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Vietnam – February 16, 2010. In the summer of 2004, Pastor Carl Elder of Hutchinson, KS was resting on his couch while recovering from a quadruple bypass heart surgery. During his nap, the phone rang. It was a call from the United Pentecostal Church International Mission’s department requesting help regarding the mission’s work in North Vietnam. Pastor Elder came wide awake as he began to hear the cry of the Vietnamese people for a Jesus name preacher. One who would come and share the precious Acts 2:38 message with them.
This all came to be in 2003, when a missionary from Thailand came to preach at the Apostolic Faith Tabernacle where Bro. Elder pastors. During the missionary’s visit, Pastor Elder and one of his faithful saints, Bro. Jack Karriker, took the missionary to supper after service. The missionary began to express to Bro. Elder and Bro. Karriker the need for ministerial help in Vietnam. At that time there was no missionary going into North Vietnam that the visiting missionary knew of, although, he had heard that Bro. David Bernard was working in the South of Vietnam. Pastor Elder and Bro. Karriker, a veteran of the Vietnam War, shared their desire with the visiting missionary to go preach the truth to the Vietnamese people.
In September 2004, God gave Pastor Elder and Bro. Karriker the desire of their hearts and they took their first trip to Vietnam. Upon their arrival in North Vietnam they made contact with a local pastor, Pastor Nghia, and found people deeply hungry for the Word of God. After ministering to them for hours, Pastor Elder and Bro. Karriker could not shake off their burden for those starving souls. During their first trip, they taught a group of ten to fifteen people in a hotel room. After the teaching, the people with tears in their eyes would plead for these men of God to teach them more. Pastor Elder and Bro. Karriker would then continue teaching for up to six hours at a time, non-stop, pouring out as much of themselves as possible.
During their second trip in 2007, they found a young translator by the name of Do Hoang Tung, whom they call “Tonny.” Unbeknownst to them all, God had a special plan for Tonny’s life that would be brought to fruition a year later during the Vietnamese “Noel” celebration. One Sunday at Pastor Nghia’s church, Pastor Elder was preaching of how God healed his eyesight at the 2007 “No Limits” Conference held in the USA. After his sermon an 80 year old lady requested to be baptized in Jesus name. She shared with Pastor Elder and Bro. Karriker how “Buddha never did anything like that for her.” She and many other people were baptized that Sunday in the South China Sea in the Name of Jesus Christ!
In December 2008, Pastor Elder and Bro. Karriker returned to Vietnam for “Noel”, which is a celebration around Christmas time that the Vietnam ministry uses as an outreach tool. “Noel” conference is one of the only large group gatherings the Vietnamese Apostolic church is allowed to have, by their government, throughout the year. During that conference Pastor Elder preached to a crowd of five hundred to six hundred people. It was amazing to see how God was multiplying the work in such a short amount of time and how the hunger of the people had grown. One power-packed service, God moved in a mighty way and “Tonny” the translator, was one of the people who received the Holy Ghost on that special day. He is now being used to teach bible studies and to help reach his people, including his father and his mother. Throughout the four days following “Noel,” Pastor Elder and Bro. Karriker taught around forty-five Vietnamese ministers and their wives, and some of the saints from their churches.
There is a mighty work in progress in North Vietnam, although, it is still in the infant stages. God is doing great things! Pastor Elder has expressed a need for someone who speaks Vietnamese fluently to go with them, to help them in training ministers and reaching the hungry people of North Vietnam. Also, funds are an express need as with any mission endeavor. If you would like to donate to this work, donations can be sent to: Vietnam Missions, 1319 E. 17th Ave., Hutchinson, KS 67501. Please remember Vietnam in your prayers. In this last hour, God is pouring his spirit upon all flesh, including the hungry souls of Vietnam.
