Being a Missionary in ChinaBeing a Missionary in China Made Easy: 12 Steps to Success
Being a Missionary in China (Tibet): 12 Easy Steps to Success
Disclaimer to my Mom and Dad: I know you’re not going to like the number of times I mention the police in this blog. Let’s focus on the positive: I didn’t get arrested!! hehe
1. Bring a map (we didn‘t do this) and have an itinerary (whoops, we didn’t do that either) Preferably, the map should be in English (we eventually found one, but it was in Chinese) or your itinerary should be in Chinese. If you don’t bring either, they will not believe that you are a group of friends touring China. Who comes to China to tour without a map or an itinerary!? (Well, besides us.) An itinerary helps you know where you are going to go next when the police ask you to leave the town you are in. If you have neither, they will think you are scatterbrained and not very smart (this was their impression of us). On the bright side, if you bring neither of these things, they might feel sorry for you and buy you breakfast, escort you to the bus station, pay for your taxi, and buy your bus tickets for you. Who saw that coming? (Jesus did).
2. Make sure you speak some Mandarin, or at least someone in your group does (thank Jesus for Tiffany!!). My teammate, Tiffany, speaks Mandarin, and we were so blessed to have her on our team. Goodness knows how difficult it would have been to do everything without her. Also, be sure to brush up on other languages. You never know when your contact in China will be a Mexican man and his wife (what an amazing blessing!). Things can get really interesting when you are translating the Chinese and Spanish into English at the dinner table. But it’s so much fun!!
3. Get your story straight before the very first evening (it is likely that the police will stop you by then.). When one person is speaking to them in Mandarin and the rest of you don’t know that the conversation is about, it can be difficult to know what’s been said. When it comes time for them to talk to you, you need to know exactly how much information is the appropriate amount to reveal to them. Not lies, just keep it simple. “We are a group of friends who met online and are traveling together.” All truth. If they ask more questions, of course you should answer those questions honestly. You aren’t there to lie, and it’s not illegal to be a Christian traveling in China. However, giving them more information than they ask for will likely only speed up your escort from town.
4. Know what the tourist sights are in each town that you visit (we didn’t). If there aren’t any, your default can always be the mountains (we tried to get away with this). Tell them you came to see them and want to hike them. I sure wanted to, but they never let us stay long enough in one place to accomplish this. Travel during the right time of the year (we didn’t). Apparently there are some beautiful, breathtaking fields of flowers in China (Tibet) that are so amazing to see in the spring. If you travel the right time of year, they might actually believe that you are tourists.
5. Be aware that many hotels are actually NOT ALLOWED to house foreigners. They may communicate this to you by putting a hand in your face when they see you walking toward them and saying. No no no no no no no no no. Don’t be offended, it’s just the way it is.
6. Expect the unexpected when it comes to the police. They will want to photocopy your passports. You can let them, it’s okay. They will likely ask you to leave after questioning you. And they will tell you over and over that it is too dangerous for you to be there as a tourist. When the police come to your hotel room late at night, expect that they will bring WAY more police officers than is necessary to speak to a group of 6 girls in their pajamas. It seems that they have seen too many American films. I’m not sure what they expect to find when they come that late at night pounding on the door. What they found was some sleepy eyed, arms crossed, and just generally disgruntled girls. By the time you get asked to leave by the police for the 5th time, you’ve had enough.
Police: What are you doing here, are you tourists?
Tiffany: Well, we were TRYING, but you make it very difficult to sightsee.
7. Chinese hospitals are not like American hospitals. BRING A FRIEND!! You will need a friend to register you, purchase your medications, fetch them from the pharmacy, bring them to the nurse, ask the nurse to find the doctor, and then to find the doctor when the doctor does not show up. And be prepared for a level of cleanliness that is far below that which you are used to seeing. And like the hotels, only certain hospitals are allowed to treat foreigners. It might be good to research this beforehand.
