At launch, our squad mentor Stephanie shared that she felt God was saying we were ready, not only for an open month (no host or set ministry), but also for a month devoted to prayer. I must admit, my idea of a prayer month was posting up somewhere and doing prayer walks throughout the city. Maybe we would have a few conversations here and there, but we probably wouldn’t have the chance to share the gospel with people.
Boy, was I wrong.
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SH PARK
As we were walking to the Bund (tourist destination) in SH, we stopped at a small park where Eric felt led to prayer walk. I sat down on a bench and started praying for the next person that would sit there. Immediately I felt like my entire body was on fire. I was so stunned that I couldn’t even think of what to pray. The feeling just built as I continued to pray until I was almost dizzy. I’ve never felt the Holy Spirit come that powerfully!
HOMELESS MAN ON METRO
While on our way to ZZ, we decided to take the long way round so we wouldn’t have to switch trains. A homeless man boarded the metro and proceeded to tell me via sign language that he was impressed with our packs, and that we were strong to carry them. As I was nodding and smiling I felt a nudge—so slight I almost ignored it—to touch him and pray for healing. He was carrying a bag of recycling and had an extended belly of someone who is starving. His feet were crusted over and he didn’t smell great. I offered him my seat (which required tapping him on the shoulder), but he didn’t take it. I felt the Lord nudge me again, so as he was leaving, I reached out and grabbed his shoulder. He immediately gripped my hand and elbow, holding it so tight that he missed his opening to step off the train and had to push past people. As he left, he pressed his hands together and bowed to each of us. My teammate later told me that once he cleared the train he bowed at the waist, which is the highest sign of respect in China.
DUO
Eric met Duo at the train station. After we got back from getting food he handed off communication to us. I talked with her for an hour, typing back and forth via translation app, and found out she was an art student on her way back home. She asked me if we had a guide for our time in China, so I told her we were asking God to be our guide and asked if she believed in God. She said maybe, then explained that she was Sino Buddhist. I asked her if anyone had told her about Jesus but her answer got lost in translation.
Before we left, I drew her a picture that showed China and California with interweaving lines, along with a scripture about a friend loving at all times. My team leader, Becca, also gave her a Chinese New Testament we had brought with us.
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After two days in SH, we hopped on an overnight train to the outskirts of ZZ. We arrived at 8:30am, exhausted from trying to sleep upright. (At least the seats were cushioned.) After grabbing some breakfast and charting our way to our AirBnB, we quickly ran into problems… the art studio that was supposed to be our lodging had closed!
During those confusing hours, Becca and Laura Leigh made friends with Mija, the daughter of the municipal governor, who was working at the tourist information center. She helped us contact our host, called in support from a local hotel owner who spoke English, and even came to see us settled in.
In short, our lodgings are… less than expected. The house is concrete with no AC. There is one fan that the family gave up for us, one queen sized bed frame, and no screens. When it rains, the room floods and the roof leaks. We quickly had a decision to make: should we stay, or move on? After praying, we decided to stay at least four days. God has done so many amazing things since then that we have decided to stay a few extra days before moving on to our next city. Things are still developing, but here are a few stories that happened in the last three days:
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MIJA
We came back to the tourist info center to visit Mija a few days into our stay. She asked after our lodgings, and we told her things were going great (not a lie; they really are!) but also mentioned she has been having some stomach problems. She went back to work, and a few minutes later, Laura Leigh started to feel so sick that she had to go outside. Mija came back at that time and told us that she had to go home because her dad wanted her to go to the doctor for her stomach. Becca immediately asked if we could pray for her. Mija agreed, and after Becca prayed in Jesus’ name, her pain was gone! Moments later, Laura Leigh came back in and was also healed of her stomach pain after we prayed in Jesus’ name. We are hoping for more opportunities to connect with Mija, and potentially tell her about Jesus, who gives us the power to heal.
CHERRY FAMILY
The Cherry family took to their role of international host with gusto. In the past three days we have visited a medieval Chinese city, watched a traditional shadow play, learned some kung fu, tai chi, and chi gong, met and grappled with a world champion kung fu artist (yep, you read that right), practiced traditional Chinese calligraphy, and made homemade dumplings.
