I miss China. I’m one week in to my month here in the breathtaking Cape Town, South Africa and I just keep thinking about China. I can’t really explain why I miss China so much. I wish I could put my finger on it. When the route for my World Race was finally announced there were two countries that ignited something in my heart: Swaziland and China. I have no clue why, they just did. My experience in China exceeded my expectations.
In China we were in a remote village literally in the mountains. Away from the hustle and bustle of the more westernized China, it was like we were in a whole other country. Our life there was very different than how life will be any other place we go. I had the time each day to spend hours in the Word and in prayer. I went on prayer walks every day. I went to the Buddhist Monastery every day and as I walked beside monks and nuns who were praying to their gods, I boldly and persistently prayed the name of Jesus over that place. Over the walls, over the stones, over the ground, over the air, and into the people who were striving to reach a god they can never grasp rather than THE God that is already hidden within their hearts.
Every day I would sit on the side of the mountain at the monastery with Jessica and Maggie and I would pray and pray and pray. One of the first days there the Lord gave me a vision to bring the Word of God into that place. I shared it with Jessica and Maggie and Jessica began to get a vision about it too. So we created small “scrolls” with scripture written on them and sneakily stuck them all over the monastery. In any crack and crevasse of the walls, statues, and even inside the boots of some monks. When I would walk by the spots where I had dropped the scrolls the following day, they were already gone. I am confident that the Lord put those scrolls directly into the hands of the exact people He wanted to receive them and the Kingdom of God is advancing by the Truth that was written on those papers. Toward the end of the month we were connected with another missionary and she introduced us to her monk friend. We shared meals and many cups of tea with this adorable monk and he really found a very special place in my heart. When it came time to say goodbye to him I was very emotional. It gives me so much peace knowing that although my team is not in that place anymore and we are unable to continue investing in the relationships that we made there, there are still other missionaries there now like the ones we became friends with and there are even more who will continue to come that can harvest the seeds we have planted. Praise God!
To be a missionary in China you have to develop ninja-like qualities. You have to go about your daily life making yourself look as normal as possible, but at any moment you have to be ready to bring the Gospel. You have to use tact, timing and intentionality. You have to trust your instinct and go with your gut. You have to be aware of your surroundings to make sure you are safe and then you have to just go for it. But far more than that, to be a missionary in China you have to accept that you can do absolutely NOTHING without the almighty power of the Holy Spirit. In China a mere human like me has no opportunity to take credit or to get proud over the work of God. When something is done for the Kingdom it is obvious that it is done through the power of Christ and nothing else. Man has no room to boast. To be a missionary in China you also have to be content with the “small” things, trusting that they actually aren’t small things at all. You have to be content giving someone a smile rather than a Bible, you have to be content building relationships rather than building a church, you have to be content praying instead of preaching, and you have to be content believing instead of seeing. I can accomplish NOTHING in China without the divine workings of the Holy Spirit.
Maybe that is why I loved China so much. In China there was so much less of me and so much more of Him.
The Great Wall!!
