Riverbanks
One Million Vietnamese Crowd Cambodia’s Riverbanks
Dr. Don Nguyen escaped Vietnam on a refugee boat at age 13. By God’s grace he made it to Canada where he became a medical doctor and came to faith in Christ. God called Don back to Asia to reach the Vietnamese. With grateful hearts, Don, his wife Tabitha and their three daughters now live in Cambodia sharing Christ with Vietnamese immigrants.
Huge numbers of displaced Vietnamese live in floating villages and eke out a meager existence as fishermen. They cannot own property and have little or no access to education or medical care. Most villages have no Gospel witness. They are the poorest of the poor, and in a Buddhist culture, it’s believed that they must suffer in this lifetime to earn a better position in a future life.
First Fruits among Cambodia’s Vietnamese population
The Nguyen family moved to a small village along the Mekong River in early 2009. By May Don baptized the first Vietnamese believer in the area. Mr. Minh was a soldier in his younger days. When Don met him he was an ice cream man, pushing a cart of home-made treats to support his family. God raised up Mr. Minh as a leader in the small church established in their community. He teaches what he learns about Christ to all who will listen.
Former brothel becomes a school and worship center
Don and Tabitha never imagined they would start a school. But it didn’t take long to recognize the need for education among the mostly illiterate villages. Working with Mr. Minh, they started a Vietnamese Learning Center called the School of Truth. The space God provided formerly housed a brothel, but now it’s a safe place for Vietnamese children to get an education and learn about Christ. The school also serves as a meeting place for worship. Mr. Minh had the joy of baptizing seven more Vietnamese believers in the Mekong River the same morning he preached his first sermon!
Love in action
Sharing the Gospel in places like Cambodia requires an active demonstration of love in word and deed. While Don’s passion is to disciple people into mature faith in Christ, he is grateful for every opportunity to use his medical skills to meet physical needs that otherwise would go untreated. Education, especially teaching people to read, is an incredible tool that can help lift people out of poverty. Providing rice when families can’t fish for their meal, or helping put walls and a solid roof around a family living under a tarp, all these are demonstrations of God’s love that are drawing people to Christ in Cambodia.
Don’s family left Vietnam in distress many years ago and found blessing and bounty in a new life. Now his joy is bringing blessing and the message of new life to Cambodia’s unwanted and unreached.
