Viet Nam vets - Christians who are go out on short-term missions - you want to read this.
Below is an edited message sent by the leader of a covert operation into Viet Nam. No, this operation did not take place back in the 60s - this just ended recently. I am an old military guy, so I understand the need to be sure names and other security issues are deleted as the team will probably be making more trips in the future. Just think of my editing as "Operational Security."
Background - a team of American and Canadian clergy, along with some trained lay people, spent time in Viet Nam recently. Their purpose was to meet with and train Vietnamese Christians. The team smuggled in Vietnamese langauge Bibles, training material (both printed and digital). If the Westerners got caught, they would merely be "disinvited." The Vietnamese who might get caught could face prison.
Read on - especially the very last paragraph.
2003 Ministry Team Report
Mekong Delta Area, Vietnam
I continue to be humbled and amazed by the love of God. He has already made this one of the most memorable mission trips ever. Obviously, our team arrived safely and had our briefing at a hotel in HCMC in preparation for our work. Little did we know that God's Holy Spirit would do such great things in less than 24 hours?
The team traveled 5+ hours in two vans south of Saigon to the Delta. Evidently our teaching location had been "compromised" and the police somehow were outside of our hotel. Our team/in-country leader, a Vietnamese-American pastor from North Carolina, took us out the back way to a waiting boat. We traveled up the Mekong River for about one-hour and a half. We anchored in mid-river with three other boats full of “meeting” participants. One of our team teachers was recruited to explain Believer's Baptism to the assembled that numbered between 350-400 men, women and children. After his teaching about baptism and what it means over 200 of the estimated 400 participants were baptized right in the river! It took over an hour to get to the last person. Those that were too feeble or sick to get into the water were baptized on the boat. Our team leader assisted in the baptisms.
A second member on the team along with five other teachers then taught in shifts going from one boat to the other so all the participants could hear a different lesson-subject during the day. We had two pastors from Maryland, other clergy from Georgia, Tennessee and South Carolina, and one “street preacher” from near St. Louis, MO. One of these boats was filled with clergy leaders, one boat was full of lay leaders and the third boat was packed with new believers. The team taught late into the day and endured a monsoon rain pelting for an hour on the way back to the hotel landing. We were freezing and soaked on the outside but warm and fussy on the inside!
The second day began early and lasted until mid afternoon. Team members were the speakers for a Sunday service again down the river on boats but this time only 45 minutes. Anchored in the middle of the river with posted lookouts, “we” were the service that lasted several hours. All of us preached or shared personal testimony for 15-20 minutes each except for the lone woman who was with us. She handled the Children's service at the rear of the boat. Children’s church lasted for nearly two hours. A special note - On our way back to shore, the boat driver accepted Christ!
After docking at the hotel and eating a late lunch, we headed back to Saigon. While on the way one of the two van drivers came to know the Jesus as His Lord and Savior. Upon arrival the group met up with a couple of team members there, had some dinner, and a meeting was held with a “friend of the team from the Seattle area” who committed $16,500 to build a medical clinic in 2004. The remainder of the evening and the next morning were set aside for rest before taking an afternoon flight to Da Nang. Tomorrow the team is prepared to "teach" for two days in Tam Ky to possibly 200 church leaders before heading up to Da Nang for more teaching opportunities.
This is all for now but by all means it’s just some of the great things His Holy Spirit accomplished in just three days. Alleluia!!!!
Central Viet Nam
If it's Thursday it must be Da Nang! A parody off of an old movie made so long ago most of you won't remember it :-). Half the team is in a small city south of Da Nang on the coast and the rest of us are actually in Da Nang. We learned today that on Thursday and Friday we "teach" fourth year university students instead of a large group of church leaders. We’re supposed to invite them to dinner then back to our room to study conversational English. The university student thing is a new development. The police have caused our original group in the small city to come to Da Nang a day early. They only got to teach half a day there. I heard two versions of how the police discovered the group. One was that a Montagnard pastor-church leader was walking on a road coming into town when he was stopped by police and questioned. The second story that was shared with me was that the Americans stood out or were so noticeable that the police were made aware of the team’s presence in the city.
While some of the team was teaching in the small city, some of us had meetings elsewhere with an offical government agency, as well as another non-governmental organziation (NGO) with whom we hope to work in the future. Tomorrow our team leader, me, my wife and another team member head north to check-out two possible clinic sites for a future project with church leaders in that area.
