Downing Vietnam Veteran headed back on mission trip in October

By Cara L. Dempski

DOWNING — The first time Richard Lynghaug stepped onto Vietnamese soil, he was carrying a rifle.

When he goes back this fall, he will be carrying something else entirely.

“We came with M-16s, and we’re going back with John 3:16,” Lynghaug said, quoting a Vietnamese minister about the upcoming journey.

The Vietnam veteran is participating in a mission trip to Vietnam and Cambodia October 15-27 as part of a delegation of 10 American veterans and Vietnamese minister Paul Ai. The group is returning to the country at the invitation of the Vietnamese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, who asked Ai to gather a group of American vets to meet former VietCong who are Christians.

Lynghaug said he is excited about going as a missionary, but also to see how much things have changed in the nearly 50 years since he was last there.

“I’ve seen pictures of Hanoi and Saigon,” Lynghaug said. “They’ve really changed a lot.”

The group of American vets will meet in Washington, D.C., October 15 before leaving for Vietnam the following day. After a 10-day whirlwind tour of cities like Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City, Danang and Phnom Penh (Cambodia), the group with return to the United States October 27.

The American delegation will attend meetings and conferences, speak to a variety of groups, eat meals and speak with former VietCong, and visit a Cambodian orphanage organized by Pastor Ai.

But, what Lynghaug is most looking forward to is spreading the Bible’s message to those who may not have already heard it.

Pastor Paul Ai

Lynghaug’s journey toward this mission trip started approximately 18 months ago when he met Pastor Paul Ai at a conference in Inver Grove Heights, Minnesota.

According to Ai’s website, he was born to a Buddhist family in Vietnam, and was sent at a young age to a pagoda for training to become a monk. Despite becoming one of his town’s top monks, Ai became frustrated, feeling there was neither hope nor power in Buddhist doctrine.

He turned his attention to becoming a witch doctor, and became one of the top in the practice. Ai’s website indicates he was active in that capacity when a group of Christian crusaders arrived in his town in 1970. Despite his determination to shut down the Christian meetings, Ai lost the spiritual battle as a witch doctor, choosing instead to become a Christian.

His choice led to being disowned by his family and rejected by his community.

It also led to government persecution, since Vietnam’s communist government did not allow the open practice of Christianity.

The minister spent over 10 years in communist prisons and forced labor camps for his belief in the Biblical gospel. Ai was able to attend Bible classes, study the book itself, and work toward becoming a pastor.

Ai’s choice was to “plant” hundreds of churches, become a pastor, and found the Assemblies of God of Vietnam right under the noses of the communists. He was deported from Vietnam in 1999 after being arrested and threatened with execution. Instead, he and his family moved to Hampton, Virginia, after being sponsored by a church.

Paul Ai, and his wife Ruth, have made it their mission to bring Christianity to people all over the world, and to reach out to Vietnamese people worldwide with their message of hope.

Lynghaug said Ai mentioned the upcoming mission trip to him almost immediately after the two were introduced. He said the minister seemed unusually persistent in his belief that Lynghaug should be one of the people who participated in the October trip.

Fran Lynghaug, Richard’s wife, recalled Ai telling Lynghaug more than once “you will come with us,” or “you will be with us.” The statement brought a smile to Lynghaug’s face, and he acknowledged Ai seemed very intent he be part of the group.

The couple read Ai’s book, “From Witch Doctor to Apostle,” which details his transition from Buddhism, to witch doctor, to Christian minister and missionary, and were fascinated by his story.

Despite having to foot his own transportation and housing costs for the trip, Lynghaug finally decided he would both enjoy the chance to see the place where he spent so much time as a young man, and share the joy he has found in his faith.

Then vs. now

Lynghaug’s enthusiasm was not dampened by the cost of the trip, even though travel to Asia is not cheap. He was able to pay for everything through a small handful of fundraisers through church and Pizza Ranch in Eau Claire.

The Downing veteran’s experience this time will be different in many ways from his first trip to Vietnam. He was traveling as a medical corpsman for the United States Navy and Marine Corps when he first went. Lynghaug describes his time in Vietnam and subsequent return as somewhat surreal in its lack of fanfare.

He recalls vividly the day he returned to the Minneapolis/St. Paul airport and the time immediately after.

“I flew into Minneapolis International Airport. There wasn’t very many people there, so I didn’t get crowds of people spitting at me like a lot of veterans did. It was very surreal, because it seemed like – not to me, but to my friends and relatives – in their mind I never left,” Lynghaug explained. “It was like ‘oh, you’re back,’ like I went to the grocery store. It was a great deal of apathy, and not much concern or interest in what I had gone through, what I had seen, or what I had done.”

He felt a sense of isolation, despite the number of people protesting the war at that time. In fact, people have only begun approaching him and thanking him for his service in the past few years.

There are lingering vestiges of post-traumatic stress disorder and effects of Agent Orange for many Vietnam veterans, and Lynghaug is not immune. In addition to multiple bypasses and other surgeries due to the chemical compound, the veteran has also found himself feeling more cranky, irritable and testy during the hottest, most humid days of the summer.

The days that feel most like the jungle.

While many Vietnam War veterans experience flashbacks in certain situations, Lynghaug said he likely will not have any. While he knows the initial meetings between the American soldiers and the former Viet Cong fighters will be uneasy at first, he hopes everyone will relax and enjoy building new relationships.

Lynghaug said he will enjoy getting to know those who fought on the Vietnamese side, but is keeping his mind on the fact that the trip is meant to bring the Christian gospel to more people. He knows there will be a political aspect to the visit, since Vietnam appears to want a positive relationship with the United States, but hopes to visit Pastor Ai’s churches, and share Christianity’s message of love and peace.

That the meetings, conferences and mission work might also bring some closure to his service in Vietnam, the Downing resident is focused on one message only.

“To me, the whole trip is Christ-centered,” Lynghaug finished. “We’re bringing the Gospel over there.”