How A Cow Can Change A Life In Vietnam

“You crown the year with your bounty, and your carts overflow with abundance.” (Psalm 65:11)

Thank you for the incredible support you’ve given our persecuted family this year. May God bless you and reward you. Your prayer and support make the difference to our persecuted family. When they are losing everything for the faith, you spark their hope and help them following Jesus no matter the cost – one of them is Mai* from Vietnam.

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You’ve heard of a piggy bank, but have you heard of a cow bank?

Mai is a widow from the northern highlands of Vietnam. She is small and quietly spoken but a woman of courageous faith. Mai has endured poverty and hardship all her life. Then, tragically, her husband died in an accident, leaving her to raise her two small sons alone.

“I was troubled,” Mai said, “How could my children and I survive?”

Mai’s home in northern Vietnam.

A local pastor visited, and Mai soon became a Christian. Her new faith and her church family gave her strength and hope. But her late husband’s family were furious.

“They persecuted me greatly,” Mai said. “They told me to stop going to church and praying to God.”

They even threatened Mai with arrest.

“I didn’t listen to them,” said Mai. “I never quit.”

Without the support of her family, Mai found it hard to support herself and her children.

Then she was given a cow, from the cow bank set up by one of our local partners.

The way the cow bank microloan works is simple. Open Doors’ local partners give a pregnant cow to a family. They keep the mother cow for farming or breeding but the calf is returned to the cow bank and given away to others in need.

This type of microloan allows persecuted, vulnerable Christians to live independent lives, support their families financially and continue to share Jesus with their community.

Mai tending to her cows.

“Without the project, we didn’t know how we could earn a living,” Mai said. “I ask God to bless the donors and sponsors of this Cow bank project.”

The cow bank changed Mai’s life. And when her in-laws saw her faith, their hearts began to change as well.

“I shared the blessings I have in Christ with my in-laws and invited them to church,” she said.

Now they are committed followers of Christ, too.

“Pray that my family will continue to love God and walk with Him. Pray that we would be living testimonies to the people we know, and to those we will meet in the future.”

Cow bank brings hope for a more secure future and help the persecuted families receive a sustainable income.

You can help them follow Jesus no matter the cost.

*Name changed for security purposes.