Of Good Courage the inspiring tale of resilience and faith, chronicling the life of Trong Van Cao, a man born into poverty in war-torn Vietnam. Bullied for his small stature, Trong eventually found himself homeless. A still small voice inside him guided his path—a nudge that would become the thread of God’s hand upon him throughout his life.
During the chaos of Operation Frequent Wind, Trong made a miraculous escape by boat, alone, across the treacherous South China Sea. From the refugee camps in the Philippines and Guam to an orphanage and foster home in Hawaii, Trong lied about his age to secure an education rather than a life of hardship. In Guam, he formed a deep bond with a Gary Gorans, a friendship that would endure for decades, leading Gary on a forty-six-year search for his lost friend.
Driven by sheer will, determination, and God’s gentle guidance, Trong navigated the perils of gang life, a mental hospital stay, and three failed marriages to achieve success and prestige. But it wasn’t until his heart and kidneys failed, and he lost everything, that he finally listened to God’s persistent voice.
Through prayer and the support of his church community, Trong found the family and purpose he had long sought. Of Good Courage is not just a story of Trong’s faith, but a testament to God’s unwavering faithfulness to one of His lost sheep, guiding him home to Christ.
For those who feel abandoned, hopeless, or unheard, this story offers a message of hope, faith, and peace.
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Born in a small fishing village in war-torn Vietnam in 1957, Trong Van Cao endured hunger, deprivation, and bullying for his small size as part of daily life, sleeping on a dirt floor in a hut lacking electricity and sometimes overrun by stinging ants. But even in the face of wrenching loss, including his father’s arrest after refusing to fight for the Army of the Republic of Vietnam after that nation’s 1963 coup, and the targeting of his village in the Tet Offensive, Trong’s resilience prevailed. The authors write movingly of Trong digging for clams with his sister, playing with a Nerf ball left by U.S. soldiers, and reading exhaustively at his village’s Catholic church. At 15, after surviving terrifying ordeals captured here in brisk, assured prose, he ran away, escaping hardship and war in his country, eventually making it to the United States. There, he became a remarkably successful entrepreneur—until he faced a sharp, shocking downturn in the later years of his life.
Striking detail and an abiding faith power this fleet story of perseverance, though at times, Trong reports, he doubted God. Gangs, an unexpected pregnancy, and other hardships came with his maturation, but Trong’s deep love for his family is palpable throughout, even when recounting lying about his age to start fresh with a new one. Failed marriages, poor health, and more mark the decades of his life. Through it all, the most surprising and consistent thread is Trong’s unwavering focus on education, which becomes his anchor in the darkest moments.
Of Good Courage is, in fact, two stories: Trong’s and that of Gary Gorans—his almost-brother and one of two co-authors—whose lives run parallel and deeply intertwined. The storytelling is paced like an intense work of fiction, with engaging, propulsive writing that makes it hard to put the book down. From the first pages, the authors draw readers into Trong’s journey with vivid scenes and welcome empathy, deepening readers’ understanding not just of this life but of migrants and refugees around the globe.-Booklife