VIETNAM LEPER MINISTRY  -   David and Pushpa 

Mark 1:40-42

A man with Leprosy came and knelt in front of Jesus, begging Him to be healed. "If you are willing you can heal me and make me clean"  he said. Moved with compassion, Jesus reached out and touched him “I am willing,”he said. “Be healed!”  Instantly the leprosy disappeared, and the man was healed.

Despite the triumph of modern medicine, leprosy is still largely misunderstood and somewhat feared in Vietnam. Most leper patients today are elderly and contracted the disease before medicines were available for them to be cured before the disease damaged their bodies. Every year there are some new cases although these now generally are cured before physical damage occurs. Leper patients not only have suffered terrible physical hurt, but also have often felt great loss and rejection by family and society as they were put into centers away from those they loved.

From many years ago the government established these leper centres, usually far from the cities, where the patients live in simple buildings with basic amenities. Most patients have been cured of leprosy, but they continue to live with the physical deformities and health related issues that accompany leprosy. The most visible deformities are the hands with fingers amputated, legs amputated and facial disfigurement. It is moving to see a man with all his fingers and both legs amputated chatting with you as if there was no difference between you and him.

The government gives the patients an option of either receiving two free meals a day or they can get their own meals and are given $21.USD per month.  In some centers the patients have land to cultivate crops and vegetables for their own consumption but because of the severe deformities (loss of limbs and fingers) they find it difficult to work in the fields. In some centers the ground is too hard.

Today you will also find the children and grandchildren, (not affected by the disease), of the Leper patients staying at the centers. They live in simple houses separate from where the leper patients live and together they make up the whole community of the leper center – elderly leper patients, their adult children and grandchildren.

Our co-workers work in 6 of the 14 leper centers in North Vietnam. They have impacted the patients who are touched by our workers love, as they were not repulsed by their disease but who continued to regularly visit them, touch them, eat with them, fellowship with them and care for them. The ministry also supplies some groceries to the patients for which they are very grateful for.

Hien and her Team of 3 local co-workers are very dedicated and passionate in their work and have brought many patients to the Lord. Hien first visited one of the leper centers in 2002 and she felt sad to see their loneliness, (hardly anyone came to see them), and to see the bleakness in their faces. They lived from day to day resigned to their life, not expecting or hoping for anything more.

In 2008 after seeking the Lord’s guidance she formed a partnership with an ex-patriot couple and her AG church leadership, and began to work full time in the Leper communities. The centers are far from town and Hien and her team must travel 2-3 hours by motorbike, but she has a heart for these Lepers and desires to bring the peace, love and joy of Jesus into their lives. Initially she faced a lot of opposition from the authorities at the centers and she was not allowed to share the Gospel, so just visited bringing food parcels and being friendly. They watched her and praise God He opened the door for her to work in the centers.

One center had been closed for several years, not allowing her to share with the patients. For two years we prayed, - highlighting this as a prayer need in our prayer and newsletters. Then unexpectedly the center director called and asked if she would do a Christmas presentation that year to the patients and children. This was a miracle as this man used to be so against her. But he has changed and now the gospel is shared openly, even to the staff, patients are placing their faith in Jesus, and about 30 children meet for Bible study each week.

The past two years over 30 children from this center have attended the AG church summer camp with many being water baptized there. The center director also enjoys attending along with the children and is most helpful, always encouraging the children to behave well, to pray and participate in all the activities. We truly thank God for this man.

In another center there is also a group of about 30 children and youth who meet every week for Bible learning, singing and fun games, along with many adults who continue to be discipled there. A new generation of young people hungry for the Word of God are discovering the truth and finding meaning in life through knowing Jesus Christ.

From these two leper centres Hien has over 70 children attending the summer camp. What a blessing God has given to Hien – who has no family (her parents and only sibling (a brother) all died when she was in her mid-teens), – and yet she will be called ‘blessed’ in heaven by many!

Our Leper ministry raised funds to give 27 of the poorest children scholarships to help them with their school fees. The children and their families were overjoyed.

When other volunteer groups from the Buddhist faith have come to evangelize them, the believers stood firm in the Lord refusing to even receive  their gifts of CD’s and biscuits, sweets and other goods. They declared that now they know the Lord, they will follow Him alone. They told them that since they have known Jesus their lives have changed and they are happy and filled with peace. The most amazing statement was “We know we will have a new body when we go to heaven so we will rejoice with what we have now.”

Last year, just before Christmas, a Malaysian team came to visit these two centres. In one centre the team cooked lunch for the patients and had fellowship with them. A simple gesture, that meant so much to the patients who were deeply touched by the tangible love of God shown by the team. Later many were greatly encouraged by the film of Nick Vujuvicic (a Christian man with no arms or legs) and by the sharing of the team. Many patients were seen with tears rolling down their cheeks. We hope more teams will come and share the love of God with these people.

     Praise God for His favour and open doors, and the partnership of supporting churches and organisations, which enables our co-workers in the Leper Ministry to reach, touch and change the lives of the people in the leper centres.