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EPILOGUE to VIETNAM ACCOUNT Uncle Chau: Uncle Chau's brother living in America obtained the required visa/papers for Chau to come to America to visit his family. The workers arranged for Chau to speak at some West Coast USA conventions, after which he returned to his family. He spent three months mostly in California. He was unable to get his visa extended, so he returned to VN on June 6, 2014. He was sent to Cambodia to be under Lloyd Morgan, who is about 55 years old. For an older man to serve under a much younger man is considered a disgrace in VN culture. Further, Chau does not speak the Cambodian language. Colin Brodie is the overseer of VN at this time. Uncle Châu returned to VN on November 3, 2014 from Cambodia. The Aftermath...Shades of the Past...similar to the 1999 Alberta, Canada purging. July 22, 2014, Minh Thanh wrote: We had an interesting weekend. We returned to Đalạt 300 km away, where we used to live before moving to Saigon. We had many sweet memories of fellowship with friends there for 25 years. Now there are only about 5 or 6 of God’s people left there. Two senior sisters, a sickly old grandmother and an aunt of a young sister worker who seldom attends meetings because of the grandmother’s health and the aunt has two little babies. Since then, a married couple from Hŕ Nội moved there and became the Elders. We valued and supported each other spiritually and materially…until the overseer and young workers cooperated to cause the mess in Vietnam. The workers sowed in this couple’s heart many things that caused them to have a different perspective toward the native workers, the two sister friends and us. When the two sister friends went to visit the Golden Fiends with us, immediately this new Elder gave them a choice. One of the two sister friends answered: “A long time ago, we chose in our hearts that we would keep our heart faithful to God in true fellowship with our friends with love and unity. Now you ask me to make a choice and I have already chosen in my heart. If I continue communicating with you all, it is because I want to keep the love and the support of each other spiritually.” They still have the love among them but because the elder must obey the workers, they were forced to separate. We felt sad because it was only a very small group of 5-6 and now they are divided although their hearts didn’t agree. In that small town there are now two separate fellowship meetings--each place with only 2 people! Long Thanh: A Golden Friend retold the story to the two senior sisters from Dalat of the visit in Long Thanh. After listening it, one of them sighed: “One more time causing division.” That sister thought of the pain of the elder brother and his younger sister. The elder brother had a stroke and sat in his wheelchair during our recent visit in Long Thanh. His little sister was the wife of the Elder that the party of Colin, Peter and a native worker came to separate them from the meeting. A similar case happened to Chị Tâm two years ago where a sister friend had a grandson attending an English class at the Elder’s house in Dalat. Her grandson didn’t understand why the grandmother didn’t come to the Elder’s house (his teacher) to have fellowship any more. The same question was in her son’s mind. It’s hard for her to explain, because she still keeps good relationship with the elder’s family (but not in faith). Binh Tan's Family: Here is a zealous couple who often accompany the workers through many decades, the same as Priscilla and Aquila in Acts 18. They live in Dong Nai Province, Phuong Lam District, 135 kilometers from Saigňn. This couple was a victim of Mr. Lyle…the same as the couple in Long Thŕnh recently with Colin (the temporary overseer in Viet Nam). Mr. Lyle cut off the meetings in their home which were established by our native workers through many years, and also cut off their position as an Elder…transferred the meeting to the next house of her youngest sister, causing the separation in their family known to be full of love and harmony. Can you imagine? There are five Friends at Phương Lâm, and now two houses very close together, have two fellowship meetings! Only God knows who belong to Him and serves Him. It causes pain to our native Workers, because they love their sheep, and never wanted them to be divided like this. Mr. Lyle did the same to my parents’ family too. I thought of the verse: “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.” And I felt sad for the people who caused the division in our country. (Minh Thanh) The Golden Friends look for ways to show their love, kindness and care for their brothers and sisters in Christ who live far away and/or are unable to get to meetings in Saigon. Recently on occasion, they have rented passenger vans and 12 to 16 people took day trips to visit and have meetings with these people. Uncle Hoa always goes on his motorcycle, and then he stays with the group. Taking his motorbike makes it convenient for him to go and visit other places after the gathering. Some foreign Friends who appreciate what the Golden Friends are doing have helped with travel expenses. Some have professed during these visits.
Special Meeting: On September 7, 2014, the Golden Friends
held a large Special Meeting. More than 90 people gathered in Di
Linh from 18 different places. They took three passenger vans with
40 to 60 people from Saigon and others travelled by bus. Some
traveled a day before, and some traveled during the night. They
came from 50 to 250 kilometers away, and some more than 1,000
kilometers. Unfortunately, some friends could not come because they
were not in good health. The meeting lasted for 4 hours, with Uncle
Hoa being the only preacher. The
love, joy and unity of meeting together in fellowship encouraged us
and we felt our cup overflowed. (Minh Thanh) The Golden Friends viewpoint: "Submission to the will of the organization is not always the same as submission to the will of God."
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