUESTS

We are still traveling to Tanh Linh once a month to visit families in hopes of sharing the Gospel. Besides praying for Ha to open her house for Bible studies, please pray for Chin in Tanh Linh to do the same. Plus, for Chin to be willing to come to Binh Chau for Discipleship training.

Please pray God will use Nhung becoming a Christian to open the door for Pastor Tu and our witnessing team to visit her in Phuc Hai to meet other families there to share the Good News.

As you seek God in your year end giving, we ask you to prayerfully consider giving to our 2nd orphanage/love house building fund so we might begin construction next year. We are still in need of additional funding to fully fund this important project to be able to take in more children and separate our current girls from the boys as they enter their teenage years.

We are already planning for our Christmas Outreaches. Please pray each member of the Binh Chau church will reach out and invite their non-Christian family, friends, neighbors, classmates to attend to hear the true reason Christians celebrate Christmas.

Many families in Tanh Linh have expressed a desire to attend our Christmas Outreaches again this year. Please pray God’s protection on them and our Heavenly Father would remove any obstacles from their local Caesar.

Please pray God will open the door for Quang and Viet (our 2 deacons) to have Saturdays off from work to help serve at our Children’s Church.

Please pray for the children living in our orphanage and all those who attend our Children’s Church each week to stand firm in their faith as they are usually the only Christian in their school class. Please pray God will use them to influence others for Jesus.

Personal Praise & Prayer Request

We want to thank you for praying for our great-grandson, Timothy. God is doing a wonderful work in him. He is much more calm and able to control his frustration in most situations. Please continue to pray for Timothy.

“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