by Dennis & Mai Spencer | October 4th, 2025
CONSTRUCTION UPDATE
The construction of our 2nd orphanage/love house is well into its second month. It was amazing to see all that was accomplished in the first month as the foundation was laid and the outside walls went up so quickly. When complementing our contractor, he stated now things will slow down as they start pouring the cement for the roof.
The reason for the cement roof is so we might add another story in the future, God willing. It took several days to pour the cement as it was lifted bucket by bucket by pulley from the ground. Then they had to wait 2 weeks for it to fully dry. Having 4 straight days of rain didn’t help speed up that process. However, our contractor says he’s still on schedule to have the new building completed before the end of October. We would then be able to separate our girls from the boys as many are teenagers now.
NEW PASTOR NEEDED
After serving as the pastor of the Binh Chau Church the last 5 years, Pastor Tu resigned 3 weeks ago. We praise God that attendance the last 3 weeks for the different church services has remained as before. A big reason being Quang has stepped up in a huge way. We were blessed to install Quang as a deacon in the Binh Chau Church almost 3 years ago. Quang has attended Saturday Children’s Church and Sunday Worship since he was 5 years old. Even as a young teenager, Quang had a heart to share Jesus with his friends. He was always inviting friends to the church to play soccer and hang out. We began mentoring Quang at an early age as we felt God had a special plan for Quang in ministry. His mother commented to us once “maybe Quang will be a pastor someday”. He moved to Saigon in his late teens for work, where he met his future wife Nhu Y. They were married in the Binh Chau Church in April 2022 and then moved back to Binh Chau. They both expressed a desire to serve the Lord and we sent them to Bible classes in Saigon for a few months. Quang has been teaching the high school class at Children’s Church the past few months and Nhu Y has been teaching the under 8-year old class. We have heard Quang give many messages to the youth these last few months and were very excited for the spiritual understanding God has given Quang of His Word. God certainly has been preparing Quang for this very time. He has preached the last 3 Sundays and his messages were excellent, all focused on Jesus. At the end of each of his messages the congregation applauded, which is very unusual here in Vietnam. Besides his spot-on sermons, Quang is liked by everyone. He is very outgoing and humble. Plus, he has such a servant’s heart, willing to do anything to help the church. Looks like God may be fulfilling what Quang’s mother prophesied years ago.
MORE BIBLES NEEDED
We praise God for the success of our Christmas Outreaches last year and our VBS Camp this summer as a total of 119 people asked Jesus into their heart as their Lord and Savior. This in turn has almost exhausted our supply of Bibles as we gift each new believer with their own Bible. Please pray God will provide the funding for us to purchase up to 100 new Bibles (which are only printed once a year here in Vietnam.) The cost of each Bible is around $15. If God puts it in your heart to help us purchase these Bibles, please donate online at our website, jesusinvietnam.com or mail your check to our home address.
CONSTRUCTION FRUIT
There has been anywhere from 6 to 14 people working on the new building each day. After the first month we had a dinner here at the church for all 14 workers to show our appreciation and get to know them more. By showing them the love of Jesus, we prayed God would open the door for us to share Jesus with them. The following week God answered our prayers and gave Mai the opportunity to share the Gospel with 2 of them (Thuan a lady in here 50’s) and Be (a man in his 30’s). Praise God as both prayed to ask Jesus into their heart as Lord and Savior. And, Thuan has been attending Sunday Worship and got baptized.
NEW/NEWER VAN NEEDED
We planned to buy a new van about 3 years ago to replace our 1999 9-seat van.
