A field laborer who wakes up at 4 a.m. each morning to provide for her daughter.

A rural Sunday school teacher without any Scripture resources.

A young child who helps his family scrape together a living on the shores of Dau Tieng Lake.

These are just a few of the people in Vietnam who received Scripture thanks to you! Now, hear their stories for yourself as you take a tour of Vietnam with Quan, who traveled by plane, bus, and motorbike to see first-hand how your gift of God’s Word is changing lives!

Many people can’t afford basic necessities—let alone the Bible.

Imagine if your entire livelihood depended on a bountiful coffee bean crop—but it hasn’t rained in six months. Or if the land you live on is scorched by the sun and can’t grow the vegetables you need to feed your family. Or if your only option for work is fishing in lakes and rivers, starting when you’re just a few years old.

For many minority language and ethnic groups, these are the realities of life in rural Vietnam. And in a country of more than 97 million people, these are the men, women, and children who often slip through the cracks.

Quan Phan is a senior communications officer with our partner, Bible Society Vietnam. He recently spent a full month visiting all three of Vietnam’s regions: North, Central, and South. Along the way, he got to see the challenges that churches and believers in these communities face.

“For many people, even the basic necessities are lacking,” Quan says.

He remembers visiting a woman who invited him into her home. It was just a crude wooden structure, but she’d taken out a significant loan to build it. Ten years later, she was still paying the bank. “There was no furniture in that house, just a small wooden table,” Quan says.

For those with so little, the possibility of ever owning a Bible seems slim. “To tell them, ‘Go and buy a Bible for yourself ’—it’s almost impossible for them, because they don’t make enough for their living,” Quan says. “But they always wait and hope.”

That’s where you come in!

Your gift of God’s Word shows people that they are not forgotten.

Thelma* was only married for a year before her husband died.

“There was no word that could describe my pain at that time,” she remembers. Thelma’s Christian friend brought her a copy of the Koho Bible. As she read the Bible, Thelma’s eyes were opened to a God who not only knew about her sorrow, but cared about her suffering.

“Whenever I was stricken by the pain, I said to myself, ‘Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest’ [Matthew 11:28],” Thelma says. “I found the strength to continue living.”

Thelma took a job harvesting carrots to provide for her daughter. Her day started at 4 a.m., and although she still enjoyed reading the Bible to her daughter when she could, Thelma didn’t have as much time to spend in God’s Word.

But last year, you gave Thelma a brand-new Koho Bible that came with a special gift: an audio Bible device!

“During the day when I am in the field, I put the player in my bag and play the Koho Bible while working,” she says.

Thanks to you, Thelma can keep Scripture close all day long. Even better, she can share her audio Bible with the other field workers. “Others found it quite unusual when they first heard the voice speaking,” she remembers. Now, Thelma says, the people who labor along-side her enjoy listening to Scripture with her, and the sound of God’s Word echoes over the field each day.

“I have the audio Bible with me always!” she says.

The Bibles you provide give children hope for the future.

For Quan, the most memorable stop on his trip is the place where your gift of Scripture is making the most unexpected difference.

In southeast Vietnam, a Cambodian-Vietnamese community lives on the shores of Dau Tieng Lake. Ignored by authorities and shunned by society, these families are among the poorest of the poor. Up to 90 percent of the community is illiterate. Instead of going to school, children begin helping their families survive by fishing as soon as they can swim.

“The kind of life they lead is very poor and very uneducated,” Quan says.

But this community wasn’t forgotten by believers like you.

Your generous support provided the Gospel of John. Then, the local Vietnamese church took your gift and added their own: lessons on how to read, so that every child can understand the Word of God!

“To see the children of illiterate parents now fluently reading about hope in the Gospel of John—it is very heartwarming!” Quan says.

To these grateful children, your gift of Scripture is life-changing in more way than one!

Thank you for sowing seeds of faith in Vietnam!

Across Vietnam, the Scripture you provided is filling the hearts of men, women, and children with the hope of Jesus Christ.

“You don’t always see the immediate result,” Quan says. “But the work of bringing the Bible to the community really changes the community in a miraculous way.”

Thank you for sharing God’s Word as you live out the words of Jesus through your generous gift: “Whenever you did it for any of my people, no matter how unimportant they seemed, you did it for me.” (Matthew 25:40 CEV)

*Names changed to protect identity.

Read more stories of lives changed by God’s Word in Record magazine!