Month 11 is here, 7 days left of the race, finishing up with our last country [starts with a C and ends with a HINA] as “Tourists.” This country may be “closed” to the gospel…but when has that ever stopped God from moving in peoples hearts and using us to make his name known?
We have nothing to lose, so what, we get kicked out? Lets be radical for Jesus! Lets be open to the opportunities that HE sets before us for HIS name to be known. Thats exactly what Brittani and I decided to do as we separated from our fellow “Westside Warriors” for a few days to come to the capital city to avoid any extra travel days before debrief…because at this point in our 11 month journey, traveling is just exhausting. I must say, we make a pretty great team in sharing the gospel and showing the love of Christ to the people we meet!
A few days ago, we went out for an adventure in the city to do the tourist things and see the major sites. We met these two Chinese ladies who wanted to hang out because they wanted to use their English, little did they know what they were getting into when they said “hi” to us. Quite honestly, neither did we. They invited us to stop for “juice or tea” and friendly conversation. $185 USD later and a heart attack on my end, from the $90 part we had to cover from the two pots of tea, 4 glasses of red wine, a small plate of baked watermelon seeds, fruit and a small coke for our friend, that they ordered. …YALL, I have never spent $45 dollars on a nice steak dinner, let alone for a small SNACK??!!?!
….Regardless of the amount and the heart attack I had, we boldly shared the gospel and our stories with these women who mark their religion as “Buddhist.” One was pretty receptive, and surprisingly knew some things about christianity from movies that she has watched from America.
I will be honest; I would like to say that the amount of the check bothered me for all of two minutes because I know that God is my provider and its not my money anyways it is His, but it totally bothered me. For someone who has not worked for a year and didn’t raise additional support, with the reality of my return home right around the corner with moving and needing to get a car…all this started to cloud my mind and worry me. Reasonably, so right?
…Then I had this heart check moment with God, and repented…“Wouldn’t I rather spend $45 dollars for the gospel to be shared and seeds to be planted, then on myself?” [Ouch, would you like some ice for that burn?]…
Next day… Things get even crazier!
We set out to go explore this marketplace that tourists go to. As soon as we arrived, Brittani wanted to stop at this cafe and buy us a cup of coffee. We immediately met these ladies from Israel that we chatted with for a bit, and then this young woman…who we will call Peace [and she is actually from Turkey].
Peace shared her story about trying to find a place of peace, feels like no matter where she goes she just doesn’t fit in along with all this past pain of rejection and trust issues. [Raise your hand if you have ever felt that way, I know I have.] Peace had been searching for some sort of “faith” to believe in as she travels from place to place. Here we are sitting in this cafe, both Brittani and I with stories to tell about our own pain, rejection, and struggles of trying to find love and acceptance in this world. We are holding this beautiful gift and able to extend it to our new friend peace, about why she hasn’t been feeling “peace” at all.
We talked for hours sharing this gift and our personal stories about what God has done in our lives, and we prayed over her. This was the THIRD time now, that someone had shared with her about Jesus… coincidence? NO>>> THIS IS JESUS, YALL!
She wanted a Hot chocolate and without hesitiation I wanted to buy it for her, not even thinking about all the stress from the day prior. Then two minutes later, these two men came in to order and one to plug his phone in beside us. He asked if we minded to watch it for him, “of course not” we replied…so he turns around and buys us coffee as the store owner kind of hinted he might ought to for our kindness in watching his phone for him.
It was in this moment, when God reminded me of my love for giving to others regardless of how little I have to give, but also His love for blessing me when my heart gives freely…So why were you stressing out again? See, I provide for you!
Peace was blown away at the fact that I blessed her, then Britt and I was blessed right after! A God moment none the less…and it was cool to point even that moment back to God and give him the glory for it! Please kindly, be in prayer for our new friend!
Brittani and I hung around waiting for the guy to return for his phone, and I really wanted to pray over him. So we prayed to bless him, shared a tad bit about what we are doing and how we love Jesus….He said “I don’t have much but..” pulls out a 100 Yuan, gives it to us, and thanks us for doing Gods work!!
We literally cried.
God just provided food money for us for the next two days, that we didn’t have because beijing is quite expensive. In this moment, I was reminded of God being my provider and that he is going to take care of those needs at home when I transition. There is no need to worry, instead give freely and love others the way that Jesus does! He gave me peace, and I believe that He is doing the same in Peace’ heart as she discovers His love for her even more.
ALSO>>> Lets talk about how God is moving through us [and others] in a “closed country”! We boldly shared the gospel in a cafe with people coming in and out, where we could have easily been caught and kicked out of the country!!! God protected us, and HE is moving in this country YALL.
NO limits, NO boundaries, NOTHING can stop OUR GOD from being GLORIFIED and HIS words going forth for his people to KNOW Him in EVERY tribe and every tongue, and for people to know just how much HE stinkin loves them.
Peace out 😉 and much love…See you AMERICA in T-MINUS 7 days!
