How One Immigrant’s Life Was Changed by God

By Rick Cherok

Hung Le was the second son in a Vietnamese family with five children. He was raised in a devoutly Roman Catholic home and even discussed the possibility of entering seminary to become a priest when he was old enough to do so. But the Vietnam War that raged around Hung’s early life changed everything.

As a child in war-torn Vietnam, Hung met many American GI’s who were in his country as a part of the war effort. “They were our heroes,” he recalls, and “they were incredibly kind.” He dreamed about going to America and recalls that his favorite childhood game was “coming to America.” Little did he know that he would take an unexpected journey to America.

When Hung’s older brother died in a 1974 drowning accident, Hung was entrusted with the responsibilities of being the family’s oldest son. So, when the situation became more dire as hostilities intensified in the spring of 1975, Hung’s parents arranged for him—as the oldest son—to escape to America. They sold everything to obtain a single ticket from a cousin who worked with the U.S. embassy in Saigon. Hung was stunned to learn that he would be the solo traveler to America (leaving his family behind), but his mom insisted that he go to carry on the family name. “I didn’t fully understand at the time,” Hung explains, “but I knew I had to go. I was 11, and it felt like the weight of the world was on my shoulders.”

As the North Vietnamese Army advanced into South Vietnam, he remembers his mother saying, “Hung, it’s time!” as his cousin picked him up on a motorcycle and they sped away to start the journey to America. During an initial stop at a refugee camp in Hawaii, Hung recalls hearing that Saigon had fallen and he thought he would never see his family again.

Hung ultimately made his way to Seattle, where his cousin arranged for Mrs. Kee, a Vietnamese lady, to be his sponsor. Ironically, Hung’s cousin was supposed to bring Mrs. Kee’s daughter to the U.S., but he brought Hung instead. Nevertheless, Mrs. Kee treated Hung with great kindness. When Hung’s cousin left for a time, Mrs. Kee welcomed him into her home. As she led him to his room, Hung thought the room’s closet was where he was supposed to stay. “This is not your room,” Mrs. Kee told him as she gave him a bowl of rice and led him to his actual room. “I sat on the bed and wept as I ate the meal she gave me,” Hung recounts. “That was pure grace—undeserved, yet freely given.”

Once his cousin returned, Hung went back to living with him. During this time, his cousin became angry and abusive, but Hung learned to deal with it because his cousin threatened to send him back to Vietnam. Amid the regular beatings from his cousin, Hung hoped it would earn some sort of goodness from God that would enable his family to come to America. He couldn’t understand why God didn’t allow them to join him in the U.S.

On one occasion, Hung recalls, a Mrs. Beard came by his residence to take him to a party for her son. She noticed that Hung had bruises on his arms from the beatings he had encountered. Mrs. Beard reported the situation to the authorities and Hung was removed from the abusive situation, becoming a ward of the state.

During this period, Hung established communication with his sister and wrote letters to her explaining his circumstances. Hung found great comfort in his correspondences with her and in her promise to come to America and take care of him. As she attempted to escape Vietnam aboard a boat filled with Vietnamese refugees, a group of pirates boarded and plundered their boat, taking their food, water, and other supplies. When Hung’s sister was finally given water after several days without, it was engine water with acid in it and she died in her effort to reach America.

Upon hearing the sad news of his sister’s death, Hung recounts that he “cried all night” until he “had no more tears.” Afterward, he says, “my mourning turned to anger.” Amid efforts to try to understand his sister’s death, Hung says he entered a period of depression and concluded that there is no God or else God is not good.

His best friend, who noticed something was awry, pressed Hung for a response to his obvious condition. When Hung furiously announced that he was angry with God and wasn’t even sure of God’s existence, his friend told him that he thought Hung still believed in God, but he must realize that God works on his own timeline. These words “broke me,” Hung explained, and he cried again because of the deep-felt pain. But he decided to talk with God again.

“I was good,” Hung prayed to God, “why are you punishing me?” Hung confesses that he didn’t know what to do with God, but he realized that through all of his experiences, God still loved him. It was “an incredible beginning to a new relationship with God,” Hung recalls, and his faith soon shifted from being transactional to relational. Yet, his faith journey was only beginning.

Through the assistance of a high school counselor, a door was opened for Hung to attend Pepperdine University. As a lonely young man who had lost so much, Hung found both a family and Christ at Pepperdine, where he was baptized during his freshman year.

“I came to Pepperdine looking for a good education,” Hung notes, “but I got so much more. I’m so grateful!” In addition to becoming a surrogate family when Hung was separated from his biological family, the university community shaped his faith and provided him with the love and support he needed. Pepperdine was also where he met his wife and today they have four sons.

Hung was ultimately reunited with his family in 1991, when an act of Congress (Hung refers to it as a “Miracle of God”) enabled his family to leave Vietnam and relocate to California. His father had endured six years in a reeducation camp but refused to join the communist party. The loss of 16 years was great, according to Hung, but God redeemed that loss. “I don’t have all the answers,” Hung explains, “but through the gift of hindsight I can see God’s hand at work.”

Hung has served in various roles on the Pepperdine University campus and is now the Senior Vice Chancellor for Alumni Affairs. He is keen to remind those who hear his story that “God doesn’t cause suffering, but he redeems it.”

Rick Cherok serves as Managing Editor of CHRISTIAN STANDARD and the Executive Director of Celtic Christian Mission.