Tri Phan and his wife MyDung knew little about Christianity when he began his Ph.D. studies in 2004 in environmental engineering at the University of Oklahoma in Norman. They had just arrived from Vietnam, and only Tri spoke English.<\/p>\n
After living in Norman for nearly a year, MyDung told her husband she wanted to find a class where she and their daughter Annie could learn English. A few days later, a postcard arrived from Bethel Baptist Church announcing an open house for its new children\u2019s building. \u201cWhen I received the postcard, I decided to see if this church had any programs that would help my wife and daughter learn English,\u201d Tri said. \u201cI was making friends at the university but I was also anxious for my wife and daughter to make some English-speaking friends.\u201d<\/p>\n
Tri took his wife and daughter to Bethel\u2019s open house. \u201cEveryone was very friendly,\u201d he said, \u201cand even though my wife couldn\u2019t understand the words they spoke, she liked the way they treated our daughter, so we decided to come back the next Sunday.\u201d That Sunday, after dropping Annie in the preschool department, Tri and MyDung were taken to a Bible study class for young adults that was studying the book of Daniel in the Old Testament. \u201cThis was the first time my wife and I had ever been in a church,\u201d Tri said, \u201cand I\u2019ll always remember my very first lesson from the Bible was an explanation of Daniel\u2019s vision of the four beasts.\u201d<\/p>\n
Although the lesson from Daniel 7 might have been a difficult introduction to the Bible and could have discouraged some people from ever attending church again, Tri said the verses made him even more curious about Christianity, and he and his family began attending Bible study and worship services at Bethel. The Bible study on Daniel ended within a few weeks; after that, the teacher began a series of lessons on the apostle Paul\u2019s letter to the Romans in the New Testament. \u201cThese PowerPoint studies on the Roman Road made the Gospel much clearer to me, but it wasn\u2019t until much later that I really understood what faith in Christ really meant,\u201d Tri recounted.<\/p>\n
After he began attending church, Tri told his OU adviser, David Sabatini, about his desire to know more about Christianity. Sabatini, known on campus for his faith, began meeting with Tri every Monday in order to study the book of John together. Two months later, encouraged by members of her Sunday School class, MyDung enrolled in an English-language class (ESL) offered by Bethel every Tuesday morning. Not only did she start learning English, she and her daughter soon began making friends. \u201cMy ESL friends became so important to me,\u201d MyDung said. \u201cI wanted to be just like them because they were so kind and friendly.\u201d<\/p>\n
In May 2006, a year after being introduced to the Gospel for the first time, Tri gave his heart to Christ and was baptized. \u201cI came to faith in Christ through the realization that Christ was the missing part in my life. I had always wanted to live a good life, but I was confused about how good was good enough, and I struggled to find the way to reach that goodness. I finally understood the Scriptures I had studied in Romans. I knew I was a sinner [Romans 3:23] and I knew I deserved to pay for my sin [Romans 6:23], but when I took the final step of asking for forgiveness and confessing my sins [Romans 10:13], that was the moment I became a believer.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen I found Christ through the Bible studies and through the lives of Christians like Dr. Sabatini and our friends at Bethel, I came to the conclusion this is it. I\u2019ve found what I\u2019ve been looking for.\u201d<\/p>\n
Tri noted one of his favorite Bible verses: \u201cI came to realize the truth of what Jesus said in John 14:6: \u2018I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father, except through me.\u2019 Those words became real for me.\u201d<\/p>\n
MyDung\u2019s journey of faith proceeded at a slower pace, especially since she found it difficult to learn English and had to leave her friends at Bethel in 2009 after Tri received his Ph.D. The family moved to Houston, where Tri went to work for Nalco Champion, an energy corporation specializing in the environment.<\/p>\n
Soon after purchasing a home in suburban Sugar Land, Tri and his family became involved in a Vietnamese church in the area and, within a short time, Tri began teaching a Sunday School class. Not long after the birth of their second child, MyDung also received Christ as her Savior. However, instead of being baptized in the Vietnamese church, she decided to return to Oklahoma so she could be baptized at Bethel Baptist Church. \u201cI came to know Jesus because the first Christians I met were at this church,\u201d she said, \u201cand I wanted to proclaim my commitment in front of them.\u201d<\/p>\n
Today, Tri is the secretary of the board of directors of the Vietnamese church in Sugar Land. \u201cWe are serving and spreading the Good News to the Vietnamese American community in southwest Houston,\u201d he said. \u201cLooking back now, I realize the way God brought me and my family to Him is truly amazing.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Tri Phan and his wife MyDung knew little about Christianity when he began his Ph.D. studies in 2004 in environmental engineering at the University of Oklahoma in Norman. They had just arrived from Vietnam, and only Tri spoke English. After living in Norman for nearly a year, MyDung told her husband she wanted to find […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[391,1721,286,1720],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.churchedge.com\/illustrations\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6401"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.churchedge.com\/illustrations\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.churchedge.com\/illustrations\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.churchedge.com\/illustrations\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.churchedge.com\/illustrations\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6401"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.churchedge.com\/illustrations\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6401\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.churchedge.com\/illustrations\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6401"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.churchedge.com\/illustrations\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6401"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.churchedge.com\/illustrations\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6401"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}