After taking a bus, to a subway, to a 1.5hr train ride, to 3 more subways, to a 35hr train ride, we finally arrived at our destination in ____________ China.
Entering into China, we weren’t sure what our ministry was going to look like because Christianity is highly regulated, if not completely shut off by the government. We knew it wouldn’t be like Africa, where we were free to preach the word of God.
Once we got settled in we realized we would be ATL’ing most of our month. (ATL stands for Ask The Lord) After some prayer and searching we ended up getting hooked up with a man named Peter.
Let me tell you about Peter…
Peter had been searching for truth for the past 5 years. He sought fulfillment in religions such as Buddhism with no avail. He eventually found Christianity, but became confused because he was hearing different teachings from different people.
After talking to him for a bit we realized that the 2 things he longed for most, we had to offer.
1. Truth
2. Friends
We had nothing but time on our hands and the sole reason we came to China was to preach the name of Jesus.
We met with Peter every day. He would come over at 10am and for a few hours we would go through the Bible with him and answer any questions he had. The rest of the day was spent hanging out and seeing the city while sharing our testimonies, more scripture and more of Christ’s love with him.
At the end of the month Peter told us that he learned more with us than he had in the past 5 years. He believed that God had sent us at just the right time because he was about ready to give up on life. He was so hungry for truth that he had given up his good paying job and cut off all contact with friends who weren’t Christians just because he was searching for Jesus so diligently. We can learn a lot from the passion and desire Peter has to know more of Christ.
By the end of the month, Peter was so filled with hope that he was already starting to tell others about Jesus. God loves Peter so much that He sent 7 Americans across the world at just the right time to remind him of that. What a beautiful picture and good reminder of how much God pursues us.
Luke 15:4 “What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he has lost one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the open country, and go after the one that is lost, until he finds it?”
I truly believe that God has big plans for Peter. With his souled-out passion to know Christ I believe that God will use him as a bright light in China, sharing truth, which the country so desperately needs.
I was continually reminded of the verse Luke 10:2 “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few.” In America, the Gospel is preached freely and people have the decision of whether or not they want to believe it but in China, a lot of people don’t even know the name of Jesus.
*Please pray for Peter and his continued journey
