Hello! I finished my month in China and wanted to share a lot of what happened while I was there. Enjoy!
Side note: Chinese currency, Yuan, is properly pronounced “You On” in English…
Cornerstone Cafe
On our first day in the city we were assigned to in China, me and two of my teammates walked across town looking for a coffee shop that we found online. After arriving to where the coffee shop was presumably located, we noticed it no longer existed. Still wanting a coffee shop to get some wifi and finish some work, we asked a couple of people in the street if they knew where a cafe was. After a couple of people were unable to help, we asked a police officer if he knew of any cafes in the area. Barely being able to communicate because of the language barrier (many middle aged and older Chinese people do no speak English), the police officer called over to a couple other officers and they began to discuss locations of different coffee shops in the city. Finally, one of them motioned us to get into his police vehicle. In surprise, we got into the car and he drove us a couple of miles to a coffee shop on the corner of the street that was named “Cornerstone Cafe”. We had no clue this place existed, we had no plan on walking to this part of town, and we definitely had no expectation to be escorted by Chinese police. It just so happened that brothers and sisters in the faith owned this shop and we had many opportunities opened because of this connection that could only have been ordained by the Father! Here’s a pick of me and two of my sisters at the cafe the day we first found it:
A artist and his art
One night, me and two other teammates ran into a well known Chinese Architect on the way to our hostel. He was so excited to meet Americans because his son was going to college in California and his wife spoke good English. We ended up getting invited into their home and were able to talk with them as they served us tea and walnuts. The architect kept looking at me and point then giving me a thumbs up. His wife told me that her husband really liked me and he ended up giving me a painting that he drew as a gift. It was a huge honor! Here’s a photo of me with him and the drawing:
Bernie
One day, I met a man named Bernie in our hostel. He is from Germany and he travels throughout the world to trek mountains and see the beauty in nature. One morning, I invited him to join me and a teammate on a hike up a hill that hosted a temple and overlooked the city we were in. At the top of the hill, I was able to have a great conversation with him about the Gospel and I prayed for him before he went off to the next town on his itinerary. He was very receptive and listened. I’m grateful a seed was planted. He is an awesome man and loves life and people. Please pray for this cool guy! Here’s a pic of me, a kind Chinese man I met (who unfortunately didn’t speak English) and Bernie at the top of the hill:
Chinese Hospitality
One afternoon, me and my teammate were working out in the park across the street from our hostel and I noticed an older couple sitting on a bench. It looked like the wife was crying so I wanted to comfort them. I had a note (written in Chinese characters) that said “you have purpose” and was left over from the day before when my team handed notes like these out to people to minster to them. I brought it to them and the husband started speaking decent English to me. It turns out he is an English teacher in China. Him and his wife were touched by our note and invited us to lunch. He paid for a huge meal and we were able to plant some seeds during our time together. My sister in the faith shared some valuable words with the couple and we thoroughly enjoyed our time with our new friends. Here’s a photos of us before we grabbed lunch together:
I’ll hopefully see many of these people on the other side of eternity. I’ll likely see most of Yuan the other side of the world in 5 months. Be blessed!
