Quy Huu Do

My father grew up in a middle class family following confucianism. My father was the 11th child. Currently, there are only two siblings living in Vietnam. Our grandmother passed away in 1948. In 1955, our grandfather also passed away. At the time, there were 6 of us in our hometown. My 8th aunt , Đỗ Thị Chi, married and moved to Đà Nẵng with her husband. At that time, there was a war between the Communist Party of Vietnam and French colonialism. The Communist Party invaded four provinces: Quãng Nam, Quãng Ngãi, Bình Định, Phú Yên. Other big cities were under the control of French Regime. After July 20th, 1954, Việt Nam was divided into the North and South along the 17th Parallel; the Communist Party had pulled back to the North. The Danh river and the Hiền Lương Bến Hải Bridge acted as the border dividing the North and South Việt Nam. The French Regime controlled the South of Việt Nam from the 17th Parallel, which later became the Republic of South Việt Nam. Our father was living under Communist control for 9 years and his life was indescribably difficult. Our grandfather had passed away and all the siblings had scattered in order to survive.

In 1957, my father accepted Jesus as his Lord and Savior through Senior Pastor Phan Văn Hiệu at the CMA church of Đà Nẵng. Two years later, on January 27th, my father married my mother, Đinh Thị Biên. Pastor Lê Đình Tố officiated their wedding. My parents were teachers at Đà Nẵng Christian Elementary School. Between 1960-1963, the tension between the North and South increased. The general mobilization command from the government drafted my father into the army. My father joined the military police in order to fulfill the government’s requirement but still remain close to his family. My father was a sergeant of the special military police until the Fall of Saigon on April 30, 1975.

Our father, like the others who served the Republic of South Việt Nam, were imprisoned after the war. The Communist government called those prisons, “re-education camps.” During the time that my father was in prison, our mother had to do what she could to feed and raise seven of us. Once a month, she would put all of her duties aside to visit my father at the re-education camp A.30 in Tuy Hoà. We thanked God during those difficult times as He strengthened my mother to face the hardships and overcome them, including a time that the government tried to take away our house but we were allowed to keep it in the end.

In prison, our father faced many hardships and excessive abuse, both physical and mental. By God’s strength, he survived. By God’s grace, he met other Christians in the camp, and they prayed and encouraged each other. My mother allowed us to go with her to visit our father in prison; our hearts broke when we saw his condition. Although the allowed visiting time was only 30 minutes, our father always used the little time to encourage us to help our mother, focus on our studies, and most importantly, keep the faith strong in God by trusting the Lord and praying daily so that God will bless us every second of our lives. Our father encouraged us to read and study Psalm 37. This is the chapter that our father always reminded us of. Moreover, our father also reminded us with a verse in Revelation 2:10 “Be faithful unto death, and I will give you the crown of life.” Our father also told us, “do not be ashamed of me because I am a prisoner. I am not in prison for committing any crimes. I am a political prisoner.”

After 7 years in prison, he was released and reunited with our family. We continued to serve God by studying the Word of God in Sunday School, having Bible study in small group, visiting new believers, encouraging those who were losing faith and praying for them.

On Dec 29, 1990, my parents, along with Hữu Thiên and Hữu Hạnh were able to enter the US under H.O5. My other siblings, Hữu Phúc, Hồng Ân, and Hữu Ban escaped the country by boat. They were rescued and allowed to go to Germany. As for me and Hữu Toàn, we were unable to leave because we got married. We had to wait until my parents became American citizens and filed petitions in order to sponsor our families to the US. These processes took over 14 years of waiting. Finally, my family came to the US on Feb 27, 2004. Later, Hữu Toàn’s family arrived to the US on April 30, 2004. Praise the Lord for his blessings and for answering our prayers. We were reunited in America.

Even before we arrived in America, our parents were planning ahead for us. They had gone to Atlanta for a Christian conference and also tried to find out if Atlanta is a better place for us to live. Our sister, Hữu Phúc, was the pioneer of our family. She was the bridge that helped us relocate from San Jose to Atlanta. We also thank God, the children of God, and servants of God who assisted us tremendously. Our parents were living in a place with perfect weather, good social welfare benefits, a large Vietnamese population, with a community of people who helped them get to church and other places. After 15 years of living in California, my parents were satisfied. Because they loved us so much, they were willing to GIVE UP all of that up and move to Atlanta with us in order for them to continue to love and care for their children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren.

Our father was very faithful to the Lord. He worshiped the Lord, he served the local churches wholeheartedly in Đà Nẵng, Nha Trang, San Francisco, San Jose, and Morrow. Our father had set a very good example for us to follow. The church loves him so much. He always attended all church activities: Sunday service, Sunday school, Bible study on Friday night, and prayer night on Tuesday. He rarely missed a day, except when he was sick. But when he was not there, people noticed and missed him. Our father was diligent and fervent in studying the Word of God for he was a Sunday’s school teacher for 15 years at the Vietnamese San Jose Baptist church.

My father considered the church to be a big family, just like his own family. He was so faithful and generous for the kingdom of God and he loved everyone because the Word of God living in his heart. He obeyed God’s word in his daily life.

Today, we temporarily say goodbye to our father. He is in paradise with God. We believe he is very happy to see God and be in God’s hands. He is praying for us and all of us who are here today. We, his children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren will take it to heart and follow his example to faithfully worship God and serve Him until we see God face to face in heaven.

Finally, our father wanted all of us, his children, his children , grandchildren, and great-grandchildren to dedicate to the Lord two hymn songs: #289 ALL THE WAY ALONG, #296 ALL THE WAY MY SAVIOR LEADS ME.