If you have followed the news here for any length of time, you know that Vietnam is the first place where Clear & Simple Media books found a readership. The English version of Simple Truths for the New Believer was created in 2006 and immediately translated into Vietnamese. Over the next 5 years, the book became the core curriculum for training underground church leaders in Vietnam, in association with a project initiated by the Canadian Baptist Seminary.

Since moving to Vietnam in August, we have been working to complete two book manuscripts. We have also spent significant time with Vietnamese pastors in Evangelical Protestant churches. One of the projects we have been part of is an outreach to unregistered Vietnamese who live along Vietnam’s border with Cambodia.

Two of the books that the Vietnamese pastor who is leading the outreach along the border has been most interested in are Simple Stories from the Life of Jesus and The Jesus Story. Vietnam is a narrative culture, and both of these books are narrative-based.

We mentioned previously that Pastor Li Minh Dat volunteered to translate both books and completed the translations in January. Printing these books for legal distribution in Vietnam is another matter. Many things that involve government approval seem to move extremely slowly here. The last few weeks required forms, signatures, and fees. But as of this reporting, the printer has begun the design and prepress work for both books. If all goes well, Pastor Dat is confident that the Vietnamese translations of Simple Stories and The Jesus Story will be available in April.

Please pray for the process of government approval to publish these books for distribution.

Pray that the funds needed to put these books into print and into the hands of those who will benefit from them will come in soon.