Within the race we have a certain characteristic lingo which one of such terms is “Faith Day”. This typically means leaving for the day without taking anything with you: no money, no water, no phone, etc. and trusting the Lord to provide all your needs for the day.
While in Turpan, our team decided to go out for a modified faith day given some of the security concerns in the area. We split off into pairs and I went out with Tristan for the day. He has a strong evangelical anointing on him so I wasn’t quite sure what the day would hold in terms of adventure. I was excited though because he and I were on our original team Dauntless together and I knew he would be leaving the race shortly after this faith day experience which would give us one last opportunity to go forth as teammates. I did bring my phone with me to use as a camera and translator in the instance we truly needed it. However, I kept it in my pocket out of sight and mind the majority of the day.
Before we set out on our adventure we prayed for a few things like having someone provide us with food and drink and meeting some English speaking people. 115 degrees was no joke so we wanted to make sure we were also being smart about how we tackled our itinerary. As we walked and would come to an intersection, we would ask HS which way to go and see where He wanted to lead.
We were walking through town when we heard a scream and saw a large group of Muslim men and women gathering. The women were wailing and we discerned someone had just died. One lady motioned to me and signed for me to pray for the situation occurring though both of us were already doing this at the time. We saw the men carry the body out of the building and place it on a truck to be taken off. One lady even ran towards the truck as it was driving away before some men held her back. It was an interesting start to our day and we debated whether or not HS was calling us to raise the dead. In the end we chose not to whether out of fear or timing I’m not sure but the impact of witnessing this event was strong. We found out later it was an unexpected death of a younger person.
As we continued to walk we found out in this area of China no one of any religion is allowed to talk about their religion or host any events. Most of the Muslims were nominal but it wasn’t just Christianity being silenced. It was ALL religions.
Along our walk we saw many parts of the city. The Uyghur people live in this area so they are Muslim by heritage and their written language is a dialect of Arabic so they responded more to us trying to speak Arabic than Chinese. We would stop and see what people were doing throughout our walk and stuck to as much shade as possible. A lot of construction was occurring. We decided to walk through a vineyard since this city was known as Grape Valley and vineyards were everywhere. We asked a lady which way we should go to get out of the vineyard and she led us through a shortcut. She also picked some grapes for us to eat. 🙂
We came to a point in our walk where we decided to head back to where we were staying. We knew we needed to turn left so we chose to go through another vineyard rather than the main road. A man motioned for us to come in and sit a bit to get out of the heat. He and his family showed us great hospitality. We were treated to hot tea, grapes from his vineyard, bread, and two types of melon as well as an AC room. Both of us said thank you to Papa for answering our prayer from earlier that morning. This man did not speak English so it made communicating a fun game of charades which has become our norm. Context clues really do help in understanding what someone wants to say.
The food the family provided us
We said goodbye and the man had bagged up the food we didn’t eat to take with us! He also motioned for us to take his scooter for a ride first before we left. We thought we were being punked or something until he handed Tristan the key. The two of us went for an hour long ride throughout the mountains and vineyards of the area. What was neat to me is that although it wasn’t a prayer that morning to ride a motorbike, it was a prayer I had for the trip that Papa answered. It was also a bit of adventure to conclude our day. We returned the scooter to the man and went on our way walking through vineyards, besides cemeteries, and in and out of the city buildings until we returned safely.
Riding the motorbike through the city
This entry by no means encompasses all the neat things G-d did that day but I wanted to share how good He is to take care of us, give us good gifts, and remind us of His unfailing love.
25“Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? 26 Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? 27 And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life?g 28 And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, 29 yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. 30 But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? 31 Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ 32 For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. 33 But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. -Matthew 6
