Sorry this blog is delayed but I promise to update you the best I can on the time that passed since I last shared. Warning: it’s a lengthy one! As some of you may or may not know China is a closed country when it comes to being a Christian. We were slightly restricted in what we were able to do and all communication is heavily monitored by their government. They have a ban on social media and the only way for us to access it was through a VPN. There was no fear because the worst that could happen is that we would be kicked out of the country but we did our best to be wise in our time and interactions.
As we left Nepal we said goodbye to our alumni squad leaders. Alysa and Sara have been truly awesome and played a huge role in my growth on this trip. They are two amazing women of God and I appreciated them more than they know. Sara made sure that I learned that number 1-I matter, and was always there to give good advice/feedback and laughs. Alysa pushed me to step out of my comfort zone as a leader and offered me encouragement, advice, and prayer along the way. They will truly be missed!! Four of my squad mates got raised up and trained to be our squad leaders Tyler (who was with our team during our time in China), JD, Shelby, and Anna. I’m excited to where God leads us through them. 1Thessalonians 5:12-13 Now we ask you, brothers, to respect those who work hard among you, who are over you in the Lord and who admonish you. Hold them in the highest regard in love because of their work. Live in peace with one another.
We started our time in China on a tour of Tibet. It was crazy to be told that AIM was not permitting ministry in this area because it was too dangerous. So as we toured this beautiful part of the country we prayed our hearts out, cause that was our biggest tool! It was a rough couple of days as many of my squad mates experienced altitude sickness from being up around 17,000ft.
Our tour ended in Xining. After a 22hr train ride we arrived and were starving. We quickly learned how difficult the language barrier was going to be, the hardest thus far. We literally ended up pointing at people’s food that they were eating to order. On our way back to our hostel we met a woman named Terry who quickly realized we were Christians and began a conversation with us as we attempted to buy fruit. She invited us over to her house for some coffee. We went and it was awesome!! We got to hear her testimony and trials she faces being a Christian in a closed country. We prayed over her and it was so good!
We arrived to Ürümqi where our coach Matt who was with us had a contact. I admit that before we met him our team was not thrilled to be here and thought about getting out of China sooner rather than later. But he came to see us and told us not only his story about how he got here but all that God has done here though him. He told us how there used to be a large missions presence here but most have left due to fear and oppression. But he also informed us of the unjust situation taking place here. If you were to tell me that something like nazi Germany was taking place in this world today I would have told you you are crazy! The world learned form that mistake a long time ago. This sadly is not the case! In this area people are being sent to re-education camps. It is a very specific group of people called Uyghurs and these camps are very similar to concentration camps where people aren’t ever being seen again. My heart literally broke and I could not wrap my head around what he was saying. Also I did not know what we could do about it. After he shared we asked what is the best thing we can do here with our time? His response, prayer! No we did not spend our time doing manual labor or converting masses to Christ or anything necessarily tangible but we prayed our hearts out!! We committed to coming together as a team each morning for an hour or two to pray. After that we went out into the city and prayer walked around. We prayed for workers, for Chinese leadership, for the re-education camps, for redemptions, for forgiveness, for conversion, and for the love of God to be known. Yes China was hard because we were closely monitored and slightly restricted but that doesn’t mean we don’t go and we don’t try and we don’t use our greatest weapon! The phrase for China was “work like is all depends on you, pray like it all depends on God!” Please add China to your prayers, pray over these camps, pray for a shift in government, pray for the impossible, because God is a God of the “impossible!” Romans 12:12 Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer.
We also embraced leaderships vision of creative engagement for this time. We sat down and did our best at replicating Chinese characters into encouraging and uplifting notes which we then passed out to people who God highlighted to us in the park, the mall, and around the city. We couldn’t always interact any further because of language barriers but we did pray over each individual.
We also had intended to do some worship in the park and even covered the area in prayer beforehand. But the day we went we were informed that they would not let Tyler take his guitar into the park. It was a bummer but then we decided we would just walk and worship… it was awesome! At one point we stopped on a bridge overpass for a bit and just sang over the city. People would stop for bit and listen or smile as they walked by. The best was a girl that had stopped to listen and even though she didn’t know English she did her best to sing along with us!!
As a team we also decided to engage in digging into the word together. We settled on the book of Job and it has been awesome so far. Of course anytime you spend in the word is good and beneficial but doing it as a team is powerful! Not only does it unite us but it’s a beautiful thing to hear the insight from different members of the body and wrestle through questions that arise. Psalm 199:15-16 I meditate on your precepts and consider your ways. I delight in your decrees; I will not neglect your word.
We also met a girl named Emma who is an English teacher… praise Jesus!! She was super sweet and full of joy! We got to play ping pong with her and help her with her English. On our last day in Urumqi we went to lunch with her and actually got to share the gospel with her and one of her students Quinn. He was nine years old and as we were sharing he stated that he had heard about Jesus from his grandmother who has a Bible! We encouraged him to ask her more about Jesus and to read some stories from the Bible. Emma was very receptive and asked questions and we even got to give her a copy of the New Testament in Chinese!
We traveled to Jiayuguan. During our time there my new nephew Matthew Lee was born. It was an emotional day for me. I desperately wanted to be back home and holding that precious little guy in my arms but I couldn’t. I know that I am where I am supposed to be. But some days are definitely harder than others and there is the reality that life goes on without us… even though I ever so politely asked my friends and family to put their lives on hold while I’m gone :). But as the saying around here goes, “love deeply, hold loosely.” Knowing that tomorrow isn’t promised, that God gives and He takes away, and that He made the biggest sacrifice possible for us!! So I cover him in prayer from afar. I thank God for modern technology and the ability to see him from the other side of the world. And I’m planning all the ways to spoil him and make up for lost time when I get back!!
Lastly we might have taken a slight detour to see the Great Wall!!!!! It was an awesome way to celebrate the 4th of July!!! As we headed out of China we became more and more bold in sharing and had multiple opportunities to share the gospel with those we came in contact with! You are officially caught up, thanks for seeing it through to the end… if you did haha. WiFi pending I should be back to blogging more routinely.
