Let’s just say that I have completely fallen in love with China in the short period of time that I have gotten to spend here. The people are so friendly and welcoming, the city where I am staying is beautiful, and the food is great! I have met a lot of new friends this month and I have been able to share the gospel and invest in their lives. This blog is just to introduce you to these amazing people and to ask for continued prayer that God would continue the work that He has started in them.
P.S. These people do have Chinese names, but even if I could remember them there is no way that I could spell them correctly. So I am just sticking with their english names.
Meet Henry! This guy was the first person to come up and talk to me. He is an extremely smart kid and he loves english. His dad is a teacher at the Harbin Institute of Technology. He is 12 years old and his english is so good that he can almost pass as an american. When I told Henry that I was a Christian missionary, he had never heard of Christianity before. I never had an opportunity to follow up with Henry after our first conversation, but I continue to pray for blessings on his life. Please pray with me that God will someday reveal Himself to Henry so that I can call him a fellow brother in Christ.
Welcome to Emily and Kyle’s Kindergarden class! We had an opportunity to visit a kindergarden after our guide talked the guards into letting us in. We played with the kids in the courtyard and danced and ran in circles. The kids were so precious and we are sure that they have never seen foreigners before. The teachers asked us to come back the next day and sit in with some of the classes. We got to love on these kids and teach them how to count in english. The morning of singing and dancing and chasing these young ones was tiring but well worth it. Please pray with me that these kids can somehow grow up knowing the love of Christ.
One of the first people that I met here in China was Andy! He was with our ministry contact and was quick to introduce himself and meet all of us. Andy is a student here in Harbin and he was actually found by world racers like us a few years ago and got plugged into the church. Now Andy is training to be a pastor here in China. He has an amazing story and is super knowledgeable about the bible. He has such a loving spirit and is just one of those people who you cannot help but like. School is super important here in China and though Andy is continuing to go to school to honor his parents and their money, Andy has decided that he wants to do something different and more meaningful with his life. Please pray for him and his ministry. Pray that he will find the place that God wants him and that he can start an incredible uprising of deciples wherever he goes. People are naturaly drawn to Him so I know that he will have no problem pointing them to Christ. I love you Andy and will miss you. I will be back someday to visit you and your church!
This is Frank. Frank is the man. He was extremely nervous to talk with us because he had never seen a foreigner before. Will and I talked with him and it didn’t take long to get him to open up to us. We spent the majority of our time with Frank and his friends trying to pour into their lives as much as we could in the short amount of time that we had. Frank is a believer but he was extremely nervous to talk about his faith and the bible because he was afraid that he would get in trouble if someone found out. I had heard of persecution before but had never heard firsthand how someone could possibly get kicked out of school and punished for being a Christian. We continued to try to encourage Frank in his faith and got to watch him grow in boldness about being seen and heard talking about God. Leaving Frank will be one of the hardest things about leaving China. Because of our relationship with Frank, we were able to meet the these next amazing guys.
After spending a few days with Frank he introduced us to his best friend and roommate Fu (beside me 2nd from the right). Fu was not a believer and was more nervous and quiet than Frank was. I asked him some questions about his beliefs and got him to agree to go to church with me sometime. After our church plans fell through we got Frank to abandon his fears and agree to meet with us on Monday morning at 7am before his classes start for a bible study and made him bring Fu. Will and I had the opportunity to go through the entire gospel with them and even got them to agree to meet again. We ended up meeting every morning for bible study our last week here in Harbin. Wang,(middle of the photo) came up to talk with us on Wednesday morning when we were waiting on Frank, and we invited him to bible study with us. He came every morning for the rest of the week. He also was not a believer. Through the week we went through the gospel and shared how God loves us and He created us to have a relationship with us. We asked them to write down any questions they had and we would try our best to answer them. Through the week we watched how Fu’s questions grew from generic, “What is Christianity?”, to very deep questions seeking what does it mean to be a Christian and what does that life look like. I prayed that God would give me one person that I could invest in and impact this month and Fu was that person. On the last day of bible study, we gave them the oportunity to accept Christ and Fu said yes. I could barely hold back my emotions as we prayed for him and tried to share with him the process of accepting God in his life. After we prayed Frank led His best friend in the salvation prayer in chinese and we had a new brother in Christ! Please continue to pray for Fu and Frank that God would grow them in their faith and give them direction on what happens next. Continue to pray for Wang, he is almost there! He just needs a little more convincing before he makes his decision. He is so close he just needs one little push.
This month has been great and it is super hard to leave. I thank God everyday for allowing me to be here and be a part of His work here. To God be the Glory!
