Sometimes, laying in bed at night, I think about living overseas for a few years and I feel a little afraid.  I think of living in a country with millions of people who might hate my wife and I because of our nationality and our faith.  I think of being in a place where I can’t just call the police if there is an issue, when I can’t drive 35 minutes to almost all of our friends and family and where I might not feel safe leaving my wife alone for the first year we are there.  I think of all the bad things that can happen here and can imagine a reasonably safe response and then I transplant that situation to Vietnam and all reasonably safe responses are a 20+ hour plane ride away.  I’m not scared of the government, I’m scared of the man I don’t see coming and I am not scared of what we are giving up to go but what we might lose while we are there.  These are the times when I know that you (reader and church family) ARE so important to us.  When we are lonely God can use you for comfort, when we are scared He can use you for strength and when we aren’t in prayer He will answer yours for us.  Sometime’s God takes us to places where all reasonable responses are gone and all we can do is depend on Him……..but it’s still ok to be a little bit afraid.  

Psalms 56:3  ”When I am afraid, I put my trust in you.”

     Natalie and I have been back from Vietnam for a couple weeks now and have just begun to really process what God revealed to us there.  We will be posting periodically on what we did, saw and experienced while we prepare to go back.  We want to thank everyone that supported us through gifts, t-shirt donations and prayer and to remind everyone that does have a t-shirt to take a picture in it and send it on over to us.  We want to post a collage of everyone!! 

     There were many incredible things God showed us in Vietnam but the most wonderful thing we experienced ,simply, was Him.  After over 20 hrs of flying and lay over’s, 1000’s of miles and multiple language barriers we landed in Ho Chi Minh City and to my surprise found the same God we had “left” back in Dallas, TX.  We knew that in every step of this journey God would be with us but what we didn’t fully realize was that He was already there.  We know God is a God of the whole world, omnipresent and aware of all things, but we have grown so accustomed to the concept of missionaries being sent from the States that we unknowingly brought God into that as well, feeling as if He was sent from American as well, in the hearts of every missionary.  We unintentionally bought into the lie that God needs us to go so that He can come with us, thankfully He shattered that idea and showed us that we were the ones tagging along.  Every incredible moment or heartbreaking experience you will hear about all stem from one thing, that God is the same in Dallas as He is in HCMC.

     In Vietnam one of the phrases we learned quick was “Same Same.”  It means exactly what it looks like, this is exactly the same as that, it was usually used in response to us when we tried to order food.  Ex.  “I like chicken what is this?” - ” Same Same”.  (I don’t always think it was “same same” though.)  God really laid this phrase on our hearts when we were worshiping at a small house church that meets on top of a business.  There were 50 people there speaking, preaching and worshipping in Vietnamese and although we didn’t understand a word of it our souls, we KNEW that our Father was being honored in that place.  During times of worship our spirit praised God right along with our brothers and sisters, never mind needing to know the lyrics or the tune, our hearts simply cried out “You are God, you are OUR God.”  Sitting on the floor eating lunch with the church afterwards we realized “SAME SAME.”  This church is exactly the same as our home church in Dallas; though it is much more intimate, persecuted by their government and dealing with fears and struggles we probably never will, it is still part of the Body of Christ.  If we are the right hand, they are the left.  It felt familiar, too.  We felt at home in that place and with those people, we had great fellowship, incredible discussions and began what we hope to be are deep friendships.  It felt like church, it felt like God.  We thought we were leaving our church and community and going to a place with neither but God was already there, and so was OUR Church and OUR Community.  We thought God would bring us there and show us something so different but He very clearly said, “Same Same.”

“Am I only a God nearby,” declares the Lord, “and not a God far away?” - Jeremiah 23:23

Check out this AWESOME video our friends at The Parks Church put together during our visit. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7hV03UqzBHQ

Hey everyone,

   Our shirts came in (last week).  If you have already paid for one we will be contacting you soon to get it (or them) to you and if you have not already ordered one it is a great way to help support funding our mission trip as well as getting some cool new threads.  With a $20 donation you can be stylin’ and profilin’ with the best of them.  Contact us for info on how to donate at joeyandnatalie@lostorphans.com and please keep praying for us, Satan isn’t just waiting for us in VN he is here and he is working.

Natalie and I ask that you would pray for us as we begin this journey towards Vietnam.  We have already seen some areas in which we know we will be weak, distracted and selfish and want to be aggressive to purge those things from our hearts and give God the focus and Glory that he commands of all of us.  Please pray that we become deeper in our relationship as believers, friends, and in our marriage.  She is my bride, but she is His first, as am I.  

