Every Tribe and Tongue

I know it has been a long time since our last update. So much has happened, it’s crazy. We left Malaysia and flew to Laos to be closer to Thailand when we received the visa approval. Laos is a closed country, meaning ministry is not only frowned upon, but actually illegal. We scoured the internet for hours and not a single mention of a ministry in the country. Our friends in nearby countries warned that the underground church in Laos is very secretive and even if we did find a ministry, they would be extremely hesitant of outsiders and unwilling to meet with us. We learned this right about the same time we received a visa acceptance… *hold the applause*…to Vietnam (after 3 days, yet still nothing on Thailand 50 days later). 

We were connected with a couple different people that worked as middle men to help us find ministries in Vietnam. On our last night in Northern Vietnam, one of the contacts reached out saying he had a friend that wanted to meet with us. We were sceptical of how we could really help since we had to leave the next day, but we chose to procrastinate packing and head to coffee with him at 8pm (basically bedtime). So many things came up to make us almost cancel, but we felt that if God had brought him to our path, it must have been for a reason. And boy was it ever!

He told us all about the amazing ministry he has been doing for over 10 years with the indigenous people of the mountain villages. He spent over a year learning and perfecting the tribal dialect before ever journeying into the mountains, and when he did, he was shocked to learn that the people had never heard the Gospel. They didn’t have any understanding of God’s love, because they genuinely had never heard of Him. The people in that region mainly worship nature, they pray to the sun god and rain god and even sacrifice animals to appease the gods and try to get what they want like a good harvest or fertility. 

Let’s call our new friend Daniel for his own security, as Vietnam is also a closed country and he could get into big trouble for the work he does. Daniel saw the need and started working to evangelize to the people. He met a man that had heard of God while studying in the city. This man went on to become the pastor of a tiny church that Daniel helped him build. Daniel worked for years to help grow the church, but just in 2019 he noticed that the local people started to get cellphones. They loved to scroll through social media videos, though nothing was in their own language. He saw Facebook pages pop up for this specific people group to communicate, but no media directed at them. He decided to do something about it. He began creating social media posts and pages explaining the Gospel in their own language. He told stories of salvation using examples from their everyday mountain life. He used stories of oxen and farming and being unsatisfied with worshipping nature gods. He did all of this while never once appearing on camera, as it was important to him to have the people in the church doing it themselves. He wanted the local people to see people that looked and sounded just like them, that fully understood their struggles, because they came from them too. 

He now has a half a million views and hundreds of thousands of social media followers from this indigenous people group. Every post he makes is touching lives in a way that they have never seen before. Thousands of people have started pouring into the small mountain church, so much that they have begun training up pastors and building churches all over the north. They even recently started translating the Bible and worship songs into their native language. We were so amazed to hear about his work and the clear impact it already has had on the people who once had never heard the name of Jesus. He already had a website, he had photos, he didn’t seem to need anything from us. We weren’t sure how we could possibly help, but we were open and patient to see what God had planned for this meeting.

After hours of chatting, he mentioned that the reason he wanted to meet with us was to get some tech advice. He said that he had already spoken to online experts and his friends back in the states that were tech savvy, but they said that what he wanted would take countless hours and even more money. He explained why he needed this new addition and how it would impact the people. He said that his work could not grow further until he figured out this next step. 

Daniel, “I know that you are leaving tomorrow and probably cannot do much to help, but I just need advice on the best way to go about it. I understand the cost and the months of work that it will take, but it will save thousands of people. I have to try.”

*Allan nods along humbly knowing he can do the task himself*

Me, knowing Allan’s skill level, “I’m sure Allan can do that for you in less time than you were quoted. He can work on this when he has free time over the next few months and you guys can Zoom to go over details since we are not here in person. Allan, how long do you think that would take, two months, three months?”

Allan, “Can I see your phone?” *Types rapidly for a few minutes in silence”

Allan, “Just to make sure I understood correctly, is this what you wanted?”

*Daniel leaps from his seat and jumps up and down like a small child being given the birthday gift of their dreams.*

Daniel, “What?! But…how?! What?!” *Lets out a giddy scream of excitement*

You could see the surge of adrenaline fill his body. Allan began explaining his process, speaking in his native tongue, computer-ese. We had no idea what he was saying with all of the tech talk, but Daniel was BEAMING. He thanked Allan at least 30 times and continued to tell him how much of a difference it was going to make in thousands of lives, if not more. He didn’t come down off that cloud for the rest of the meeting and I don’t think he ever actually caught his breath. “I have to call the pastor! I have to tell the church!”, he shouted as he rubbed his knees frantically, obviously trying to soothe himself back down to earth. 

We offered to continue working with him, continue with whatever tech needs he had, but he just kept saying, “Are you kidding?! This is more than enough!” He was so excited to tell his teammates and get to work. We walked home full of adrenaline as well. We kept saying, “I can’t believe we almost didn’t go to this meeting!” Allan kept saying how he could’ve helped more if we had more time, but upon returning to our hostel, we immediately received a message from Daniel saying how grateful he was that God brought us to him right when he was thinking of giving up on the idea altogether. 

That’s been a theme lately. It feels like the ministries that we have planned to serve keep falling through, but ministries we have never even heard of keep being put into our paths at the last minute. Every time we start to feel discouraged, God reminds us that the work we are doing matters. I am not exaggerating when I say that we met Daniel through a friend who introduced us to a friend who knew a friend who knew Daniel. Seriously, this was so God. We had never even heard of this indigenous people group, but this was always part of God’s story for them. Daniel had been praying for months to figure this out and God brought him exactly the person who could do it. We had been praying for God to use us and He brought us to exactly where He knew we could be used the most. 

I’m currently reading Deuteronomy. I am at the part where God tells the Israelites that they will have a king in the future. He tells them that their future king should not collect silver and gold, horses, or riches of any kind. He wanted the king to rely on Him alone to bring everything that he would need. That kind of dependence would bring him closer to God. No one could say the king was great because of who he was, but it would be clear that all of his success was from the Lord. That’s how this trip has felt for us. We tried to plan it all ourselves and it immediately fell apart. We needed to be reliant on God to open the doors Himself. He has used us in ways that we never could have predicted to serve people that we never would have thought of. None of the amazing things we have seen on this trip have been due to our good planning, but purely due to Him bringing us exactly where we needed to be at exactly the right time. We couldn’t be more grateful. I’ve said it before and I will say it again, His plan is better. 

Thank You, Lord, for showing us yet again that Your plans are superior and that You answer the prayers of Your people. Thank You for Daniel, thank You for Vietnam.

-Kallan

(Kaley + Allan)