One of my highlights of this mission trip was not only having the opportunity to witness 28 young men and women getting baptized on Christmas Day, but actually to personally baptize 3 of them.   I was very surprised when Sabastian asked a few of us to participate in baptizing them and I accepted without hesitation.  I felt like it would be an awesome experience and I do not know if I would ever get this opportunity again. 

I was a bit nervous at the time I went down in the lake… I am scared of water after all.  Then I started to think in my mind how inexperienced I am. I know God had provided me to do this….to step out of my comfort zone so I felt prepared afterwards.  Despite all these concerns, the baptism is a higher priority.  I am so happy for these men and women and I can see their faces just glowing…I can see Jesus in them.  They were just splashing water at one another and just being themselves.   It was amazing to hold down their wrist and head to dunk them slowly in the water.  I gave them a hug afterwards which really reminded me of my baptism a year and a half ago.  It was definitely a joyful day.

Another highlight was connecting with a young man named Hao.  I met Hao on the first day we visited Mom's ministry.    I was a bit nervous because of the language barrier but Owen encouraged all of us in the morning to try our best to connect with them and put ourselves out there. I used the name tags as a vehicle to connect with them because that is our mission.  

I remembered asking Hao his name and an animal that he likes.  It turned out pretty well because Hao was actually able to speak some English.  His English level is above average compared to the rest.  I slowly shared with Hao that I recently got baptized.  I asked him how to say "baptize" in Vietnamese and I found out that it is "bat tem".  At that time, I found out Hao was a nonbeliever and that day was his first day to Mom's place too.  I was really encouraged at how interested Hao was in learning English.  Mom translated to me that Hao said he felt like he knew me a long time and that he felt connected too.  Wow….that was very inspiring!

The next time I saw Hao was our fourth day in Malaysia.  I was really excited and happy to see him again.  I invited him to bible study with us.  I was amazed of how interested he was in learning to read the bible verse in English. I will never forget the moment when we bid our farewells to the group.  They were sad that we're leaving.  Hao expressed to all of us that he works a lot but he took off work early to see us.  He said he was really happy to see us and he felt like he met us in his dream before.  Hao promised to continue to seek God and try his best to go to Mom's house more often.  He also asked us to visit him in Vietnam in the future.  I can see it in Hao's eyes that we do mean a lot to him.  At that moment, I was reflecting on what Sabastian had mentioned to us at the beginning - that we can make a difference in their lives by simply buying a plane ticket to Malaysia.  At first I could not see how this is possible but now I can through Hao.  He is amazing!!!