Togetherness

Thursday, December 6th

Vietnamese Village Visitation

I was able to take part in a one-day 'mission trip' to a Vietnamese village 5 hours from Ho Chi Minh City to hold a 헌당식 (google translate = dedication ceremony) for a newly built Vietnamese church. 

It's about a five hour drive on a bus. Five hours there and 5 hours back in one day is NO fun. If you've been to Southeast Asia, you know how the bus rides are... bus driver honks every 2 seconds. BUT according to Pastor Hyuk Kim, I have a gift in sleeping. Yes yes, if you've ever traveled with me, sleeping in airplanes and cars are no problem for me. I'll sit & knock out before the vehicle even moves. Praise God? :) 

Bethel Church is actively helping the minority population living in the villages - building churches, passing out rice/clothes to the needy, and of course, through prayers. 

The first picture seen below was taken in front of a church in the village pastored by Pastor Tuan(?)'s father-in-law (Esther's father). 

The second picture is the church that was recently built for the church that is pastored by Esther's brother. (This is where we held the Dedication Ceremony. I would say more of a Dedication Service?)

Below is a picture of the Pig Farm in the village. Can't get there by car, so had to ride a moto. It was quite a bumpy ride (thought we were going to tip over) but I guess I underestimated the Vietnamese peoples' moto-driving skills. 

The Pig Farm was set up by a deacon of the church to help the villagers. I believe they started off with about 12 pigs? One just had 7 babies, and more to come. There will be about 40 of them in a couple days. Their plan is to continue to breed pigs and pass them out to the villagers as a source of living. (Not just for a one-time meal, but to train them to procreate so that they can have a stable food source.) It's kind of like Bethel's method of CAM. 

It was a short trip, but I was glad to see how God is slowly but surely working in this land of Vietnam. It was also a blessing to see all of Pastor Tuan's family (more so, Esther's family) really devoting their lives in serving God and His people. Bethel, GCC, and the Vietnamese church are really working together to bring the lost souls back to God. I am once again reminded that missions isn't all about proclaiming the gospel message through ones' mouth, but that there are many ways we can take part in making that Name known. What a privilege it is to be taking part in God's work. It's pleasing to see Christians coming together from all over the world and working together to build God's kingdom. I'm sure God is ever more pleased at this sight :)

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On a negative note:

I got a sick. Bleh.

All I did was sit in the bus and sleep for 10 hours, but I guess I was drained?

As I laid down to sleep on Thursday night, I felt it coming. THEN I really knew I was getting sick when I started getting cold and I pulled up my blanket to my neck. (It's hot here so I can sleep without a blanket..)

Stayed home all day Friday drugged off of Dayquil,

but praise God it only took one day of rest to recover :)