EVERETT — He found peace as a refugee after the Vietnam War. Now, Vinh Paul Le is sharing the faith that saw him through the aftermath of the bloody communist takeover and helping other Vietnamese immigrants here.
He was installed as the assistant pastor of Asian evangelism last Sunday at Westminster Presbyterian Church in Everett.
Le, 56, has spent the past three decades teaching and ministering along the West Coast of the U.S. and Canada. But his journey to find that work was tumultuous.
When Saigon fell in 1975, Le’s father was taken to a prison camp where he was killed. His family was targeted by the communists because his father had worked for the Republic of Vietnam, which governed the southern half of the country until the end of the war.
Le was 17 when his father died, leaving his mother with 12 children.
“We had to run for our lives,” Le said. “We couldn’t stay home.”
Le spent the next six years moving about Vietnam, hiding from the communists. In 1982, he made it to a refugee camp in Thailand. He lived for three years in fear that he’d be sent home.
“If I went back to Vietnam, I’d be killed,” he said.
Le started learning how to fight in case he was recruited to the army. But, soon after, he found a Bible in the small library at the refugee camp.
Le, who grew up worshiping ancestors and occasionally attending Buddhist temple, started studying with a group of Christians.
“God called me to come to him,” Le said. “From there, I trusted in him. I was joyous after that. God gave me a peaceful heart.”
He became an evangelist, sharing the message of Christ with anyone who would listen. He traveled to Indonesia, where he learned English.
In 1984, a reformed church in California brought him to the U.S. The church sent Le, then 24, to finish high school in Iowa and on to Bible college in Michigan.
During his career, he has served in several churches from Southern California to British Columbia.
In 2012, he started a Vietnamese church in Vancouver, B.C. He said he doesn’t mind working with the small group of reformed Christians.
“You don’t worry about how many sheep the Lord gives you,” he said. “If you need my help, I’m here for you.”
He was ordained in January to become a Presbyterian pastor so he could join the clergy at Westminster. Now, he leads a Vietnamese Bible study on Fridays in Everett, then spends his weekends ministering in Vancouver.
He and his wife, Liem Tram Le, also teach Vietnamese language classes to the children of immigrants in their Everett home. It helps them better communicate in their parents’ native language, said Le, a father of four boys.
He also plans to start classes to help Vietnamese people learn English. He said it is easier for them to learn from someone who also speaks Vietnamese.
Westminster’s senior pastor Fred Zoeller said he wanted to bring Le on board to help make the church more multicultural.
“I realized he has a strong Vietnamese ministry here in Everett,” he said.
Zoeller learned to appreciate Vietnamese culture while he was teaching English in Saigon during the summer of 1969. Now, he plans to share that with his congregation.
Zoeller wants to help Le expand his teaching and make the congregation at Westminster more inclusive.
Soon, Le plans to start giving a Sunday sermon in Vietnamese at Westminster.
“We hope and pray that more people come to know God,” he said. “In God, we have a peaceful life.”
Amy Nile: 425-339-3192; anile@heraldnet.com. Twitter: @AmyNileReports
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