Thousands Receive Jesus: March Update Letter

After 3 days of flying with sick kids and little sleep, we arrived in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam on January 25th. Moving to Asia has been quite a big adjustment for our family but we're finally settling in and are enjoying being back here as a family of 4. It's been great seeing friends and family, reconnecting with the YWAM base and our church, working with Franklin Graham's Love Spring Festival, eating delicious Vietnamese food and serving in different ways.

Love Spring Festival with Franklin Graham

Last weekend, March 4-5, Franklin Graham came to Ho Chi Minh City to share the love of Jesus with the Vietnamese people and invite them to have a relationship with Him through the Love Spring Festival. A few weeks prior, the festival office asked if Daniel would be willing to help with this event as Production Coordinator. It was an easy "YES" for him and he started volunteering immediately. He was a liaison between the local artists and the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association (BGEA) team. He helped translate, organized schedules, got the instruments needed, made sure the performers had everything they needed and knew what was going on, and oversaw people and events backstage so everything ran smoothly. He even got to translate on stage for Michael W. Smith! It was a huge honor to be able to serve with the team and be a part of making the festival a success. More than 15,000 people came the first night, 30,000+ the second night, and about 3,500 people accepted Jesus as their Lord and Savior over the course of the festival. This event brought more than 60 denominations and 300 congregations together, working side by side, so the gospel could be preached to thousands of unbelievers! The fact that the government granted the permission for this event to happen, and are even asking for another festival in the future, is a true miracle. We just stand in awe of the awesome God we serve!

The kids and I did what we could to serve as well! A couple days before the festival, Lydia and I helped stuff the children's books that would be given to the kids who wanted to receive Jesus during the altar call. These books and pamphlets, along with all the other printed materials given away at the festival, were translated by Daniel when he worked for the festival office before COVID. We were able to go and support Daniel during the set up and practice times as well. The kids loved going up on the stage with Daniel, and Lydia got very excited every time Daddy was on the screen. We were blessed to be able to meet Franklin Graham, Michael W. Smith, the Tommy Coomes Band, and many of the BGEA employees who worked hard to make this event possible.

If you'd like to read more about the Love Spring Festival in Ho Chi Minh City and see more pictures, here are a couple links:
https://billygraham.org/gallery/thousands-in-vietnam-hear-of-gods-love-for-them/
https://billygraham.org/video/franklin-graham-god-has-done-a-great-work-in-vietnam/

What else have we been up to?

Besides battling jetlag and overtired toddlers struggling to cope with a whole new environment, we are so glad to see many doors opening for us here. We were able to connect with the local DTS (Discipleship Training School), help them prepare to go to Cambodia, attend community nights, encourage the staff and interact with an outreach team that was here for a month from YWAM Nashville. Daniel has also been able to move forward with a lot of his translation work: meet with his team and the publishing house, and finally see another book he translated (Seeing and Savoring Jesus Christ, by John Piper) get published! Desiring God, who funded the printing of this book, recently released a video interview with him talking about the church in Vietnam and the impact of his translation ministry! Here's a link to the video if you'd like to watch:
https://youtu.be/xT0wfgJHv4g

It's also been wonderful to reconnect with our church here and see some more familiar faces. I (Cassandra) am joining the worship team again and organizing a monthly mothers' group for moms with young kids to get together to talk and play. We are also planning a trip to Battambang, Cambodia later this month to join the ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) DTS for their last 2 weeks of lecture phase. The ASEAN DTS is a special school that brings together DTSes from all over Southeast Asia for a month of classes in Cambodia. There are 2 DTSes from Vietnam represented there. We plan to help with translation as well as preparing the staff and students to go on outreach (a 3 month missions trip overseas).