Blog

It is Wednesday morning here at 6  AM. I am a pretty savvy traveler but my brain was disengaged yesterday when I told the driver in Bangkok to take us to the wrong airline. Then I did not have the correct document (left at home) for the Vietnam visa, so had to go print it out before the lady at the desk would give me my boarding pass. Then went to the wrong gate! I am glad for a sense of humor to be able to not take it all too seriously and it all worked nicely.

Last evening, Pastor Tung and a colleague of his, a man named Troung, came to see us at the hotel to lay out ht plan for the next couple of days. We will make our way this morning at * to the place where we will meet, apparently the place (a home) where Tung’s church meets on Sunday mornings. We will go from 9 AM until 4 OM. I will teach for an hour, then Pastor Ed will teach for an hour, and so on through the day. I will be teaching from Nehemiah, among other topics, and Ed will be addressing discipleship. So, there will be a lot of talking and teaching for the next couple of days. It is going to be an exciting time here in Vietnam and I am thankful to be here and for the prayers. Feeling great today and ready to go.

OK, more tonight after we return from the day’s sessions. By the way, we are 15 hours ahead here of Pacific Standard time.

David

Well, tomorrow, November 25, I will be leaving for Asia, flying first to Bangkok, Thailand in order to meet up with Pastor Ed Hickey from Ontario, Canada. We will then travel to Saigon, Vietnam to spend a few days with my friend Pastor Tung. We will then make our way to Myanmar where we will spend the week with Christian leaders in the city of Mandalay. Please keep us in your prayer. I will be blogging as often as I can on this trip. I will return to the US on December 10.

Many thanks and God bless you all.

David

All over our news for the past week has been news of the devastation from Hurricane Harvey and the subsequent flooding throughout the vicinity of Houston and surrounding areas. It has been heartbreaking to see, but heartening to read about the numbers of people who have donated money, time, and heroic efforts to assist the people of Houston.

Not in our news has been the devastating flooding in Nepal. Whole villages have been wiped out and many thousands have been left homeless. The death toll is somewhere near 1,000. In Nepal, the government infrastructure doesn’t have a FEMA, and many of the hard-hit areas are not easily accessible for relief teams. So, it is often left to outsiders to provide money for relief. I put the word out a couple of weeks ago and a number of you responded. So, on Friday I sent $2,000.00 to Nepal in order to provide blankets, tarps, rice and medicine to 2 areas. I sent $1,000.00 to each area, to missionaries I know who live in Nepal. Though it is not a great deal of money, the dollar goes far there and it will definitely provide relief and assistance to 2 areas and the families who live there.

I want to thank those of you who donated for this purpose. May God bless and reward you for your sacrifices.

A few weeks ago I wrote about feeling helpless in the face of so many needs that are brought to me. In reality, I CAN help. I cannot do all I am moved to do, but TOGETHER we really can make a difference for a few.

I now look ahead to my next international trip: I will be going to Burma/Myanmar in November after visiting with Pastor Tung and some of his leaders in Saigon, Vietnam. Accompanying me will be Pastor Ed Hickey from London, Ontario, Canada. I’ll give more details as we near the time.

God bless you all,

David