Pastor Jeremy Stephens

This afternoon during some free time I sat with a few of my classmates in one of the many cafes here in town. We were asking ourselves that important and totally honest question: What are we doing here?

We can barely communicate, and we are only here for a few days so there isn’t really time to develop relationships with the students that will point them to Jesus.
Moreover, we are in a country with no real concept of Jesus.

Then our waitress came over. She was very sweet and knew just enough English for us to talk for a bit. One of my friends asked to see her necklace. She pulled it out and showed us her crucifix and talked about her church in extremely broken English. We talked some more, took pictures with her, and had a laugh at how awkward we all were. Then we paid our dollar for the two coffees and a tea that we all drank and went on our way.

As I walked away, mentally preparing myself for our interaction later with the students during our impromptu talent show, I wrestled with myself. What is my responsibility here? How do I represent my Savior well when I don’t even know how to order off a menu? Furthermore, what is God doing here? Vietnam is a place with a bunch of religions. We visited one temple today where the adherents worship Buddha, the Hindu gods, Jesus, and Victor Hugo. Yes you read that right, and no, I have no idea why. With all of this going on, how will Jesus ever do something powerful in Vietnam?

Later we had our talent show. The students from the university worked very hard and had several songs and plays prepared for us. We, many being youth pastors, threw together a few of our classic skits at the last minute. We also sang a song with great harmonies about salvation and power belonging to the Lord our God. It was anounced as a song many of us sang in our church.

After sitting down, the girl sitting next to me asked me if we were Christians. I said yes, we all are. She then asked if we sang songs like that in our churches and again I affirmed that we like to sing in our churches together. Then she said,

“I’m a Christian too! There aren’t very many of us in Vietnam”

I tried to explore it more. Apparently she and her family, along with many other families in her village are all Christians.

I realized something then. I don’t need to fret about God’s ability to do anything. Jesus is already in Vietnam. My responsibility is to be present here. To look at these beautiful people with a smile and treat them with as much care as my Savior would. Then allow Him to continue with His plan for Vietnam and rejoice in the fact that He used me and a few friends to play a part in His story of redemption here.

Hallelujah, salvation and glory. Honor and power to the Lord our God.