The first part of our ministry in China was Tract Bombing! For two nights in a row in the western China mountains we littered small towns and communities with “Tracks,” which are small booklets that tell different stories of the bible in Chinese and Tibetan. We were guided by the fearless leaders of the Kingdom Journey (KJ) group as well as their leader Steve. I want to remind you that this is an illegal activity in China and if caught, the police would take our visas away and force us to leave the country.
The first night, 6 of us rode about 3 hours to get to our first town. At approximately 2300 (11PM), we met up with the other KJ guys and gathered in a small field off the main road to hide from anyone passing by. We discussed our plans and prayed over the tracks and towns we were about to infiltrate. The KJ men and Steve continued to tell us horror stories of other people getting caught and interrogated by the police. They reassured us that we would be fine and that those stories were very few and far in between. As we prayed I remember looking up to the star filled sky and sensed the Lord covering all of us with safety and peace. We then split up into our groups and piled into the two vehicles we had and drove to our designated towns.
Marcus was my partner in crime the first night. He and I were so excited to get started our hearts were racing just driving to our drop off. We parked, got our routes, and jumped out! We had every pocket full of tracks and we each had a bag full of “shots” which are just two tracks folded together to throw if needed. During the night we went up a dark road that led us to who knows where. Every door of every business, every house, and even every major foot path was going to get a track placed in front of it. As we made our way up the road we came across the first residential area. It was so dark that we could barely see the path that led in front of the houses. Knowing we were protected by our Lord and Savior, we fearlessly marched down the roads throwing tracks down at every door. After we got done with our assigned section we made our way back to the vehicle. Once everyone made it back we went to the next town.
The final town of the first night was a nightmare! Marcus and I got dropped off and made our way to our assigned area. As we sneaked around the town we began to navigate our way through the maze of the houses. There was no rhyme or reason to the organization of the residential area. Right off the bat we woke up multiple dogs and they began to bark. As we walked through the streets dogs would jump out at us and bark and growl. I will admit, we did jump and run like little kids a few times. So now we have dogs barking waking up every other dog in the area, we’re trying not to get disoriented, and we’ve just begun our route! We calmed ourselves down and focused on our task. I walked up to a house and I had to round a corner to get to the front door, when I did I was greeted by a very loud and ferocious dog who sounded like he wanted to eat me. After I landed back on the ground, I proceeded to the door, laid my track and threatened to punt the dog across the yard and ran past it. Marcus and I made our way to the end of the street shortly after that, and as we turned around we noticed a flashlight in the distance. We had to make our way towards the person looking for us to get to the next street. As we turned down the street another person spotlighted us with a light and we heard a voice shout. Marcus and I RAN! We sprinted down the street turned a corner and looked up to a dead end! We ran to the opposite street, another dead end! The only way out was back towards the guy looking for us. We decided to stay close to each other and walk down the street with our heads down like we knew where we were going. We start walking and we noticed the guy is walking in the same direction we are. As we approach the man from the back he shines his flashlight at us and we look up at him. Marcus then begins to play dumb and asks him where the street is. Not knowing English, the man just stared at us, which didn’t help the situation, so we just walked right by him very swiftly to distance ourselves from him. I called our leader and told him the situation; he told me that there were about six different people out with flashlights looking for all of us! Now disoriented, Marcus and I begin walking through streets trying to find our way out of the town. We finally met up with two of our other teammates and we began the journey of getting out of the town. We had to walk completely out of the city, through a corn field and onion field, slide down a terrace cliff, and follow the river to get back to where we needed to be. Marcus and I were so glad to see our vehicle and get into it!
The second night was WAY better! Our other teammate, Mel and I were teamed up. This was my second night, but her first night. We went through the same process of meeting up, briefing each other on our plans, and praying. Mel and I got dropped off and we had a much easier time navigating through the area. The houses were laid out in a nice grid pattern and we were able to knock out a ton of houses very quickly. Also, there were hardly any dogs in this area. The only issue that we ran into was our third and final town for the night. Our leader showed us our area and we jumped out. We realized we had a lot of work to do so we made our way to the farthest point and began to throw tracks on the way back. After we did a few streets I felt comfortable that Mel and I could split up and each do our own street. Our plan was to walk to the end of the street, turn around, and lay the tracks on the way back to the middle where we would meet. The second street we did like this, I walked down my street, turned around, and looked up to see Mel standing in the middle of the path of a flashlight. I quickly began to make my way to Mel as she did to me. When she got to me we linked arms like we were a couple and proceeded to walk to the end of the street. The person with the flashlight followed us all the way to the end of the street and into an open field. I was very impressed with Mel’s cool calm and collected attitude she had while we were going through that. We walked to the other end of the compound and proceeded with our assignment. We had a successful finish to our night, and we all returned home without any issues.
I was so honored and excited to be a part of such a cool ministry. We were reaching out to people who have never heard about Jesus in a country where most people would never hear about Him. It was amazing to see how God protected all of us through each night and kept us at peace about everything. I was so surprised to see how there was no fear in me going through this, and I give all of that to God.
I thank all of you who have supported me both in prayer and in financial donations. If it wasn’t for the generous and giving hearts I would not have been able to be a part of something so interesting and impactful to the Kingdom.
