Dearly Beloved Brethren,
Thank God for a spiritually fruitful mission trip in Vietnam that we could organise a 3-day Vacation Bible Class (VBS) for about 100 children and youth from 30 June to 2 July 2014. The VBS was conducted at a rural village called Phu Ly which is about 3 hours’ drive from Ho Chi Ming city. God is good to teach us many spiritual lessons in this trip and we pray that we will not forget the goodness of God showered on us in this trip.
Thank God for Past Labours of Faithful Missionaries
Our VBS was conducted in the Church compound of an Evangelical Lutheran Church in Phu Ly village. This village is in the thick of a very large thick forest vegetation area. The church was built some years ago through the giving of some Korean Churches. Throughout Vietnam, we can see the love and faithful service of past missionaries and believers that the Gospel can reach to many in this country with a population of about 90 million.
The Gospel came to Vietnam in 1911. A team of three Alliance international workers, led by Robert A. Jaffray, entered Vietnam, then known as French Indochina, with the purpose of establishing the country’s first evangelical church. This church was formed in 1927 and by 1940 was comprised of 100 self-supporting churches. Even though the communist took control of Vietnam in 1975 and stopped the preaching of the Gospel and Christian training programme, it cannot stop the true believers from holding firm to their faith in Jesus Christ despite persecution. What 3 believers had done in Vietnam in 1911 in preaching the Gospel has built a strong community of believers today. I do not think they foresee or know the fruits it has born today. But these 3 believers certainly know what it means to be faithful to the Lord Jesus and obey their calling from God to give everything for the Lord in Vietnam.
Thank God our mission team can be used by the Lord in a short 3 day to further enhance the Kingdom of God in Vietnam.
The Harvest truly is Plenteous but the Labourers are Few (Matthew 9:37)
This year was the biggest mission team we had in Vietnam. 9 of us went for this mission team with 2 members from other Churches. This was our 5th mission trip to Vietnam and our 4th time to Phu Ly village church. Thank God for grace to persevere on to labour for Him.
In every trip, the cry for labourers to serve the Lord is always there. The harvest field is indeed plenteous as the Lord Jesus said in Matthew 9:37. The need is so great that many need to hear the Gospel of Jesus Christ. There is a dire need for the Word of God to be taught to the believers too so that they can grow spiritually in Christ. Whether we go with 3 or 9 members in our mission trip, it is never enough to reach out to the spiritually needy Vietnamese.
In this mission of a 3-day VBS, we taught the children and youth the Life of David with 5 messages and they have 5 memory verses to remember too. We divided into 4 classes for our teaching: Pre-primary, lower primary, upper primary and secondary and above. Thank God for interpreters to help us as the Vietnamese children can hardly understand English. In the VBS, we also taught the children simple English Gospel songs, craft, games, English bible lessons etc. Indeed the Lord has helped us through each day activity from 9am to 5pm.
My Grace is Sufficient for Thee (2 Corinthians 12:9)
Living in a comfortable and prospering Singapore makes it hard for us to live in a village place. We stay in a village guesthouse in which all kinds of insects including rats and frogs can appear in our room. It was frightening and uncomfortable and our sleep is not ideal. In one of the nights, there was a black out and we had no electricity through the whole night. Without the fan and air-con in the room, we were attacked by mosquitoes throughout the night. Some members could hardly sleep that night. Yet the Lord’s grace is sufficient for us to go through each VBS activity and He never failed us at all.
I want to relate how God encouraged my heart through a very simple and small incident. I was bathing in the toilet when the black-out occurred. Not knowing what had happened to the electricity and waiting for others to tell me what is happening, I was in the dark in the toilet alone. Insect sounds were everywhere around me. Then the Lord sent a fire fly at this time into the toilet. This was my first experience to see a fire fly in the dark and behold, how it gave forth light in the toilet. I was so glad that God would even take notice of me to send a fire fly into the toilet at this time to give me light and comfort. All praise to our Sovereign and Almighty God!
Only One Life, Twill Soon Be Past
What are we doing for the Lord with this one life that God has given us now? Are we willing to deny ourselves, take up our cross and follow the Lord Jesus Christ?
“For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?” Mark 8:36
May our lives count for our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ!
Elder John Leong