Farewell China,
So what have I been up to this month? Well this month was called ATL which stands for “Ask the Lord.” Ask the Lord months, is a month that challenges individuals to pray and ask Jesus what He wants us to do. This means that we do not have a host or location already planned out for that country. It is a month of no pre set plans but all about trusting in God’s faithfulness to always provide for his children.
It seems like just yesterday that my team gathered around a table Mongolia to pray and figure out where God was leading us to go once we got to China. To be honest the sit down didn’t go the way I thought is would. It felt rushed and by the end of it we still didn’t have a plan. Just so you know, our team was leaving for China in just under twenty hours and we didn’t have a place to stay or train tickets booked to get there. At this point, I knew I was going to have to hold everything with my hands opened wide.
We eventually began our travels with a twenty hour over night sleeper train, and then moved to taxi’s to get us across the border. Once across we ran into our first encounter with God providing for our travels. We were quickly intercepted by a young couple who had eight spots reserved on a bus to Beijing so we hopped on. We traveled through the night and arrived in Beijing at 2am. A couple of us got off the bus and went on a search for a hostel. After wondering around Beijing for a couple of hours our team came up empty handed. We woke the rest of the team up and moved to the McDonalds. Some team members rested up in the booths, while others began the search for a place to stay while we where in Beijing. After hour seven of hanging out in McDonalds our team was discouraged and tired from the amount of walls we kept hitting.
And just like that God provided a place for us to stay. We were able to get a hold of a contact that a friend had given us before we left Mongolia. He was able to let us stay in his empty apartment for a few days. With all the things happening politically in China we had to keep the moving. So our team packed our bags and headed to our next location. It was a little town beside the Great Wall of China. We got to marvel at the beauty of God’s creation. After a week, we made our way back to Beijing to take the bullet train to the next providence. During our time there we had the opportunity to hang out with children from the school that was located right next to us. We spent time with them at the basketball court and practicing English with them. Some of the girls got invited into the homes of the kids and even got to bond with them over ice cream. We spent a couple of weeks in this providence.
It was then time to move to our last place. The airport that we were flying out of to get to the next country was a eighteen hour train ride away. We began the long trek across China and made it to our new and finally home while staying in China. We happen to find ourselves in a local apartment whose family was on vacation. We spent about a week there, hanging out in the community and smiling at all of our neighbors. Some of us were able to help out a local M with foster children. We got to take them to a local park and just love on the children. During our last nights, we where blessed by having dinner with other local M that are doing amazing things in China.
I know what you must be thinking. Is this even mission work? How many homes did you build, or did you feed the hungry, or how many people know Jesus? All great questions, but not the point of ministry. The truth is “life is ministry, and ministry is life.” In our everyday lives we have the choice to walk in ministry. A simple smile can do a measure of things in a persons life. Ministry is going to the market and saying hello to the locals, ministry is choosing to the love the people around you well. One thing I have learned this past month is I can’t love people around me well if I don’t know what love even looks like.
This month has being an intament journey with God. I have been working on my own heart so that I am equipped to love God’s people. He is showing me the truths of where I find my identity from and what things are distracting me, from fully allowing myself to know Him personally. I am slowly starting to learn what it looks like to hear God’s voice personally. Overall my time in China has been refreshing. I was able to take much needed time to sit in God’s presence, and soak up His word!
Lacy Jolene
