Power Encounter In Hanoi

We just received a message from Hanoi, Vietnam where Pastor William Lau ministered back in March 2010, and would like to share it with you. 

Dear Uncle Bill.

How are you doing? I'm Thuy from Hanoi, Vietnam, your interpreter and trainee in Hanoi and Haiphong, Vietnam.

Since your training in Hanoi, we had a baby right after that and a lot of problems in our marriage and finance that draw us away from doing ministry a while. Our boy is now 17 months. I think he's also a miracle of Jesus after 3 year marriage without children. I'm being 6th month pregnant again but we are on fire again with the house church planting ministry. Your training for us is a very important tool for this ministry.

My husband and I are planting churches in a very dark area of Hanoi. Many the top leaders of Vietnam and Hanoi are in bondage by the evil work of Satan through a monk (a fortune teller, priest of Satan) and the temple here. Too many people come here to ask help from this evil monk. He's done a lot of miracles and earns a lot of money. We are praying that instead of coming here to seek the evil monk, people are going to seek us and other disciples of Jesus for help!

We are renting a house and live here. Some villagers were healed when we laid hands on them and since then more people invited us to their homes to pray for their family. We ask them to gather all the family members and friends in their house to share  Gospel stories and heal the sick. We continue to visit the same family at least once a week to continue telling Bible stories, make disciples and heal the sick and expect the families soon to become churches.

There more and more families are inviting us to their homes to pray for their needs. We expect to see a church planting movement in Hanoi soon. Please remember us in your prayer. We are praying to have you back in Hanoi for advanced training.

We rejoice with you to hear great good news in your ministry.

Blessings to you, Thuy

The situation with the fortune-telling monk which Sister Thuy describes sounds like what we read in Acts 8 with Philip and Simon the sorcerer.

Act 8:5-13  Philip went down to a city in Samaria and proclaimed the Messiah there.  (6)  When the crowds heard Philip and saw the signs he performed, they all paid close attention to what he said.  (7)  For with shrieks, impure spirits came out of many, and many who were paralyzed or lame were healed.  (8)  So there was great joy in that city.  (9)  Now for some time a man named Simon had practiced sorcery in the city and amazed all the people of Samaria. He boasted that he was someone great,  (10)  and all the people, both high and low, gave him their attention and exclaimed, "This man is rightly called the Great Power of God."  (11)  They followed him because he had amazed them for a long time with his sorcery.  (12)  But when they believed Philip as he proclaimed the good news of the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ, they were baptized, both men and women.  (13)  Simon himself believed and was baptized. And he followed Philip everywhere, astonished by the great signs and miracles he saw.