Central Viet Nam (not far from the old DMZ)
What a surprise it was to discover that I had meetings with the Provincial Department of Health, Department of Foreign Relations, and the Peoples Committee today! Apparently the deal was that our pastor had worked out an agreement in advance with these governmental authorities that should our agency build a clinic in a certain central Vietnamese city, he would be granted permission to “teach” in the Province. Since the Vietnamese constitution supposedly allows free expression of religion, and because the local authorities need a new communicable disease building, everyone is pretty happy with the $382,000 proposal our agency was given for a new medical facility in Central Viet Nam! That is everyone but me. My first thought was where in the world would our organziation find almost $400,000? We’ll see! (Note from Virtual Doug - drop me an email if you would like to know the name of the organization and how you can help.)
The Da Nang team is supposed to be witnessing to university students again tonight. Same plan for Friday evening too. Again this was required due to the political and police pressure exerted on local church and pastor/leaders when the team was "discovered" in the small city. A contact in Da Nang confirmed for me that some people were wondering what our split group was doing in there and in Da Nang. Interesting? I’m in Hue for an overnight and will catch up with the rest of the team in Da Nang tomorrow afternoon.
A news flash, so to speak! I learned more details about what happened in the small city in a telephone call today from that same contact in Da Nang. Evidently the team did have to leave town a day early because it was a Montagnard, who was walking to town to attend training (a journey of some 30 km by foot) who was stopped, arrested and interrogated. This person spilled the beans, so to speak, and the police came by the hotel while the team was "training." Our in-country pastor spoke with them and then they left. But later that afternoon the police called the training location, and asked to speak to this pastor, and told him they were coming back at 2:30 that afternoon to "arrest people." Since it was 1:00 p.m. the pastor and another team leader thought the police were giving the team an opportunity to get out of there before they showed up. So, they left!
Bangkok, Thailand
Little did we know how exactly anything would go on this ministry trip? All the planning in the world has to be prefixed by the word "flexible" when coming over here for obvious reasons :-).
On Monday morning the team left Central Viet Nam after a couple days of much needed R&R. Still fresh in our minds was the worship service and fellowship we enjoyed with a small group of missionaries in the area. Yes, only nine servants on a mission field of about 3,500,000 people. The field is indeed ripe for the harvest but where are the workers?
Upon arrival in Ho Chi Minh City, half the team headed back to the US while five of us went straight to a hotel where we joined a larger group of believers from across the country. We were invited to teach and preach that afternoon before we had to leave at 6:00 p.m. for Bangkok. First we had lunch with them. Then I preached a message followed by two of our team members who taught. One of our team's women shared with the group and my spouse finished up by giving a "word of encouragement." Before leaving that late afternoon we had communion with yet another set of "different elements" for the Lord's Supper. During the past week and a half the team has had the Lord’s Supper with coca-cola and crackers, coca-cola with bread, orange juice with bread and kool-aid with hosts (wafers like used in the Catholic or Lutheran church). The most interesting and uplifting time during this meeting came when a pastor from the Mekong Delta region (5+ hours from HCMC) startled us with the following report.
If you will remember over two hundred were baptized before our team left the Mekong Delta area and nearly five hundred were taught over 2 days. The pastor shared that they believe three miracles occurred during or shortly after we left. It appears a very elderly man who accepted Christ and wanted to be baptized (I remember him from his frailty and apparent sickly condition because he couldn't physically get to the water) was suffering from lung cancer. He was so weak that he was baptized on the boat. The pastor told us he is well now because the cancer is gone. We didn't know what to say? PTL!
Two other people had sicknesses, but after the teaching and baptisms, they are reported to be well too. Again, we didn't know what to say, but there was a great commotion in the room. What followed was applause and a great deal of praising the Lord with a fair share of alleluia chorus's from all the assembled! God is good and His Holy Spirit is moving here .
Over five hundred people mostly church leaders both clergy and lay people were taught and trained this trip. Approximately 700 Bibles and/or Praise & Worship hymnals were distributed along with other key Christian literature and equipment such as a Discipleship Training Program (in Vietnamese) in two hundred CD’s with video format.
We arrived at our hotel in Bangkok near midnight and a series of consultations with other NGO’s and missionaries working in Vietnam began the next morning. These meetings lasted through Friday afternoon. We left for the US on Saturday and stayed over in LA before getting home. A memorable 19-day experience!
At this point I just don't know what else to say or tell you our trip. Our brethren in Vietnam have humbled us. Their faith is genuine, their works visible, the persecution genuine. I know we came to help them but I think they made every team member's faith stronger after observing and fellowshipping with them. It made me think - who really are the missionaries here?
In His Service and All For Him,
Anonymous Team Member
