Last week I taught at the Vietnamese Baptist Bible Institute in Ho Chi Minh City (formerly known as Saigon).  The class of approximately 35 students met for six hours a day at Grace Baptist Church in the middle of the city, where we studied the major doctrines of the Bible.  Pastor Huy Le leads the congregation at Grace Baptist Church, and he is a remarkable mixture of ability and humility—remarkable because those traits usually don’t go together.  The students were wonderful, the traffic alarming, and the food interesting.

The traffic there inspires awe.  Ho Chi Minh is a city of 8-10 million people, and evidently every one of them drives a motorbike.  To get an idea of what I’m talking about, take a look at a video I posted of the morning commute: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JG84h53wQXw. 

This trip reminded me once again just how global Christianity really is.  The Vietnamese church is vibrant and courageous in circumstances that sometimes are less than ideal.  I urge you to remember them in your prayers.  In addition, one of my former students came by to see me on the first day of class, a Korean fellow by the name of Whang.  He had been in Cambodia for the past two years and had just recently became one of the pastors to a Korean congregation  in Ho Chi Minh City.  It appears that many Korean firms, such as Samsung, are putting manufacturing plants in Vietnam.  As a result there are over 70,000 Koreans living in Ho Chi Minh City.  Whang, his pastor, Pastor Hu, my translator (a fellow named Chien), and I enjoyed fellowship over lunch, and I marveled at the number of languages that were spoken at our table.  Heaven is not going to be a monochrome place. 

Thank you to those who prayed for me during my trip.  God truly blessed and I am thankful to have had the opportunity.  The Lord is doing a wonderful thing among the Vietnamese people.    
 


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