After several missions to Vietnam, God called us to focus on outreach in this country in 2018. He gave us a vision for poor tribal villages in the mountains. These villages have 30-40 percent infant mortality because of contaminated water, malnutrition, and lack of medical care. We have responded to these needs by providing clean water, building sanitary bathrooms, providing livestock and new agriculture to grow, conducting medical seminars, and educating on health and nutrition.

Many children in these areas cannot attend school because their families cannot afford school fees. To secure education for these children, we began an educational sponsorship program. This program has flourished, growing from eight children to over 180 in several villages, ensuring their access to education and providing a future they could not attain before.

We engage with local leaders to find solutions to the effects of poverty and to create pathways to improve the quality of life. We begin by building relationships with the people, knowing that trust must be developed first to create sustainable partnership. As we offer solutions, we listen intently to their expressions of their own needs, helping them identify priorities and giving them a primary voice in the solutions. We give the people ownership over the efforts to address their needs. With this ownership comes responsibility and personal engagement in solutions. This gives the people the ability to look at the results and say, “Look what we did!” rather than “Look what they did for us.” And of course, as we bring clean water, we bring Living Water for the people.