A Chance to Serve

Submitted by Khanh…On the warm, first Sunday morning of June, Azusa, Tiffany, Victoria and I arrived at Vietnamese Ministries for our first youth service in downtown Oakland. The sisters and I went into the building that was apparently home to churches of varied ethnicities.

We were looking for Trina, the youth leader, and were led upstairs to a room where service was to be held. It was filled with older people and a grandpa came over to greet us. He spoke Vietnamese to Azusa inviting her inside. Without hesitation, I used my native tongue to exchange greetings. A younger lady who spoke in English came to led us downstairs into another room where we were told to wait for Trina. We came early to do set up which included a light breakfast of orange juice and yummy pastries. As we waited for Trina to arrive, we went over our schedule and each of our roles for the day as well as offering a prayer for the program.

Trina welcomed us warmly and we had a little chat about the youth and the church here. At around 10 AM, the youth began to arrive. There were 5 students total: two girls, one in middle school from San Leandro and the other a freshman in college. The rest of the students were siblings, twin girls in high school and a freshman boy in college who came later. We invited them to have some breakfast and had a nice time getting to know the girls.

We played a game of “2 truths and a lie” led by Victoria. The youth really took their time to make sure their lies were hard to guess. We learned interesting facts from each other like how Tiffany used to have a “zoo” since she had so many different types of pets, how the college girl really like fishing, and Victoria had gone 3 days without food by accident.

Azusa began her message about the Misunderstood God in which she pointed out the misconception that God was aloof and distant. There were many verses that reminded us that God is always interested in us, and that He really cares about who we are. He knows everything about us even the most mundane things. The youth were attentive throughout the message and participated in our discussion questions. Towards the end of the message, we heard the amazing story of David Livingstone who went through incredible hardships in his ministry because he knew that God was with him as it is written in Matthew 28:20 “…surely I am with you to the very end of the age”.  When it was time for the closing prayer, I was filled with longing for the youth to understand God’s heart for them and how I need to come back to these basic truths about God. I know He is always faithful to these students.

After the message, we taught the youth how to play King Kong Shower. We even got into the second level of stereo. Then, after putting the room back to normal, we packed up our equipment and took a group picture. The youth waved goodbye and said to us “See you next week.”

I was excited for a chance to serve the youth especially when I remember of my experience as a youth in a small immigrant church. I really didn’t know what to expect at first but I understand now that God has much in store for all of His children. He is never absent in our lives even at times when we thought we are alone. May we always remember God’s message of love and that it is for all the generations!