We were a team of four ladies set off on the 13th November from Manchester airport to travel to Ho Chi Min City in the South of Vietnam. On the 23rd November we flew up to the capital Hanoi and returned home on the 28th November 2015. We spent 2 weeks in Vietnam and it is a diverse country. The two cities are very different from each other. Vietnam is a closed country and as such the church is underground and mission work is not really permitted. Inspite of this we met some wonderful Christians, and God really met us with us with lots of blessings. In this article we will not give names of the people we worked with but we will share what God is doing in this nation.
When we arrived we were met by one of the local Pastors and he helped us to our hotel. The first impression I had of HCMC was where are all the scooters. from, everywhere you turned there where scooters, horns and so much traffic. We had to change money and get a sim-card and one of my lasting memories is seeing Bukky taking off on the back of the Pastors scooter to find a money change place. She later said it was really scary.
Everywhere you turn in this city there are scooters. You see some amazing things from fridges to Christmas trees being carried on the back of Scooter. The next morning we joined with a local fellowship, Esther shared a word and then the Pastor took us for something to eat. We were all sat together and he started talking to this lady who asked what we were doing in Vietnam. This ended up with her getting saved in the middle of the restaurant and the pastor arranging some follow up visits. In the evening we visited an orphanage. Bukky shared a word with the children. Then the Pastors wife brought a young man up who had come to bring food to the children but then he stayed for the meeting and he gave his life to Jesus. The next day we went out with our Pastor friend to a farm in the middle of nowhere. The farmer’s wife was so pleased that we where there. Andrea and Esther were able to share their testimonies which impacted on their lives and were really relevant to their situation. We returned to the city feeling very much like God had his hand on us. The next day we started working with a student ministry. They provided a safe place for students to stay and out of this work a church has started. We did youth Alpha with them and took an English class. In the evening we met up with individuals that we had met. The one thing God put on our hearts was venerable women and God blessed us with £1363.00. We able to leave £500 with the student ministry to provide for the students in their care and the rest of money we sowed into a new ministry which will raise awareness of people trafficking and domestic violence with the churches in the North of the country. In Hanoi we ministered to children and found links with a couple of fellowships, one which was helping ex-drug addicts and alcoholics.
We all felt that we were sowing into future relationships and we were building on what the previous BTBAB team had sown. One thing God told us was he had opened an effective work of ministry for us in Vietnam. We have been invited back next year to both cities and I do believe that BTBAB will go back with another team next year. All this would not have been possible without the support of our own locals churches and we like to thank them for supporting us so we could go to Vietnam and see our God do awesome things.
