Day 4 Saigon (but sending from Cambodia because of security of pictures and names)
Friends
What a day. We started the day as usually going to the 11th floor for our steady diet of fruit and carrot omelet. The first day we arrived in Vietnam we were surprised when the waiter asked if we would like omelets. "Omelets? Of course we want omelets!" Each of us ordered a different kind, only to be served an omelet with pieces of shredded carrot in it. It has been the same everyday, we order an elaborate omelet with our young waiter saying, "yes, avocado...yes, bacon...yes, tomato" and for him to return with a carrot omelet...until today. Today something clicked, and we actually received a real omelet with bacon, peppers, cheese and tomatoes. It was wonderful We should have known that it was going to be a good day!
Friends
What a day. We started the day as usually going to the 11th floor for our steady diet of fruit and carrot omelet. The first day we arrived in Vietnam we were surprised when the waiter asked if we would like omelets. "Omelets? Of course we want omelets!" Each of us ordered a different kind, only to be served an omelet with pieces of shredded carrot in it. It has been the same everyday, we order an elaborate omelet with our young waiter saying, "yes, avocado...yes, bacon...yes, tomato" and for him to return with a carrot omelet...until today. Today something clicked, and we actually received a real omelet with bacon, peppers, cheese and tomatoes. It was wonderful We should have known that it was going to be a good day!
We rolled into the church at 8:30am for training. We began the day by talking about the "world of kids" in Vietnam. We put them in groups and had them discuss the issues that kids deal with in Vietnam, where we can find kids hanging out and how we might enter their world. The light bulbs started to come on. The leaders in the room began to realize that there are implications to befriending kids outside the church. How do we meet them? How do we start conversations with kids that we don't know? What do we do when the use bad language or try to leave a meeting? They started to understand that these are the very teens we want. They were really starting to think that this is something they could do with kids in their country. Now, you have to remember that this is a communist country that persecutes people who share the love of Jesus with others. Yet, here we were with 50 of our new friends dreaming of a day when we would be in heaven with our young friends. A few ideas were: Rice fields, factories, coffee shops, soccer fields, long bus rides, and street corners.
We closed our training session by asking them what they were going to take away from this time together:
"I learned what it means to really enter the world of non-believers and love them for who they are"
"I was reminded to be joyful"
"I understand how to organize a Christian camp for non-Christians"
"I was going to quit youth ministry, but after this conference I decided I must stay in it" (this from a 21-year old non-paid pastor, who is also over 5 other pastors and must provide for his 6 younger brothers and sisters, because his father passed away 2 years ago. By the way, he makes $300/yr selling rice and $250/yr selling sugarcane...humbling)
"I learned how Jesus steps into the boat of people's lives"
"I learned about how I have a relationship with Jesus that I can share with others"
"I learned how to prepare and share a message with great passion, joy and depth"
"I learned what it means to really enter the world of non-believers and love them for who they are"
"I was reminded to be joyful"
"I understand how to organize a Christian camp for non-Christians"
"I was going to quit youth ministry, but after this conference I decided I must stay in it" (this from a 21-year old non-paid pastor, who is also over 5 other pastors and must provide for his 6 younger brothers and sisters, because his father passed away 2 years ago. By the way, he makes $300/yr selling rice and $250/yr selling sugarcane...humbling)
"I learned how Jesus steps into the boat of people's lives"
"I learned about how I have a relationship with Jesus that I can share with others"
"I learned how to prepare and share a message with great passion, joy and depth"
Please pray for this people. They will actually be risking their lives when the begin to do Incarnational Ministry in this country. Pray for protection. Pray for courage and creativity. Pray that God would give them the teenagers.
Sidenote: We took the team (pictured below) out for dinner tonight. Johnny and Pearl (far left) our the leaders and the other five Vietnamese young people are their team. They are amazing We practically ordered the entire menu. The meal for all ten of us cost a whooping $150 which is very expensive in Vietnam and a bargain in the US. At one point Alex (far right) leaned over and said, "this is the best meal any of us five have ever had." It was an honor for one evening to treat them like royalty. They are, after all, sons and daughters of the King.
Pictures:
Whole training group
Leadership team of conference
Playing lap sit game
Me, LanG, and rob (21 yr old pastor I talked about above)
The two fish I picked for dinner
Whole training group
Leadership team of conference
Playing lap sit game
Me, LanG, and rob (21 yr old pastor I talked about above)
The two fish I picked for dinner
In Cambodia now, amazing things already...mo
re tomorrow. 
re tomorrow. 
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