However, we discovered they no longer sold 9 seat vans in Vietnam, only 12 or 16 seaters. These vans are considered commercial and we had no one qualified to drive it. So, we ended up buying a 7 seat SUV. We use this vehicle to take the smaller children to/back from school, witnessing trips to Tanh Linh, and to pick up people from Suoi Bang on Saturday and Sunday to attend Children’s Church and Sunday Worship. The good news is the number of people we are picking up has increased to outgrow our 7-seater. We kept our older van to make local trips around Binh Chau to pick up kids for Children’s Church or transporting a larger group to an event. So, we started using our older van again to pick up people from Suoi Bang.Two weeks ago, it broke down in Suoi Bang while taking people home. We had it towed back to Binh Chau, but the mechanic said he might not be able to find parts for it due to the age of the van. Plus, due to the age of our van we would only be able to drive it locally in Binh Chau starting next year. Three years ago, we sent Tu and Quang to driver’s school (one day a month for 6 months at a cost of almost a $1,000 a person). They both received their driver’s license. They were told to get a commercial driver’s license it would take 5 years and a much higher cost. We recently found out a change in the laws here that if you go 5 years without any citations on a regular driver’s license, you can then apply for a commercial license. Therefore, if Quang can go another 2 years without a citation, he would be eligible for a commercial license. If God provides the funds before Quang gets his commercial license, we can hire a local driver for Saturday/Sunday pick-ups on a short-term basis. We apologize for this long explanation, but we wanted to fully explain why we weren’t able to purchase a bigger van three years ago and how God has opened the door for that possibility going forward. Please pray God will provide the funds to purchase a new/newer 12-seat van to meet the growing needs of the church. If God puts it in your heart to help us purchase this much needed van for the church and orphanage, please donate online at our website, jesusinvietnam.com or mail your check to our home address.
PRAYER REQUESTS
Please pray God will raise up a pastor to oversee the Binh Chau Church and continue to mentor/teach Quang. We truly believe Quang has the heart and understanding of God’s Word to someday be the pastor of the Binh Chau Church. Quang is young at 27 years old, but Nhan was only 24 when we hired him years ago and Tu was only 25 when we hired him as youth pastor back in 2011.
We have contacted some pastors we know here in Vietnam to see if they know someone who might be inclined to come serve in Binh Chau over the next few months or longer as God directs. Please pray God will give us wisdom and discernment in our search for a new pastor.
Please lift Quang and Nhu Y up before our Lord as they take on added responsibilities in serving the church. Please pray for God to give Quang each week a deeper spiritual understanding of His Word so he might grow in his ability to teach the congregation.
Please pray for the children in our orphanage/love house as they have started back to school. They are usually the only Christian in their class. Please pray God’s protection on them and they won’t be influenced by their worldly classmates. Please pray they will stand firm in their faith and influence their classmates for Jesus.
As construction of our 2nd orphanage/love house is completed, please pray God will fill it with hurting children in need of growing up in a loving Christian family environment where they will learn of His great love. mercy, and grace for them through His Son Jesus and His Holy Word.
We are discipling a lady from Tanh Linh (Tuan) who might be willing to open here home to a Bible study. She has come to Binh Chau twice now for several days at a time for Mai to share with her. God used Tuan to get many of the 51 people from Tanh Linh to attend our VBS Camp last year. Please pray as Tuan grows in her knowledge of the Lord, God will put a strong desire for her to open her home to share what she has learned with the new believers in Tanh Linh.
Please pray God will raise up a missionary/missionary couple to move to Tanh Linh to disciple all the new believers there and bring many more lost souls into His kingdom.
We thank God for blessing us with a wonderful contractor for the construction of our new orphanage/love house. Please pray the construction will continue to go smoothly and be completed on schedule without many rain delays. The monsoon season here goes into October.
Before Tu’s resignation, we had planned to return home as soon as the new building was completed, but now we have no definite date to return to Tucson. We will leave that up to our Heavenly Father as to when He provides us with another pastor. We both have finally gotten over the cough we have had for the last couple of months. Please pray God to give us good health and endurance to accomplish all He has in store for us to complete before we return home.
“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.” I Thessalonians 3:9
Jesus in Vietnam Ministries, is a compassion ministry founded by Dennis and Mai Spencer. Vietnamese families suffer from deprivation, lacking sometimes even the necessities of life. In obedience to the many Scriptural commands to help the poor they are enabling families to survive in difficult circumstances. When shown mercy these families are very receptive to the Gospel. The Spencer’s also focus on children, who are the future church of Jesus Christ in Vietnam.