Why did I go to Vietnam? About 5 months ago the Binh Chau church encountered a setback. Lam and Mai, the Bible teachers in Binh Chau, made the decision to go back to Pastor Quy’s church in Ba To. This left Binh Chau without anyone to shepherd the church there. Pastor Quy, Dennis, and I were really concerned who would now lead the brothers and sisters of the Binh Chau church in their walk with the Lord. On a temporary basis Pastor Quy and Mrs. Quy agreed to take on these responsibilities. They would travel to Binh Chau 3 times a week to hold weekly Bible studies and Sunday Worship Service. This was a very big undertaking, as Pastor Quy not only pastors his own church in Ba To, but he oversees 6 other churches in the province. We began praying that God would raise up a pastor or Bible teacher for Binh Chau.

“And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Son may bring glory to the Father. You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it.” - John 14:13-14

The year 2006 was definitely a year of answered prayer from our Heavenly Father to bring Glory and Honor to His Mighty Name! God took a vision He implanted in our hearts 18 years ago and brought it to fulfillment in 2006 to show His love and mercy for His children in Binh Chau, Vietnam.

 October 2006:

The flights over went very well and we actually arrived in Saigon within 5 minutes of our expected arrival time. We were met at the airport by about 11-12 of our relatives, including Mai's Mother. We went to one of Mai's brother's house in Saigon and spent several hours visiting with family members. We then spent the night in a nearby hotel to get some rest from the trip. We decided to go to a hotel because it would be difficult to rest at our brother's small house with 15-20 people there( plus the hotel had air conditioning).

After returning from Vietnam in August we began getting letters and emails from Pastor Quy requesting that we return as soon as possible to help with the church plant in Binh Chau. Pastor Quy stated that he could see that God had granted us favor with those we had the opportunity to meet and talk to during our previous trip and he felt the time was right to reach out to believers and non-believers with the Word of God. Dennis would not be able to return so soon due to work obligations, but we began to pray if it is God’s will for me to return that He would open the doors for that to happen. We submitted the invitation to return to Vietnam to our church, Catalina Foothills Church, through Kathryn Farris, our Missions Director. I also had the opportunity to give an update of our July trip to the Widow’s group at CFC. God answered our prayers and He began to open those doors. First, CFC offered to financially support my return trip. Then, God touched the hearts of His people and funds were given to help support His Work in Binh Chau. To God be the Glory!

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.