Disclosure: I am an affiliate of Bookshop.org and I will earn a commission if you click through and make a purchase.”
Over here we are getting back in the swing of the culture study portion of World Love Wednesdays. With the Lunar New Year approaching we will be learning about and praying for Vietnam. Vietnam is one of the countries that traditionally celebrates the Lunar New Year, or Tet. Throughout the month we will be learning about Vietnamese culture and how Tet is celebrated in Vietnam, finding local immigrant-owned businesses to support, and praying for the country of Vietnam as well as our neighborswho are immigrants from Vietnam.
Come pray n’ play with us, and if you snap a picture, make sure to tag us with #worldlovewednesday
Books
Phuoc Thi Minh Tran is an award winning author and librarian in Minnesota. She hosts programs and has written several books about Vietnamese culture. We were lucky enough to be able to find some of her books at our local library:
- Vietnamese Children’s Favorite Stories: A lovely collection of Vietnamese Children’s Stories translated into English.
- All About Vietnam: Stories, Songs, Crafts and Games for Kids: A collection of activities for littles to learn about Vietnamese culture.
- My First Book of Vietnamese Words: An ABC Rhyming Book of Vietnamese Language and Culture: This fun Alphabet book shows different parts of Vietnamese culture from A-Z.
- A Different Pond: Bao Phi is another celebrated author based in Minnesota. His book, A Different Pond shares about a little boy goes out fishing with his father early in the morning. While fishing his father shares stories of living in Vietnam. This book beautifully illustrates the resilience of immigrants from Vietnam and their children.
Language Learning
Let’s Go, Đi Chói is produces by Vietglish Fun on YouTube. It is a fun episode introducing littles to the Vietnamese Language. In a mixed live-action/animation style this episode is eye-catching and a fun way to learn vocabulary for making friends in Vietnamese.
Learning about Tet
With Tet (the Vietnamese Lunar New Year) coming up in February, we will be taking a look at how this holiday is celebrated. My Little Pandas has Tet Activity Pages available in their Teachers Pay Teachers shop, we will be using to learn more about the holiday.
In addition I was able to find a couple of Tet New Years songs on You Tube to teach littles more about this tradition:
Restaurants
The Twins Cities is blessed with quite a few Vietnamese restaurants. And we love to visit for a big bowl of Pho. A couple of our favorite places for Pho are:
- Cadao Express (6637 Penn Ave S, Minneapolis, MN 55423)
- Quang Restaurant (2719 Nicollet Ave, Minneapolis, MN 55408)
Prayer
While we are learning about Vietnam and Vietnamese culture we are making a point to pray for the country and people of Vietnam, as well as our Vietnamese-American neighbors.
Praying for Vietnam
- Vietnamese Christian Music: I found this Vietnamese Christian Music Spotify Playlist that we will be listening to this month, reminding ourselves that the Kingdom of God is bigger than ourselves, and our own understanding of Jesus, but we need our Vietnamese brothers and sisters to help give us a bigger and deeper understanding of Christ and his Kingdom work.
- This month, I have stumbled on quite a few articles about Vietnamese Christian Artists using their artwork to show Jesus in their own cultural context. Let’s pray that they would be encouraged and uplifted as they continue to minister through their art.
- While looking-up ways to pray for this month, I found an excellent, and thought- provoking Theological Article by K.S. Nguyen discussing the to contextualize the Gospel to the Vietnamese Context. If you are so inclined, definitely read the article (linked below). And let’s pray with our littles that God would continue to raise up leaders who see where Jesus is already working in the Vietnamese culture. Give wisdom to Vietnamese leaders as they continue doing Kingdom work.
Cultural Integration and the Gospel in Vietnamese Mission Theology: A Paradigm Shift by K.S. Nguyen
Praying for Vietnamese-Americans Neighbors
We are also praying for our Vietnamese- American Neighbors. The books by Bao Phi mentioned above share struggles and discrimination our neighbors may face. Another resource for learning more about the Vietnamese-American community in Minnesota is Vietnamese Social Services of Minnesota. They are doing important work to serve the Vietnamese community and other immigrant communities in the Twin Cities.
We pray that the Lord would watch over our neighbors. We pray that he would provide friendship and community, and pray that he would guide us in loving our neighbors well.
Baby Devotions 