One of the things that I have been blown away by in China has been the hospitality and respect people show one another. One of the first days of ministry, Emily & I were talking with two girls Jenny & Sam and our Chinese contact, Celine, who desperately needed a phone. Sam, without knowing her, let Celine use her phone until it died & then Celine went up to someone else who let her use their phone. It was so bizarre to see people being so willing to share with complete strangers. People are never to busy to have conversation or help someone.
In America, many people have a very individualistic mind set while here in China, people are so willing to share their lives with one another, especially with foreigners. As I have been sitting back and observing Chinese culture as well as participating in it, I have been so blessed by the Chinese hospitality that it is sometimes overwhelming. Yes, I am a foreigner and everyone wants to be my friend. Yes, I am one of the few Christians in this country but I believe that these ?unique? qualities about myself do not equate to special treatment I have been given these last two weeks.
We, as a squad and a team, have been extremely blessed by our contacts and the people we meet. There has been numerous times where people have taken us out to fancy and expensive meals, bought us gifts, taken time out of their day to show us around, order us meals and just spend some quality time with us. But there is one person in particular who has gone above and beyond with her hospitality which has really blessed me and my team.
We met Polly during the autumn festival. She and a bunch of her friends took us around downtown Harbin and to a Buddhist temple. I wrote about Polly a little bit in my last blog but she is one of the funniest people I know. She is very intelligent, loves to learn and genuinely cares about people. We have seen Polly four times while in Harbin and every time she surprises us. On the first day we were together, Kyle asked Polly if there was some sauce to put on his rice at lunch. She couldn’t find any but the next time we saw her, she had a package of sweet sauce ready to give Kyle just in case he couldn’t find sauce again. Also on our first day, Emily was trying to describing this waffle cone thing a friend had given us and the next time we saw her, she had a version of the treat and the package ready for us so Emily could try some and find them in the store.
After our second time with Polly we knew she was a good listener but we didn’t know how good she was. On Sunday about half of our squad went to this tiger park which houses hundreds of tigers and you can go see them in their ?natural habitat.? Well Polly volunteered to come with us after church, even though she was scared to go. Throughout that day we had to take 6 buses which cost 1 yuan each. Emily told Polly that she wished she had 100 1’s instead of a 100 yuan note because that would make riding the bus so much easier. The next time we visited Polly, she surprised us with 100 1’s yuan bills ready for us so we could take the bus as much as we want! It was hilarious but as I thought about it more I saw true, genuine hospitality and attentive generosity. She cared about us so much that she heard our needs and met them each time when we were not expecting anything in return!!!!
What if we could be like that? What is we cared about people that we barely knew so much that we were constantly looking for ways to fill their needs? It says in Matthew 7:12 So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets. We as Christians need to constantly be striving to love our neighbors as ourselves and seeking to share Christs love with whoever we meet for that is how Christ treats us. If Polly, Celine and many other Chinese strangers can show me love and support, shouldn’t we do this as well??? I pray that I can take away an ounce of the hospitality that others this month have shown me that I can be an example of the love, kindness, mercy and grace of God.?