At first it was difficult to do all the tourist-y stuff because it doesn’t feel like ministry. That coupled with a lack of wifi/data (and therefore an inability to communicate since translation apps need internet) made me feel particularly useless. Yesterday, however, I finally got Dear Translate downloaded on my phone and was able to borrow a hot spot so that I could not only communicate with home (yay!) but also with our hosts.
The Cherry family is made up of Mr. & Mrs. Cherry, Grandma Cherry, Little Cherry, and Baby Cherry. They also have two students staying with them from other parts of China; they came to learn Chinese culture, tai chi, and calligraphy.
BO is 14 and from a town 2 hours south of SH. His family’s home was severely damaged in the typhoon two days ago; they have a long road of rebuilding ahead. He goes home to them in five days. He and Mrs. Cherry have the best English.
JUAN is 15 and from a town 2 hours east of ZZ. I spent the majority of yesterday talking with him via translation apps. Initially Mrs. Cherry told us that Bo and Juan had come to them because they had too much energy and needed to learn to channel it (via tai chi). But Juan did not seem to be very energetic to me, so when I had the opportunity to talk to him, I asked him about his family. The story came pouring out.
Juan’s parents divorced when he was 6 months old. He stayed with his father, who quickly remarried to a woman who was not kind to Juan. Juan’s family does not approve of Mr. Cherry, but at age 10 Juan’s father became physically abusive, so Juan made his grandfather bring him to live with the Cherry family.
Juan told me that he hated his father, and his father hated him. He also told me that since his father has a new family, he is now “redundant”. This opened up an opportunity for me to share with him that I believe that God created us, that He is Juan’s father, and that Juan will never be redundant to God. He was touched by that and thanked me.
Our conversation continued throughout the day as we traveled into town to a kung fu studio opened by Mr. Cherry’s friend Dr. Tai. During our time there, we got to watch a demonstration of both kung fu (by Dr. Tai) and tae kwon do (by Jake), then had the opportunity to grapple with the masters. Afterward, Dr. Tai’s husband, Mr. Qui, showed us the art of Chinese healing and relaxation. This opened up a door for Eric to ask if we could demonstrate spiritual healing. He prayed for Mr. Qui’s hip pain three times… and instead, Mr. Cherry’s hip pain was healed.
Mr. Cherry was so surprised that he stopped us and asked how this could happen. He said that when we pray, he felt a warmth and a lightness in his heart. Eric explained that Jesus is our healer, at which point Mr. Cherry turned to Mr. Qui and encouraged him in Mandarin to allow us to pray for him one more time. We all laid hands on him and prayed aloud (Is this really happening? We are in the MIDDLE OF CHINA, praying OUT LOUD for a MASTER OF CHINESE MEDICINE).
I don’t really know what happened with Mr. Cherry and Mr. Qui after that, because Juan asked via Dear Translate, “Are they talking about God?”
“Yes,” I typed. “We asked Jesus to heal Mr. Cherry, and he did.”
“I am interested in this,” Juan told me. “I have heard the story of the Bible before. Jesus walked past a dead man on the road and he came back to life. How is this possible?”
Friends, I don’t know if you’ll ever get a more perfect opening than that.
Juan and I typed back and forth the entire bus ride(s) back home. Juan’s main concern is that God forgives everyone, even though some people do horrible things and should be punished. Because I had taken the time to get to know his story, I understood the root of his concern and was able to empathize with him even as I find myself explaining substitutionary atonement and other high-level theological concepts on a public bus. At the end he said he liked Christianity but could not accept it just yet. I am hoping and praying for more opportunities to talk with him about these things, but that depends on being able to download the English dictionary on Dear Translate, which is going to take about 5 hours of Wifi that I don’t have. Please pray that I can find a work around!
Finally, when we got home I picked up my guitalele, intending to spend a few minutes worshipping while I waited for a shower. An hour later I was still playing and the entire family had gathered to listen, led by Little Cherry, who has been notoriously shy around all of us. Juan and Bo were even recording video and audio of us and sending them to friends.
Tonight Mr. Cherry has asked us to speak with him about Jesus. We intend to leave behind a Bible for the Cherry family and want to do a Bible study with them before we go. Please, please pray, God is doing some crazy things! Also pray for our continued safety, and the safety of our hosts!
That’s all for now! Tune in next time for some photo journalism showing you everything that’s happened!
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