Taking Jesus into quarantine

Before COVID, through five visits to Vietnam, I met amazing Christians who are hungry to be taught the gospel. One of them is Esther.

While Esther was at university, a fellow student noticed how unhappy she was and said, ‘I will take you to the place of joy’. That place was a church. There Esther heard the gospel and was saved. She is now an interpreter when we teach and preach in Vietnam. She has also chosen my wife Joy and me to be her ‘parents’.

When COVID came, Esther continued to share food with hungry people and to tell them about Jesus. Each week she wrote to us about people she cared for and led to Christ. In the event that she had to go into a quarantine centre herself, she prepared by buying food and Christian tracts. Then she did catch COVID. And every day while she was in quarantine, she led people to faith in Jesus.

‘I shared that Jesus was born into this world, he was crucified, and he rose again, she explained. ‘I said that God loves them. There were about 136 people in the quarantine centre, and 118 of them accepted Jesus.’

She has since followed up with them by phone, visiting them and leading them to nearby churches. This has led even more people to Jesus.

What a privilege and blessing it is to teach, encourage and pray for the Lutherans in Vietnam! Nothing has inspired me so much as seeing and being part of what God is doing in that country. Glory be to him!

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