Love Can Break the Ice!
Can you imagine what it would be like to move into a small rural town in an underdeveloped county where only two people in town spoke any English and you don’t know the local language? Challenging? For sure!
But also consider that you had prayed for decades for God to open a door for you into that war-torn country. And then God did it! The fulfillment of a dream and years of prayer. That was what it was like when my husband, Bob, and I moved to Vietnam in 1995. Vietnam was just opening up to the outside world and we had been making scouting trips in to see what it was like. Then on one trip God sovereignly caused us to meet an Australian couple who had started an organization to bring in used medical equipment. They were looking for someone to be their “boots on the ground” and we were ready and willing. They set us up at a Medical School in North Vietnam to teach, oversee the placement of the medical equipment, and host several teams of Christian doctors and nurses for short mission trips to teach Vietnamese doctors in surgery in Hanoi.
The best way to explain our initial reception (as Americans) was “the boogie man has come to town, and we were him!” Understandable in an area that had been heavily bombed during the war by America. Lots of deep psychological wounds, memories, and personal loss. Major barriers to chip away at and walls to break down. The prophet Isaiah’s words from Isaiah 26:3 rang true for us: “Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on thee.” But I remember the general impression of the Vietnamese towards one of the teams that we hosted was that they were amazed at their gentleness, compassion, and joy in serving. What an excellent message that was to give when words were restricted! (Although some seeds of faith frequently got dropped along the way!) Our personal focus in those days besides teaching (English and Emergency Medical Procedures) was prayer, language study, and building relationships. Vietnamese is a tonal language so one monosyllabic word can have up to six meanings depending on your tone. But out of necessity, after the first year, we were able to express our needs and communicate on a light social level and read some material. Living among the people as we did, we saw the highs and lows of society by attending a wedding and several funerals. We had laughed with the people and cried with them but mostly just being among them day by day had taught us a lot about their culture, beliefs, and mindset. Our hearts often ached for them as we realized that they did not know where to turn. We realized that if we had been born in Vietnam, we would view things and react in the same way they did. Many genuinely wanted to see things change and learn what (Who) makes the difference in people’s lives. After a time, we had the awesome privilege of helping one young Vietnamese woman see life from a new perspective and come to faith in Jesus Christ. The wonder of the new birth is the greatest demonstration of God’s power in the universe! His grace is sufficient, and we need only to avail ourselves of it.
I consider it an extraordinary privilege to have been able to enter Vietnam when we did and serve there. I have many amazing memories. God used this time to enlarge us tremendously in our relationship with Him. We received a word of prophecy over us shortly after the door to Vietnam opened that we would be like an icebreaker ship – going in to clear the way for others to come after us carrying precious supplies (the gospel of the Kingdom of God). The Spirit of God is moving more freely in Vietnam today. Praise God!
Is there something that you prayed about for years and then it happened?
Can you look back at a time in your life when things seemed very difficult, but God sustained you?
