Our main reason for going to Vietnam was to help with a VBS. Before anyone panics, I have permission to publish this. We left Minh's house at 12:30 AM so we could meet our interpreter in Ho Chi Minh at 4:00 AM. Our final stopping point was a 9 hour van ride away. We checked into our hotel at about 4 PM. The next morning we went to the VBS site. It was held outside of a house church with about 100 kids in attendance. We created quite a stir when we arrived. We finally had to move the yard behind the kids so that they could pay attention! We had brought beads with us to make wordless bracelets. I got to share, through an interpreter, the gospel story as we put the bracelets together. The kids loved it. I don't think they get to do crafty things very often so it was a treat for them. I'm hoping they use the bracelet to tell their parents and friends the salvation story. After we finished with the bracelets, we had to leave. They were concerned that we would draw the attention of the police if we stayed too long.
The next day was Sunday. We were back at the VBS site early for Sunday church. We were early so we had time to interact with the kids. They were quite shy around us, most likely they aren't used to such pale skin. I guess we need more work on our tans! Digital cameras are such a blessing in these situations. It's a poor village and I don't think they've seen many cameras. After snapping their picture, I'd let them view it. It turned their faces into smiles and had them clamoring to be in the next picture.
After singing, or listening on our part, Skip shared the gospel through an interpreter. I got to help award prizes from VBS. After church we got the chance to speak to a few people. With the language barrier, it was difficult. No one could speak English. We left right away for lunch and then it was on the road again.
While there, the kids made a special new friend, Tien. She's 20 and could speak English. She was with us almost the whole time. Both Jackson and Maia loved her. We've since connected on Facebook to keep in touch. Skip and our interpreter also got to share the gospel with our hotel owner and family. Their daughter spoke a little bit of English and was enjoying practicing her English. The family thanked them for sharing.
We left at 11 AM and arrived back in Ho Chi Minh at 8 PM. Our interpreter wanted us to go to Sunday night services with him at his church. It had started at 7 PM but we went anyway. Unfortunately, the pulpit is right at the entrance door. No sneaking in late there! The pastor was expecting us so he stopped the beginning of his sermon for our introduction. We introduced ourselves and told them a little about what we were doing this summer.
It was late when we got to our hotel only to find out that our reserved rooms had given away. I guess they thought we weren't coming. They were very helpful, though, and went down the street to find us two other rooms for rent. At this point, a bed's a bed.