8. Make friends with locals (we did this). Whether they be a hotel concierge, the police, or a police man’s friend who happens to be a monk, put yourself out there! Smile a lot. You may get to have a tour of a monastery in places where they don’t normally let tourists go. You could be invited to eat a traditional Tibetan dinner in the house of a local family. How else are you going to learn all about the Tibetan struggle (likely the real reason the police kick us out of each town), eat way too much yak momo “Yak be freeeee!”, and see firsthand what amazingly kind and generous people the Tibetans are. Observe their customs and learn about how they live. Smile and give out hugs when you can.
9. Go on a Tibetan Horse Trekking adventure (we did this). Good way to meet locals. The kind of locals that live in a tent and are sheep and yak herding nomads. Stay in their tent with them. Ride a horse for 5.5 hours to get there. Scream as you are sliding down a hillside in the slush on your horse who won’t listen to you. Did I mention I am terrified of horses?! Do it anyway. Go and spread the Word!
10. Worship Jesus on the street corner in a Tibetan village (yea, we did that) or on stage in a bar (that too.) In the words of Hilary Duff, “Why not take a crazy chance? If you miss this moment, you might miss a lot. So why not?” Since you’re already drawing enough attention to yourself with your huge backpack sitting on a street corner or being the only Americans in a Tibetan bar, why not give them a show!? Even the Chinese military loves a good concert (as we learned). So break out the guitar and sing your heart out. Jesus loves them so much and they deserve to hear that, even if they don’t speak the same language.
11. Be prepared for a lot of days where you prayer walk. Your prayers are powerful. Pray that the local people will have visions. This way they will know it is really Jesus that is working in their lives. I struggled with how they would know that my God is the god that makes good things happen in their lives If they were healed, if they witnessed a miracle, how would they know that it did not come from one of their Gods. We heard stories of people getting visions, visits from Jesus in their dreams. Pray that they encounter Jesus in a huge way.
12. Above all else love. Love with great boldness. Love until it hurts. Love God and love others. Love people the best way that you can. It might just be a smile or asking how someone is doing. It might be waving to a little child or taking a photo with someone. You may even have the opportunity to sing them a song, or pray for them and with them.
Photo Credit: The Lovely Tiffany Chen
Made Easy: 12 Steps to Success
Disclaimer to my Mom and Dad: I know you’re not going to like the number of times I mention the police in this blog. Let’s focus on the positive: I didn’t get arrested!! hehe
1. Bring a map (we didn‘t do this) and have an itinerary (whoops, we didn’t do that either) Preferably, the map should be in English (we eventually found one, but it was in Chinese) or your itinerary should be in Chinese. If you don’t bring either, they will not believe that you are a group of friends touring China. Who comes to China to tour without a map or an itinerary!? (Well, besides us.) An itinerary helps you know where you are going to go next when the police ask you to leave the town you are in. If you have neither, they will think you are scatterbrained and not very smart (this was their impression of us). On the bright side, if you bring neither of these things, they might feel sorry for you and buy you breakfast, escort you to the bus station, pay for your taxi, and buy your bus tickets for you. Who saw that coming? (Jesus did).
2. Make sure you speak some Mandarin, or at least someone in your group does (thank Jesus for Tiffany!!). My teammate, Tiffany, speaks Mandarin, and we were so blessed to have her on our team. Goodness knows how difficult it would have been to do everything without her. Also, be sure to brush up on other languages. You never know when your contact in China will be a Mexican man and his wife (what an amazing blessing!). Things can get really interesting when you are translating the Chinese and Spanish into English at the dinner table. But it’s so much fun!!
3. Get your story straight before the very first evening (it is likely that the police will stop you by then.). When one person is speaking to them in Mandarin and the rest of you don’t know that the conversation is about, it can be difficult to know what’s been said. When it comes time for them to talk to you, you need to know exactly how much information is the appropriate amount to reveal to them. Not lies, just keep it simple. “We are a group of friends who met online and are traveling together.” All truth. If they ask more questions, of course you should answer those questions honestly. You aren’t there to lie, and it’s not illegal to be a Christian traveling in China. However, giving them more information than they ask for will likely only speed up your escort from town.
