“I pray for my health,” says Mai as she scans the crowd looking for potential customers walking along the street. “I work every day from 6 AM until 10 PM. I never married, so if I get sick, I have no one who will take care of me.”
Mai carries her shop on her shoulders, two baskets slung from a bamboo pole. The load looks heavy but she makes carrying it look effortless. At 66 years old, Mai’s life is common to many in the city. Estimates are as high as 70% of the employment in Ho Chi Minh City is ‘informal’ or unregistered.
Small vendors like Mai operate portable shops selling everything from drinks and cigarettes to baked goods and fresh spring rolls. Their life is difficult, living from hand to mouth and many sleeping on the street next to their business.
Please pray with us for the ever present street vendors of Ho Chi Minh City with these requests:
—Pray for Mai that she will find the love and provision that God offers to her.
—Pray for Christians in Ho Chi Minh City to take every opportunity to show God’s love and His message of salvation to the street vendors with whom they interact every day.
—Pray for a strategy to share the Gospel among street vendors and other informal entrepreneurs through which many might come to Christ and new multiplying churches would be started.
Each day from October 1 to October 10 we will be publishing one of the 10 Faces of Ho Chi Minh City with prompts to pray as we lead up to our 10/10 Day of Prayer for the city.
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