The Vietnam Trip

My family and I went to Vietnam last Chinese New Year holiday and praise God for that awesome trip!

I had totally no expectations for this trip because I didn't really know much about Vietnam and hence I felt uninterested. But the trip turned out to be really special as the people there have a really different kind of culture and we met some really sincere and helpful people. :)

Upon reaching the airport in Hanoi, my first impression wasn't terrific honestly. It was colder than I expected and the sky is cloudy and quite dusty...yeah. The first thing we did is to go on the hotel's van to go to our hotel. To our great surprise, both the receptionists came out to welcome us warmly saying, " Welcome to our hotel!" while the two bell boys helped us with our bags. The lobby was small, merely a room but it felt so warm and pleasant with our "hosts" being so so welcoming. The receptionists were very informative and gave us advises on where we ought to go when, and offered to help us buy the Water Puppet Theater tickets for us.

I thought their warmth will wear out with time and with new customers but it didn't. They were ever ready to help us and I realised that they hardly say no to our requests! They told us which were the reliable taxis, what is the standard price for trishaws, what was in the city tour programmee, taught me how to call to my parents for free who were staying in another hotel for the first night, helped us to buy spring roll skin, helped us to buy tickets, helped us to take away our breakfast and chit chatted with us. Whoa, they were so efficient and helpful and automatic that we were all touched.

The bell boys there were nice and humble and handsome! Though they couldn't speak English, but they tried their best to help us with one English word here and there with a lot of gestures while communicating with us. I thought they had shifts like maybe they work daytime but after a day, I realised that they were there all the time like 24 hours. I was like " whaattt?"  and then the receptionists say that the bell boys have holidays and the two of them had already had their holidays so they are working 24 hours now. I really wonder how they can still be so energetic and helpful without many signs of tiredness, and do they even bathe? hahaha, anyway, the 3 days were were there, they were there all the time.

I felt that the hotel people were really humble and were all working together for the benefit of the hotel, like the hotel was theirs and they really put their heart into serving the customers. It didn't matter which job was whose, when they saw a need, they just try to help where they can. For example, the bell boys. When they weren't at the hotel doors, they would be out buying tickets or doing housekeeping with the housekeepers or waiting on tables in the hotel cafe or preparing breakfast for us. Same thing with the receptionists. When the bellboys are elsewhere when we returned to the hotel, he or she will come to open the door for us and helped my grandmas up the stairs. How do I put their great attitude into words, I mean, their WILLINGNESS to help us really overwhelmed me. Really, we should learn from them!

One thing about Vietnam is that they hardly have open-air coffee shops like in Malaysia and what hawkers do is they put all their cooked food, stools, chopsticks, boards and other stuffs in two big baskets and they carry them by using a long, sturdy, wooden stick over their shoulders. Then they sit down in the corner or at the side some busy street and started overturning stools and placing boards on them. That became a table. Then they just start selling food by the roadside like that, so simple! And they washed the bowls and chopsticks just right there by the road where there are water and hose.

I had really good impression on one of the bell boys because he was so friendly, humble and good-looking....UNTIL  I saw him smoking one night with his friend. Suddenly, I just feel so disappointed and sad you know that such a nice guy like him actually smoked! I really hope that he would kick off the bad habit because its not really beneficial to himself too.

One thing that saddened my heart and filled my heart with compassion is that in that 3 days, I only saw one church wherever I go. There were altars of idols in practically every shop and home. There are so many people yet to be saved there! Its like a whole wide field of harvest waiting to be reaped. To think that all the nice and friendly people whom I met had not known the Saviour yet really devastated me. I did thought of coming for mission trips here but I am so shy and cowardly at the moment I really need someone like a group to go with then maybe I can consider. In my little mind, the land is so big, people so numerous, where and how can I start? But I believe if its the Lord's will, He will work in his own special way and prompt me to go because the Lord loves human, and desires that none shall perish but all have everlasting life. :)

Before I left, I felt the Holy Spirit prompting me to give my bible to the hotel receptionists. Its a dear old blue bible my mum passed down to me, with lots of colorful underlines under certain verses and with some drawings at the back. I really precious it though its quite worn-out already. I really desire to give to them because it could be the first seed that drop in their hearts that will be watered in His good time, and one day bloom into a strong tree rooted in Christ's love. It wasn't really our Bible in the first place as my mum got it from the church. So its a sort of passing on God's word to them, hoping and hoping and believing that God can and will work through it in His unfolding amazing plans and ways. I had always been shy to do these and I believe God knows so He prepared me for that simple act of faith. Thank God He isn't impatient with me as I really struggle a whole lot at first thinking "what if they think me weird after that?", "what if they refuse?" and things like that. It really burdens me as I really need courage to do that. Suddenly I felt that I should read the devotional "Streams in the Desert" because I think God wants me to. And I felt willing to read it in my heart ( I don't always feel willing to do stuffs when I "felt" that its God wanting me do it ) and it just feels natural to do it so I read it. The verse of the day was " Fret not. " and I thank my awesome God for that. So I learnt to be still and just rest in God, don't keep thinking about how hard its going to be and I feel a lot more peaceful. =) In that period of struggling time( its was for about one whole day I struggled in my heart ), I also heard the song " I'm Yours" by Jason Mraz when I was in the "throne room" of a shopping complex pooping. The lyrics " to win some or learn some" spoke to me. This act of giving the bible seems hard when I enlarged it but as I see it as just an ACT of faith, its really just a small part of my learning process in God. If the hotel receptionist accepts the bible, then some souls are gonna to be won in time, if he rejects, then I'm gonna to learn something new too. So its a win-win situation, why be afraid?

When I finally gave the bible to the hotel receptionist, he accepted it gracefully and was all smiles. But I don't know what's he thinking underneath the smiles and thank-you's but that's probably God's business already. Praise God for He is such an awesomely faithful God who gives us chances again and again in helps us in the tiniest task we can't handle. Thank you Jesus I love you! <3

So there, it was a wonderful trip in Hanoi with my family all touched by the hotel people. Sorry God sometimes we forgot or were to tired to spend time with you in the trip but thank you we have the privilege to talk to you always and keep having that relationship with you though we are inconsistent sometimes. Please help us to be bold for you and learn to walk faithfully with you everyday of our lives. Thanks for the awesome trip too. Amen

"What does God ask of you but to do justly, love mercy and walk humbly with your God."

Blessed be Your name.