Hello again,
Thank you for your thoughts and prayers up to this point! Last night was awesome - it was so great to see familiar faces half-way across the world and to make new friends, some of whom just recently became Christians, or "got the light" as they phrase it here. The Lord provided a friendly coffee shop for us to meet in and about 30-35 students came to meet with us. There have been miscommunications over the years due to the language barrier regarding whether or not some of these students actually understand the Gospel or know the Lord personally. The missionaries here are working to continue to strengthen the faith of these students through discipleship and weekly meetings but it is still difficult to follow-up with each student that comes.
We learned this morning that one of the members of our team's grandmother passed away last night and we're not sure how that news will affect the rest of our journey - please pray for the Thomas family, for peace and reliance on the Lord in light of such sad news.
We will be traveling to Haiphong today to spend time with the pastor of a house church and his family and to celebrate Christmas and New Years with the believers there. Please pray for travel mercies and for doors to be opened in Haiphong as it is still rather unsafe to share the Gospel there.
Just like Paul in 2 Timothy 4, "In the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who will judge the living and the dead, and in view of his appearing and his kingdom, I give you this charge: Preach the word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage—with great patience and careful instruction."