4. Know what the tourist sights are in each town that you visit (we didn’t). If there aren’t any, your default can always be the mountains (we tried to get away with this). Tell them you came to see them and want to hike them. I sure wanted to, but they never let us stay long enough in one place to accomplish this. Travel during the right time of the year (we didn’t). Apparently there are some beautiful, breathtaking fields of flowers in China (Tibet) that are so amazing to see in the spring. If you travel the right time of year, they might actually believe that you are tourists.
5. Be aware that many hotels are actually NOT ALLOWED to house foreigners. They may communicate this to you by putting a hand in your face when they see you walking toward them and saying. No no no no no no no no no. Don’t be offended, it’s just the way it is.
6. Expect the unexpected when it comes to the police. They will want to photocopy your passports. You can let them, it’s okay. They will likely ask you to leave after questioning you. And they will tell you over and over that it is too dangerous for you to be there as a tourist. When the police come to your hotel room late at night, expect that they will bring WAY more police officers than is necessary to speak to a group of 6 girls in their pajamas. It seems that they have seen too many American films. I’m not sure what they expect to find when they come that late at night pounding on the door. What they found was some sleepy eyed, arms crossed, and just generally disgruntled girls. By the time you get asked to leave by the police for the 5th time, you’ve had enough.
Police: What are you doing here, are you tourists?
Tiffany: Well, we were TRYING, but you make it very difficult to sightsee.
7. Chinese hospitals are not like American hospitals. BRING A FRIEND!! You will need a friend to register you, purchase your medications, fetch them from the pharmacy, bring them to the nurse, ask the nurse to find the doctor, and then to find the doctor when the doctor does not show up. And be prepared for a level of cleanliness that is far below that which you are used to seeing. And like the hotels, only certain hospitals are allowed to treat foreigners. It might be good to research this beforehand.
8. Make friends with locals (we did this). Whether they be a hotel concierge, the police, or a police man’s friend who happens to be a monk, put yourself out there! Smile a lot. You may get to have a tour of a monastery in places where they don’t normally let tourists go. You could be invited to eat a traditional Tibetan dinner in the house of a local family. How else are you going to learn all about the Tibetan struggle (likely the real reason the police kick us out of each town), eat way too much yak momo “Yak be freeeee!”, and see firsthand what amazingly kind and generous people the Tibetans are. Observe their customs and learn about how they live. Smile and give out hugs when you can.
9. Go on a Tibetan Horse Trekking adventure (we did this). Good way to meet locals. The kind of locals that live in a tent and are sheep and yak herding nomads. Stay in their tent with them. Ride a horse for 5.5 hours to get there. Scream as you are sliding down a hillside in the slush on your horse who won’t listen to you. Did I mention I am terrified of horses?! Do it anyway. Go and spread the Word!
10. Worship Jesus on the street corner in a Tibetan village (yea, we did that) or on stage in a bar (that too.) In the words of Hilary Duff, “Why not take a crazy chance? If you miss this moment, you might miss a lot. So why not?” Since you’re already drawing enough attention to yourself with your huge backpack sitting on a street corner or being the only Americans in a Tibetan bar, why not give them a show!? Even the Chinese military loves a good concert (as we learned). So break out the guitar and sing your heart out. Jesus loves them so much and they deserve to hear that, even if they don’t speak the same language.
11. Be prepared for a lot of days where you prayer walk. Your prayers are powerful. Pray that the local people will have visions. This way they will know it is really Jesus that is working in their lives. I struggled with how they would know that my God is the god that makes good things happen in their lives If they were healed, if they witnessed a miracle, how would they know that it did not come from one of their Gods. We heard stories of people getting visions, visits from Jesus in their dreams. Pray that they encounter Jesus in a huge way.
12. Love people the best way that you can. It might just be a smile or asking how someone is doing. It might be waving to a little child or taking a photo with someone. You may even have the opportunity to sing them a song, or pray for them and with them.