      (Joey)  I ask that you pray for me to rely on God to lead us through this and not myself, I can trust God for the beginning and the end but tend to fall back to myself when it comes to walking the path in between. This next year can be an incredible opportunity for me to give God all of myself, including my attempt to control.  I also ask that you pray that my heart and desire is always for Christ to be known and not myself, I so quickly forget that all glory and honor is His and that we are wonderfully allowed to share in that with Him.  When I desire to be honored among our peers I feel my heart pull from Christ but it doesn’t always bring me the sorrow that it should.  I ask that the joy of the Lord would be my joy and that the lack of His presence would break me.

    (Natalie)  I ask that you pray that our eyes would remain on the Lord, through our planning and preparing. I want our focus to remain on preparing our hearts and minds more than on preparing for logistics and needs.  I also ask you pray that we would be overwhelmed by the grace and faithfulness of the Lord, fully trusting Him in all things.

-Galatians 6:14 “May I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.”

    Finally, we would ask that you pray for the finances to come through that we need for support.  There is an immediate need for our short term trip in August and a long term need to sustain us in Vietnam.  Natalie and I are looking to cut unnecessary expenditures out of our lives so that we can be faithful in our funds for this journey but are very aware that God will be using the funds of friends, family and others to provide the bulk needed.  We are praying not only for people that are close to us but also for people that are close to you, there might be an opportunity that we could never be presented with if you did not mention it to those in your circle of influence.  We thank you all deeply for your faithfulness to us in friendship and fellowship and will continue to thank God for the body of believers He surrounds us with.

We are ready to order shirts!!!!!! Just need to pre-fill 20 orders and we can send ‘em on in.  All $ goes towards keeping us in Vietnam!  Thank you guys!!!!!!  $20 each, just msg us with your size and how many you need.

Hey guys, Lost Orphans International just got a kicking new website!  Go to www.lostorphans.com and check it out.  The email servers are being switched over to the address listed below is temporarily down, that being said you can hit us up at joeydarwin@gmail.com with questions comments or spam.  We would love to talk to any/all of you about what is going on with Vietnam!

Friends and Family,

With some big changes coming up in our life together, Natalie and I wanted to send you a letter to catch you up to speed!

We currently work for a non-profit ministry called Lost Orphans International. This ministry exists to rescue, love, and empower abandoned and orphaned children in southern Vietnam. Our hearts have grown bigger and bigger for this country through this ministry and what it’s about; showing the love and hope of God to the people and children of that community.

We have been presented with the oportunity to GO and support this ministry in Vietnam. Through months of prayer and thought, we have found that this is where the Lord is leading us.  This August, Natalie and I will go with other Lost Orphans International staff to Vietnam for about a week to see and take part in the ministry at work there. The intention of this visit is also to prepare us for moving to Vietnam the end of next year! We will be moving to Vietnam for two years in September 2013. We are beyond excited to be given such an oportunity and are eager to make our first visit there.

Obviously with a decision like this comes fear and anxiety, but underneath that we are standing with confidence on the firm foundation God has laid for us. He has gone before us and will be with us through out.  Our hope and trust remain in Him. Please pray for us as we prepare for this new direction in our life together. Pray that as we get ready for this change we would keep our eyes on the Lord, that God would provide strength in our weakness, and that above all He would be glorified.

Please support us with prayer and encouragement as we move forward. If you would like to take part in sending Natalie and I to Vietnam and helping us sustain our ministry there financially, you may donate by going to www.lostorphans.com, selecting the “Donate” tab and writing “Joey and Natalie Darwin” in the comments section of the form.  If you would like to donate by check you can make it out to Lost Orphans International and mail it to us at; Joey Darwin 15725 Artist Way #41041 Addison, Tx 75001. Please also write our name in the “memo” line.

For our upcoming short term visit this August the cost will be $5,000 for both of us to go. We have currently contributed $4,000 ourselves and still have a little ways to go! Any excess funds that come in now will go toward our long term stay in Vietnam, as we will have a continued need to raise support while we live there.  We will need to raise, through either one time gifts or continued support, $35,000 a year for our work in Vietnam.  Please consider being a financial support to us during the two years that we live there. Our work in this children’s home will not bring in any income for us, besides the support provided, Natalie and I will also be praying for and seeking out jobs that we can do within the community to sustain ourselves and ministry. We will be selling t-shirts and other items between now and next year to help draw attention to this work as well as bring in support, you can email us at joeyandnatalie@lostorphans.com, or follow us on any of the social media sites listed below for information on these items as well as updates on our journey.

We are beyond thankful for you.

Twitter and Instagram @joeyandnatalie