“Gooooooodd Morning VIETNAM!!!” (Actually it’s more like good morning to you when I’m posting this seeing as it’s about 9:00pm here and I’m 12 hours ahead of you). Anyway...
I just wanted to give you all a bit of an update on life here in Vietnam, on how I’m doing, and some prayer requests that you can be lifting up on mine and my team’s behalf!
You may be asking yourself, “what does ministry look like for you this month in Vietnam?” I won’t lie, living in a country where it’s illegal to evangelize and be a missionary presents a unique set of challenges, especially when you don’t speak the language and your team is doing “ATL” month. “Ask the Lord” month means that my team and I do not have a host or a set ministry here in Vietnam, which means that each and everyday can look extremely different than the day before. We begin each day with individual prayer, asking the Lord to lay what He would have us do on any specific day(s) on our hearts. We then convene as a team and set a loose plan of what our day will look like.
So far some of our days have looked like meeting people as we walk around the local university that is right down the road, befriending local restaurant owners and learning more of their hearts and stories, praying over the grounds of a lakefront hotel that hasn’t seen business in years, and praying on behalf and building a relationship with the family who owns the homestay where we currently reside. This month is teaching me more and more that life truly IS ministry and ministry IS life. They are one in the same, and we never have to turn off loving people, shining a light, and sharing the good news we’ve been given.
Yesterday was probably my favorite day of ATL month so far! My team and I had the opportunity to help out at an after school assembly for a local primary school. We got to meet and love on the kids and we even sang the beloved Disney song “Let it Go” in front of over 400 students and faculty members; definitely something I will never forget.
This month has been a little difficult for me personally. I’ve been feeling unmotivated in the area of blogging because I let the enemy convince me that no one really cared, and no one would be reading my blogs anyway. I started to feel that my words weren’t important, and ultimately that I wasn’t important. I stopped wanting to have my picture taken because old lies started to creep back in and I slowly started to agree with them. I was embarrassed of what I looked like and so I decided I would shut the world out and hide myself away from everyone back home. God is so so good though and so tireless in His pursuit after me and my heart. He is holding me steadfast throughout the current season of my life and He is putting those little reminders of His love in my path each and everyday. A blooming sunflower, a hug from a new friend, or a kind word from a loved one back home. He never stops showing me just how loved and valued I truly am. Life may not be all sunshine (literally we’ve only seen the sun once since arriving here) and smiles here in Vietnam, but honestly I wouldn’t have it any other way. God is teaching me so much and is helping me to remain fully reliant on Him in the good, the bad, and all that’s in between!
Please be praying for my team and I as we continue to press in here in Vietnam. Be praying for boldness on our behalf and that we will be led by the Holy Spirit’s discretion in what we should and shouldn’t say. Pray for the town of Thai Nguyen and the country of Vietnam as a whole, that the people would be open and receptive to God and those things that He asks us to share with them!
Thank you my friends for your continued love and support, it means more to me than you’ll ever know! Talk to you soon!
-Meagan
