Hello supporters, Lucy here to give you the latest updates on our trip.
Monday, August 6th - It is our first day of ministry here at Love of Christ Church (Pastor Hung and Co Trang's main ministry). The team started the day with devotions at 6am and breakfast at 7am. Right after breakfast, we went straight to class to teach, which was around 8am.
Today I clearly saw how God's strength worked in me. I started the day with a huge migraine and was worried that it will affect me and the way I'll be interacting with the kids. However, when the first session of class started and we began singing and dancing with the kids, I noticed that I was jumping and dancing along with the little ones without any problem. Praise God! My headache went away without me even noticing it. I was able to rely on God for strength and not on my own.
The class size is much smaller compared to previous years. Co Trang told the team that many of the kids and their family had to move back to Vietnam due to the election. The other reason why the class size is smaller is because the students were on a two week break and several of them are still on vacation mode, so they're lazy to come back to the first day of class. I hope that this is the main reason why and we'll be able to see more kids the following day!! Also, prayer warriors, I ask that you'll keep these kids and their family in your prayers as it is tough to live in a community that is full of hatred and discrimination towards the Vietnamese.
After worship we split the kids into two groups - the younger ones and the older ones. Kayla, Henry, and Daniel (Pastor Hung and Co Trang's eldest son) taught the older kids. Jeremiah, Trisha, and I taught the younger ones. Each group began teaching about the Creation to Christ story. The older group focused on the story about the creation, whereas the younger kids focused on the vocabulary terms and coloring. We ended the first session with singing and dancing. The last song that we sang was "He Knows My Name", whenever we sang the chorus, I would look around and notice several kids closing their eyes, singing and dancing their heart out. Just looking at them wholeheartedly praising God gave me so much energy and fills my heart with joy.
After the first session, all the kids went home and the team had lunch and rested before the second session. After a restful time, we resumed with our second session. Praise God! We had more kids during the second session, many returning students and a few new students joined us \(^o^)/ Our rundown was the same as the first session! Despite the repeat of the lesson, all the kids were still very excited to learn and spend time with one another.
As the team was resting up before dinner, I had the opportunity to talk to Chi Hau (the oldest daughter) and Co Trang for about an hour and a half. During this time I saw how Co Trang became the type of person that she is. She is so full of love, endurance, and faith in the Lord. Through all the hardships that she went through, even with the highs and lows in her life, she remained faithful in the Lord. Seeing her share while shedding tears, broke my heart, but it also helped me see how faithful God is to who loves him.
We had dinner with the family and the team had a quick debrief afterwards. Kayla, Trisha, and I, along with Pastor Hung and Co Trang's daughters ended our night in our room sharing stories and laughters with one another.
Sorry for not posting this on time. I fell asleep mid-way into this post hehe. Well, it's time for our first session of the day. But.. before I leave, I just want to say thank you to all our supporters and for reading this post and praying for our team. We really appreciate your support and prayers. ^-^
With love,
Lucy
