Legacy, Healing & Hope — A Journey Back to Vietnam & Thailand

Some Journeys Aren’t Planned

They’re prepared by God — years before you realise you’ve been called to walk them.

And so it is, yet again, this December, when Ura and I will travel to Vietnam and Thailand — a trip that began long before we booked our flights.

We’ve been invited on a very special journey with dōTERRA — one of only 20 from Australia and New Zealand — for the Healing Hands Sourcing Trip to Vietnam. This is what can happen when you are part of the 25 Collective. For just $25/month, you can be part of these experiences and be offered the chance to join these beautiful sourcing trips with us.

My Father’s Legacy

This is no ordinary destination. It’s deeply personal.

My father was conscripted at just 19, and at 21 he was serving in Vietnam. He was stationed at Nui Dat and spent long periods in Vũng Tàu Camp Hospital.

He returned home injured but alive — a miracle in itself. After a long recovery through hospitals on the way home, he married Mum, I was born, and he spent his working life in foodservice and hospitality.

Vietnam was once torn apart by war. My Dad carried not only the injuries but years of controversy, ridicule, and abuse. Even now, at 80, his feet cause him relentless pain.

Now, I’ve been personally invited back to that same land — not with weapons, but in peace.

• To bring hope
• To honour legacy
• To support the people and land where war once raged

Why Healing Hands Matters

dōTERRA’s Healing Hands Foundation is more than a charity. It’s a movement of lasting change:

• Rescuing children from trafficking
• Empowering women to rebuild their lives with dignity
• Providing clean water, healthcare, and education
• Creating sustainable jobs through fair, ethical sourcing — like Cassia and Ginger

This is not performative. This is impact that endures.

The Cassia Thread

Cassia is not ordinary. It carries weight — holiness, value, majesty. It purifies. It consecrates.

And then came a detail that undid me completely: Cassia wasn’t just in Scripture, or in the oils I’ll see distilled in Vietnam. It was also my Mum’s favourite tree — the golden Cassia that bursts into bloom across Thailand.

Exodus 30:22–25 — “Then the Lord said to Moses, ‘Take the finest spices: of liquid myrrh… sweet-smelling cinnamon… cassia … and make of these a holy anointing oil.’”

Cassia — a bark that must be stripped to release its fragrance, just as generations sometimes must be broken open to release legacy and redemption.

The Vietnam Journey

We begin in Hanoi, with:

• Blue Dragon Children’s Foundation — rescuing children from slavery, forced labour, and exploitation
• HAGAR International — supporting women and children rebuilding lives after trauma
• dōTERRA’s Cassia & Ginger distillery — witnessing sustainable, ethical sourcing
• KOTO (Know One Teach One) — training at-risk youth in hospitality, connecting with my family’s roots in the foodservice industry

The Thailand Journey

While planning the trip to Vietnam, the Holy Spirit whispered to me: “Thailand.”

I was confused — our trip was only to Vietnam. I saw a vision of the Burma Railway and said out loud: “How far is this from Vietnam?”

My great-grandfather was a prisoner of war on that railway. He was taken captive in Singapore and lived out his days on the Burma Railway.

So after Vietnam, Ura and I will travel to Kanchanaburi, Thailand, to:

• Walk the “Death Railway”
• Visit the POW memorials
• Stand on the soil of survival
• Remember
• Pray
• Lay it all down — in peace

A Legacy of Redemption

We’ll be walking a path shaped by war, but marked by redemption. By healing. By hope.

From soldier to servant. From pain to purpose. From brokenness to beauty.

These oils aren’t just fragrance. They’re not a fad. They’re bridges — carrying stories of survival, freedom, and dignity.