An hour or so before I left Can Tho, Dat presented me with a card. It was home made and hand made and heart felt. Unlike my other trips, I've been able to watch Dat, as well as Nhi, grow up. He is not the little boy I met three years ago. English is difficult for him but the message inside the card was in flawless English penmanship. He has so much potential. Dat has had some heartache; his father, a great man from what others have told me, was killed several months before I came in 2011. I have no idea how I would have handled that at nine years old but he seems to be handling it as well as can be expected. He has a good mom and three terrific sisters to love him and guide him, Also, Hai, his first cousin who is the preacher, is a good role model as well.
I had a breakthrough of sorts with Dat in our last English section. Like many Vietnamese youngsters, he has a hard time pronouncing his j's. We were reading from the Bible material and in the first session, he always pronounced Jesus with the Vietnamese pronunciation, which sounds identical to the Spanish pronunciation, with the J rhyming with hey. Which is fine except it was English class. On that day, though, Dat made the J sound perfectly and he said Jesus just like I do. I was so proud of him! What a great name to be able to say in several languages! In one of my favorite hymns, Lydia Baxter begins with the phrase that doubles as the title: "Take the name of Jesus with you." Dat will now be able to do that fluently when he travels around the world spreading the Gospel in the coming years. It's the best name to know.
Applicable quote of the day:
"The name of Jesus is the one lever that lifts the world."
Author Unknown
God bless,
Steve
Luke 18:1
www.hawleybooks.com
E-mail me at steve@hawleybooks.com
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