And the situation is?
6 MONTHS!!! I have been in Vietnam for 6 months now and things have still been wonderful… Last month was perhaps the hardest month for me, I had many many problems at the work place

Feeling insignificant and being taken advantage of, I felt crappy and going to work was a chore to me. However God was faithful, He always provides for my every physical and spiritual need. He continues to dig up the really deep and troubling issues of my life and works it out with me and well how this is done cannot be described with mere words but know that the joy which comes with this is unbearable! Woo Hoo!

The big ‘O’
Last Sunday’s sermon was shared by a pastor of the international church in Indonesia and it was on the topic of Outreach. His message was from the book of Acts chapter 13:1, and he showed us how the church was made up of the most peculiar group of people ( namely a former blind murderer, a businessman, a potentially scary dude who was affiliated with king herod and I can’t remember the last person…but go find out)

But anyways… There came a point in time when the pastor challenged us by asking (and asking us to stand) who will INTENTIONALLY make an effort to OUTREACH and in my heart I knew that I wanted to jump up and down from my seat, but when he called for us to stand (eyes closed)… I did it with a very heavy heart

Many years ago a couple of us from church went to Wesley for a talk/sermon on missions and the hall was filled up with maybe 250-300 people and at the end of the sermon we were challenged to make a commitment to God and His mission by standing…So when they called for us to stand, I stood up (with our eyes closed) and when I opened my eyes barely a handful of people stood. Then the seated people around me fervently prayed for me deep in conviction and very genuine…the entire congregation was praying as one… but it felt very lonely standing there by myself….

Well back to last week… I was afraid that I would be standing with another handful of people… But when I opened my eyes 90% of the church was standing together with me making the commitment to intentionally perform an outreach to someone whom God has called us to. It was unbelievably beautiful and that moment I knew I was in the right place. A church where people from every tribe and tongue came together to worship the living God, working together to carry out the will of He who has called us.

The 40 year prayer
I can't remember if I had written about this before but I remembered that I wanted to share this testimony with you guys.

In July, Sharon a singaporean lady after hearing the sermon on sunday felt the need to simply just go to the airport and meet someone and give them a welcome...and she did...at the airport she met an elderly malaysian couple from Penang and she greeted them and invited them to stay in her home as they had no plans...

They came to Hanoi because they got free tickets....and because it was such a sudden thing, they didnt book a hotel or anything....and when Sharon approached them...they eargerly went with her...(not something that i would do...but hey who knows) So in their conversations Sharon found out that the wife was a believer however her husband was not and she had been praying for him during the last 40years (or 30...) That sunday he came to church and I met him and he eyes were brightly lit and he was excited to meet everyone...

During the course of the week the older singaporeans and malaysians brought them around and what impressed this man most was how happy everyone was....as he had always been a skeptic towards christians....however Godworked his way into this man's heart and he accepted Jesus into his life during his week's stay here in vn...

Yesterday during service, Sharon stood up and told the chruch that the man passed away last month... I cried so hard and I thanked God for allowing me to witness him fufilling a 40 (or 30) year prayer... I know where he is today and at times we feel that our prayers are not heard but God answers them in His time (40 maybe 30 years)...that has been a lesson that he has been constantly teaching me here in vn....

Agape
Tobias