Spotlight

Note: To protect their identities, the names of some of the people on this Web site and some identifying details have been changed. Some of the quotes are edited and paraphrased from the original sources for clarity.

“Today has been the most emotional day yet!” said Bethany, an American teen on a 10-day trip to Southeast Asia. She and seven other teens were part of a Christian reality show called Underground Reality: Vietnam™. The show’s crew was filming ordinary kids and their encounters with secret Christians in communist Vietnam.

The kids visited with underground (secret) Christians at a Bible school, at a hidden youth camp, and at underground church services. On Bethany’s “most emotional day,” they met a Vietnamese girl whose father was in prison.

Separated

Many children and youth in Vietnam are separated from their Christian parents because of their parents’ bold witness for Christ. Jiang, a Vietnamese preschooler, gets to see his granddad only when it is dark. During the day, his grandfather hides in a secret cave with another Christian man. The police want to arrest him because he refuses to stop following Jesus.

Bui, a Christian boy, has seen his father arrested for his faith many times. “For my dad, prison is just another house,” he said. “God will be with us wherever we are.” Bui would not like his father to return to prison. But his father is ready if the time comes. “All of us are ready,” Bui said of his family. “I have been ready since I was 10.”

Hard Realities

The reality of life as an underground Christian hit Bethany especially hard when she met a particular Vietnamese kid of courage. “When I was listening to this girl tell her story about how her dad went to prison and still is to this day, it just hit me all of a sudden...,” Bethany said, “that this girl never gets to see her dad! She sees him for five minutes about every two years.

“She never gets to curl up on his lap and cry or hear an encouraging word. Never gets to just get lost in a hug of unconditional love…all things I take for granted.

“I sat there and just bawled and bawled. They interviewed me afterwards and asked why I was so upset and I told them I couldn’t imagine not getting to do all those things with my dad, and to know he was suffering.

“My heart just broke for her and her family, and it’s been a hard feeling to shake. I’m thanking God right now that He has blessed me with such an incredible family and friends. That’s one thing God is teaching me.”

God also taught the teens about the need to tell others what is going on with underground Christians in Vietnam so that more people can pray for them. “They need all the prayers they can get,” said Bethany.

The kids’ adventures in Vietnam were filmed as part of a reality show called Underground Reality: Vietnam™ released by VOM in the Spring of 2007.