The flight from Los Angeles to Seoul went smoothly, but on arrival in Seoul, we were informed that our flight from Seoul to Saigon had been delayed 7.5 hours. This meant we were in for a 12.5 hour lay over at the Seoul airport. After getting some breakfast, we headed for the airlines lounge. There we met a young Cambodian man named Peter. He was on his way back to the United States after visiting with his family in Cambodia. In talking with Peter for quite some time, we discovered he was a non-practicing Buddhist with some limited knowledge of Jesus Christ. God gave us the opportunity to share the Gospel with Peter, and even though Peter was not ready to accept Jesus as his Lord and Savior, the seed had been planted. We pray that God would continue to water that seed by drawing Peter to Him. As we left Peter to go to our gate, we thanked God for preparing us for this opportunity to share Jesus through our training at Catalina Foothills Church in Evangelism Explosion. Without the confidence and growth we experienced in our walk with the Lord through this ministry, we would have missed this opportunity to be used by God.

Upon arriving in Saigon we were met at the airport by about 10-12 family members. We all loaded up in Mai’s brother’s van and headed for the house we had rented in Saigon. We rented a house due to having such a large family over there and needing the extra space for people to visit. It also gives us a larger area to gather for bible study and fellowship meals as the house is always full of 10-20 relatives and/or friends. Everyone in the family seemed to be doing okay with the exception of Mom, who was suffering some stomach problems. Also, she had .fallen recently and. her left knee was. quite swollen. We spent a few days in Saigon with the family and then headed for Binh Chau.

We arrived in Binh Chau on Friday night and were delighted to find out that the weekly adult Bible study was being held that night at one of Mai’s sister’s house.  We attended the bible study and met Lam and Mai, the husband and wife team from Pastor Quy’s church in Ba To, who travel to Binh Chau 2 times a week to teach bible study classes. The adults meet on Friday nights and the children meet on Tuesday nights. There were about 8 or 9 adults at the bible study that night. Because the Communist government says only church business can be conducted within the walls of an approved church, Lam and Mai hold the adult bible study in different homes each week. This helps in not bringing attention from the government, but does present them with another obstacle: If some people like the family where the bible study is held, then they attend, but if they don’t feel that family is living  “right”, then they don’t attend. This causes the attendance level to vary from week to week. Both Lam and Mai asked us to pray that God would use them to teach these young Christians how important it is for them to come together as the Body of Christ and not be judgmental of their brothers and sisters in Christ. We were able to film parts of the Bible study that night and hope to put a short tape together to show God’s work in Binh Chau.

We met with Pastor Quy the next day at his church in Ba To to discuss the progress that had been made in Binh Chau since our visit last year. Pastor Quy was very thankful to God and CFC for the prayer and financial support he had been receiving since January of this year. This support had allowed him and his church to start an outreach ministry to Binh Chau, which is a town about 20 miles from Ba To. He had assigned an elder in his church, a young man by the name of Tam, who lives in Binh Chau, to conduct weekly Sunday home worship services. He also enlisted one of his other elders, Lam and Lam’s wife, Mai, to travel to Binh Chau 2 nights a week to hold Bible studies for the adults and the children. About $100 a month is used to support and pay expenses for Tam, Lam, and Mai to minister to the people in Binh Chau. The other $100 is used each month to support and strengthen the other 3 churches that Pastor Quy oversees in that area. To refresh your memory, Pastor Quy pastors his church in Ba To, but has been given authority from the Communist government to oversee and plant churches in this area of Vietnam. He currently has 3 other churches he oversees plus the new outreach to Binh Chau. As you can see, God has used CFC’s support not only to open the door for ministry in Binh Chau, but has used it to strengthen all the CMA churches in that region. Praise God!

The meeting with Pastor Quy was very enlightening and we left with an invitation to attend Sunday services at his church the next day. We did attend Sunday morning services the next day at Pastor Quy’s church in Ba To. They meet for prayer from 7am to 8am and also hold Sunday school classes for both adults and children. The children’s Sunday school classes are actually held in neighboring houses as the church does not have any classrooms. The Worship Service started about 9am. There were approximately 50 people at. the services that day. Pastor Quy asked me to pray for the church and Mai interpreted my prayer for the congregation.

The format for the Worship Service pretty much duplicates ours at CFC, except no choir that Sunday. They did have a young man sing a solo and he was excellent. We were allowed to video parts of the Worship Service also. After the service we were invited to have lunch with Pastor Quy, his family, and some of his staff at Pastor Quy’s house (actually his house consists of a few rooms attached to the back side of the church).

We then returned to Binh Chau by motorcycle that afternoon so we could attend the Home Church in Binh Chau early that evening. Approximately 18 to 20 people attended the home service with 5 or 6 of them members of Pastor Quy’s church who traveled from Ba To to show their support and encourage the Christians in Binh Chau. Lam gave the sermon and Mai said he did an excellent job. Afterwards no one seemed to want to leave, so we spent about an hour singing Praise songs and fellowshipping. They sing many of the songs that we do at CFC. They wanted to hear Mai, Cheree, and I sing, which was quite a site since all three of us are musically challenged. We all had a great time praising God. Afterwards, we invited Tam, Lam, and Mai over to Mai’s sister’s house and they shared with us some of the obstacles they face in bringing the Gospel to Binh Chau. First, due to government restrictions, they are not able to go out and effectively evangelize. When they do have an opportunity to talk about God, many respond with the comment “if your god is so powerful, why don’t you have a church?” Secondly, people are hesitant to attend home church or weekly home bible studies because of a fear of government persecution. Thirdly, people are skeptical because on two other occasions church plants were attempted and failed for whatever reasons. Plus, people are so caught up in making money or just trying to provide for their families from day to day that they have no time or interest in God or church. Even though facing many obstacles, Tam, Lam, and Mai were very enthusiastic about the small group of Christians in Binh Chau and that God would continue to give them opportunities to reach other lost souls there. Even though the groups are small, six months ago there was no home church or bible study taking place in Binh Chau. We thank God for opening the door to Binh Chau and that HE would raise up an army of His servants to build His Kingdom in Binh Chau.

Tuesday night we attended the children’s bible study in Binh Chau and what a blessing it was. The house it was held in was nothing more that a “shack” made of wood and tarp, but the Spirit of the Lord was definitely present. Twelve smiling faces sat and listened intently to God’s Word being taught and brought so much enthusiasm and excitement in their song and praise worship of Him. It was such a joy and brought tears to ours eyes to see God touching the hearts of these precious children. Lam and Mai who taught the class requested any children’s bible study material that we could get for them as they have very little material to teach the children available to them there. We truly believe that God will use the children of Binh Chau to bring their parents to Him as they are so anxious to go to bible study each week.  The class would be bigger except for the lack of transportation. Lam picks many up on his motorcycle and brings them to class, but he can only transport a limited number. We were told many more would come if there was a way to get them to the bible study.

We met several more times with Pastor Quy and some of his staff while we were in Binh Chau and Ba To. In spite of working in difficult surroundings and facing many obstacles, they all seem to have a passion for seeing God’s Kingdom expanded  and are so thankful that God is using them to reach the unsaved in that area of Vietnam. We ask for your continued prayers and support that God would do more than we could ever imagine to bring His saving Grace to Binh Chau, Ba To, and all of Vietnam so that His Name might receive the Glory and be High and Lifted Up!

Dennis & Mai Spencer