China was a tough month for our entire squad. We battled much heaviness, but through it all we saw the beauty of the Lord. It may not have been physical beauty, but we experienced much spiritual beauty in the midst of it all.
The spiritual climate was unlike anything we have experience thus far on the race. The heaviness was palpable and debilitating at times. A peak into my journal says it all:
Everyone has been talking
about the heavy spiritual climate here-so I am glad to hear it is not
just me having a hard time connecting. It feels very much like there
is some kind of ceiling or barrier-the oppression is palpable. Hard to
believe how fired up we were one week ago and how heavy and dead we
feel now. The enemy is awake and prowling-the trick is to not succomb
to his games-must remain strong and consistent in quiet times. I have
felt the pull to laziness and distraction.
Despite the fact we have been out of the country for 6 months, it was definitely the worst culture shock we have experienced thus far. It is normal for all men to smoke, common for all people to spit constantly, and potty training involves encouraging children to “potty’ anywhere they please on the sidewalk. Needless to say we were careful where we walked! The most disconcerting thing of all was the stares from the locals. Many had never seen foreigners and they were not big on hiding their staring or their disdain for us. It weighed heavily on us that everywhere we went we were met with unfriendly stares. After worrying about it quite a bit and frankly becoming rather annoyed we tried to adjust our attitude towards them. The reason they were so unfriendly and unhappy is because they are lacking the JOY of knowing Jesus. We tried to laugh, smile and giggle our way through every day and hopefully it rubbed off a little bit!
Our first two weeks were spent at a Cultural Exchange program at a local University. We spent our mornings learning Chinese culture, Calligraphy, Tea Art, Embroidery, etc…
Each afternoon we hosted English Corner, which was an opportunity for the students to practice their English and we were able to develop friendships with the students. I was able to connect very quickly to two specific girls. Their openness and curiosity about American culture (they thought all Americans carried guns!) quickly led to conversations about religion and Jesus. Play dates, lunch, KFC, and fun at the local park gave us the opportunity to share the Gospel openly and answer MANY questions. it saddened my heart to learn that they truly believed that they had religious freedom; if only they knew the oppression that they lived under. Please pray for these girls and all the students we met at English corner. I am honored to call them friends.
