Jesus in Vietnam Ministries

CHRISTMAS OUTREACHES 2024

“Give thanks to the Lord, call on His name; make known among the nations what He has done. Sing to Him, sing praise to Him; tell of all His wonderful acts.” Psalm 105:1-2 (NIV)

We praise God for blessing us with 2 more wonderful and fruitful Christmas Evangelistic Outreaches at the Binh Chau Church. We held our Children’s Christmas Outreach on Saturday, December 21 with 81 children in attendance. They started arriving around 3 in the afternoon for a time of games and fellowship. Then they enjoyed a hot meal before the Christmas program started. Three different youth choirs (based on age) performed in between a video shown on the birth of Jesus. Pastor Tu then presented his message on the real reason we Christians celebrate Christmas. As Pastor Tu gave the altar call, our hearts filled with joy as 31 children came forward to ask Jesus into their heart as their Lord and Savior. To God be the Glory!

Afterwards, each child received a Christmas gift. We thank you for your prayers and support which enables us to reach these precious children for Jesus through our Christmas Outreaches. Please pray for God’s protection on these new believers against persecution that will come their way from non-Christian family members and friends. Please pray God will give them strength to stand firm in their new faith and use them to influence their family/friends for Christ. Please pray God will give each of these precious children a desire to attend our Children’s Church each Saturday so they might grow in their walk with Him as they hear His Word being taught to them.

FAMILY CHRISTMAS OUTREACH.

Thank you Jesus! It was standing room only in the church on Christmas Eve for our Family Christmas Outreach with 177 people in attendance. It had been raining off and on for a couple of days with more projected so we rented a tent covering and set it up in front of the church with tables and chairs. About 30 children and adults in our different choirs had to sit out there until it was time for them to perform.

Three different choirs performed in between segments of a video about the birth of Christ. Then Pastor Tu gave his Christmas message followed by an altar call. Our hearts were overwhelmed with joy again as 50 people stepped forward to ask Jesus into their heart.
Praise the Lord!! Every child received a Christmas gift and all were given a bag containing a sandwich, a soft drink, vicks oil (Vietnamese cure all), and Gospel tracts.

Please also pray for these new believers to be able to, not only stand firm in their new faith when persecution comes against them, but to have a desire to share the love of Jesus with them. Please pray God will give these precious people a thirst and hunger to learn more about Him through reading/hearing His Word.

TANH LINH FRUIT

Since we first went to the Montagnard village of Tanh Linh 2 years ago in hopes of sharing the Gospel, God has blessed us with leading around 40 people (children/adults) to the Lord. We have bussed them to Binh Chau to attend our VBS Camps and Christmas Outreaches. Our witnessing team travels to Tanh Linh (about 2 hours from Binh Chau) to disciple new believers and be introduced to their family and/or friends. From our first visit to this village we have prayed asking God to raise someone up in Tanh Linh to introduce us to new families and help coordinate quietly getting people to our VBS Camps and Christmas Outreaches. God raised up 2 ladies, Mai and Hoa, who have been an answer to prayer. We sent a 60-seat bus to Tanh Linh on Christmas Eve morning. Mai and Hau brought the people to the bus location in small groups as to not draw attention. How excited we were when the bus arrived in Binh Chau with 78 people onboard. We served them a hot meal, they took their customary afternoon nap, and then a time of fellowship before the program that evening. Out of the 78 that attended our Christmas Outreach, 46 professed their faith in Jesus, 24 had already accepted Jesus at one of our previous VBS Camps or Christmas Outreaches, and 8 stated they were not yet ready to make that decision. We now have close to 90 believers in this village. Praise to our Heavenly Father!

In addition to each child going home with a Christmas present (stuffed animal, candy, and cookies) and everyone receiving a gift bag, we gave every family from Tanh Linh a bag of rice. Please pray these new believers will return home to tell their non-Christian family/friends about the love of Jesus they experienced and share His love for them.

BIBLE COLLEGE CLASSES

Pastor Binh, who has a church in Saigon, is associated with a church in South Korea who offers a Bible Theology program to members of churches in Vietnam. The program is 4 years long and the students take classes via Zoom at their local church 4 days each month with study assignments in between. They also reimburse the church for food and travel expenses for the students. Pastor Binh brought 2 pastors from the South Korean church to Binh Chau recently to explain the program and interview people interested in participating in the classes. We are excited to say 6 people from the Binh Chau church were selected for the program and will start classes in February.

Please pray God will use these classes to deepen Quang, Nhu Y, Truc An, Mrs. Muoi, Thoung, and Tu’s walk with the Lord and give them a deeper hunger to serve Him. Please pray God will give each of them the strength and perseverance to complete all 4 years of the program.

PRAY FOR OUR SCHOOL CHILDREN

The school system in Binh Chau is teacher friendly, but not very student/parent friendly. High school students attend all day, but lower grades usually start school around 7:30 am until 11:30am, then return home for 2 hour lunch/nap break, and then back to school from 1:30 pm to 4:30 pm. This requires many trips each day to take children to and from school.
Plus, they have mandatory tutoring classes all students must take regardless of how they are doing in school. As an example, Thien Y (the oldest girl living in our orphanage/love house)
is in the top 3 of her sophomore high school class, but is still required to take evening tutoring classes. Our youngest Kim and Kien (6 year old twin girls) classes are from 7 pm to 8 pm at night. This is due to the classes being held in the teacher’s house when they are available. We currently pay $170 a month directly to the teachers for our 10 children in our orphanage/love house to take these classes. We thank God for providing the funds for our children to attend, but many families struggle in coming up with the money needed.
Please join us in praying God will raise up school administrators with a heart to change the current system to a one more student friendly with less burden to their parents.

MATCHING FUNDS UPDATE

As you know, God gave us an opportunity to receive a matching grant for any contributions given to our 2nd orphanage/love house building project during the month of December. With much joy and humbleness, we are excited to share God provided the entire amount. What an Awesome God we serve! We thank you and so appreciate all of you who gave and/or prayed for God’s provision. And, a very special thanks to our home church here in Tucson for providing us this opportunity. We now have enough funds to schedule the start of construction this summer right after our VBS Camp ends.

“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

ANSWERED PRAYER

When we first started going to Tanh Linh 2 years ago we prayed asking God to raise up a local resident to help introduce new families to our witnessing team each month.
God raised up a lady named Mai to help us. Last year we discovered that Hau lived in a different hamlet in Tanh Linh. We had led Hau to Christ many years ago when she lived in Binh Chau. In fact, one of her daughters lived for 7 years in our orphanage/love house. Hau was excited the Binh Chau church was reaching out to Tanh Linh. God used Hau in a big way in getting so many from Tanh Linh to attend our Family Christmas Outreach in December. Hau actually got on her motorcycle and went house to house encouraging families to go as she witnessed how well they would be treated, loved on, and told about Jesus. Please pray for God’s protection on Hau and her family as her boldness will certainly get back to the local authorities.

MORE PRAYER REQUESTS

Please pray for Quang and his wife Nhu Y. Quang was one of the first children to attend the Binh Chau church back in 2006 at the age of 8. He attended for many years until moving to Saigon for work. About 3 years ago he moved back to Binh Chau. Quang has been serving as a deacon the last year and a half. He drives the church vehicle to Suoi Bang to pick children up for Children’s Church on Saturday and adults for Sunday Worship. We recently hired him to help Pastor Tu with Children’s Church and leading the youth witnessing teams out each Sunday afternoon. Nhu Y helps teach the little ones at Children’s Church. Please pray God will give Quang wisdom and guidance to serve well in his new assignment as comes under Pastor Tu’s mentoring.