“China” is just one word, but if someone were to ask me how to describe the country or my experience in it, it would take me longer than this blog to explain myself.
It is by far one of the most sophisticated countries I have been to on the Race because of how much the country has grown economically over the last few decades. The downtown cities were cleaner than most cities in the United States, the people were very structured based on the government they have, and there was one tiny little problem that caused for some fun and not so fun experiences: English is practically useless!
Nearly every sign that we saw was all in Chinese. In previous countries, they would use their native language for signs, but they would usually translate it into English right next to it. That was not the case in China.
They had an identity and a culture that they wanted to protect which was very understandable. If you think about it, in the United States, we don’t have a Chinese translation underneath any street or billboard signs so why would China do the reverse for English speakers?
All of the Coca-Cola bottles and Snickers wrappers were labeled in Chinese as well. Good thing I know what those look like from previous experiences with my sweet tooth and did not have to worry about those.
I struggled with simple things such as recognizing what was body wash and what was shampoo in the grocery store. I struggled so much that I would go up to a store clerk, and point at the bottle, and then motion as if I was washing my hair in the shower. I would either get a yes or no and by process of elimination I would purchase what I needed.
As if I didn’t already feel stupid enough doing things with a few simple purchases, nothing was more frustrating than purchasing items such as fruit on the street. It would take me a much longer time than one would think just to explain the quantity of how many pieces of fruit I wanted. Then it would take me just as long, if not longer, to figure out how much it cost. Sometimes I just didn’t care enough about the price and I would simply give the person a larger bill to have them give me whatever amount of change back.
So many of these little things kept adding up during the beginning of my experience in China and I began to wonder, “How in the world are we going to be able to minister to these people?!” I didn’t know a single phrase in Chinese besides “thank you” and I could hardly order noodles on my own. How was Jesus’ name going to be heard in this situation?
Once again, God came through in the clutch and He sometimes uses the most peculiar tools to start conversations and spread His love. In this case, God decided to use something I already had to create an opportunity to spread the Gospel…
MY TATTOOS!
(Like in my previous blog, in order to protect the identity of the person who I interacted with in this story, I will not use his real name or have his face shown. His name in this blog will be Craig.)
While I was in Chengdu, China, I was about to FaceTime someone back in the United States. I had already pressed call to start the FaceTime when all of a sudden a young Asian man approached me. He said, “Hey what’s up man? I really like your tattoo sleeve you have!”
I immediately ended my FaceTime call before it could connect because I felt led to talk to this random man who complimented me on my tattoos. I had not met anyone in China who knew English well enough to hold a conversation yet, and if I did, they were from a western country where English is the primary language.
As soon as I hung up the call, he noticed that below my tattoo sleeve that I had a Chinese tattoo on my forearm that translates to “forgiven”. Craig asked me, “Why do you have a tattoo that says ‘forgiven’ on your body?”
-Enter Jesus Christ-
Now usually I had been very cautious publicly talking about Jesus since we were in a closed country, but I had a complete peace about the situation. I felt God say, “Alex, you have the green light in this situation. I’ll protect you”.
So I went ahead and told Craig what it meant for me to have the word “forgiven” tattooed in Mandarin on my body. I told him that I believe in Jesus Christ and that He not only has the power to forgive all of my sins in my life, but yours as well.
Craig was very open to receiving this simple news and didn’t once bash me for my beliefs or question my beliefs either. Jesus had opened a door that I didn’t think was even possible in a country where I couldn’t talk to a vast majority of the public. Jesus made Himself known through my tattoos of all things!
Craig also had a 3/4 tattoo sleeve on his arm of a phoenix bird and it’s flames so I asked him what it meant to him. Other than the fact that it looked cool, he didn’t really have a true meaning behind the ink that took up most of his arm.
I found that a little unique considering the phoenix usually represents rebirth a new life and death to an old one.
After we had talked about tattoos for 15 minutes, I felt the Holy Spirit tell me to ask him if he wanted to grab lunch so that we could talk more one-on-one considering we were in the lobby of a hostel with a handful of people in close proximity. Craig agreed to having lunch and I allowed him to pick the place with the best noodles that he knew of.
So we went and ate spicy noodles and I got to hear more about his life, hangout, and just talk like two brothers.
He had an grown up in Beijing in a family similar to my own. He had three siblings who were all married and had children. It sounded so familiar since I too have three siblings who are all married and have children of their own.
I asked him if he was dating anyone and he replied with a quick “NO!” and laugh that immediately followed his answer. I could sense that he was content with his life as a single male in China. He asked me and I gave him the same answer saying “I believe God is in control of that and I’ll let Him decide when He wants a companion for me”.
He also had good relationships with his parents according to him, but hadn’t spent much time with them since he had moved away when he was younger. He had been sent to a military school when he was a teenager, graduated from university, and now worked various of jobs.
I asked him about his beliefs and what people in China believe. He said that most people believe in folk religion. Basically, a certain form of praying to ancestors in one’s family along with many other rituals.
We continued to hangout until eventually he had to leave to get to his next work shift on time. As we were walking home, Craig asked me if I had anymore tattoos on my body and I replied, “Yeah, on my back I have similar ones to the Mandarin tattoo on my arm”.
He quickly without permission lifted up my shirt to see what it said.
Even though I had heard a doctor tell me before that the ones on my back are correct in translation, it was even more comforting seeing a native Chinese speaker reading them to say they are correct.
Craig read, “You have happiness & family tattooed on your shoulders”.
I then asked, “What is tattooed above the happiness tattoo?”
He replied, “A cross”.
I responded, “I have a cross tattooed above happiness because that is where true happiness comes from in my life. I have tried all of the worldly pleasures and all of the material items in the world, but it only satisfied me for a temporary amount of time. God’s love is so powerful and so eternal that I will never run out, unlike a beer where the buzz will eventually wear off. God continually pursues me even when I may stray from the path and He loves you just as much because He created you.”
Once again, it may have sounded very simple, but God made Himself known to Craig through what was on my skin.
It may not sound elaborate or amazing, but God works and moves in so many ways. Some of the ways He works can be very subtle and simple such as using the ink on people’s bodies to open up the door for a seed to be planted.
No, Craig didn’t accept Christ there on the spot. No, Craig doesn’t believe in Jesus, but that’s okay because I believe that God planted a seed in his life that is only in the beginning stages of growing.
Sometimes it takes people months, years, decades, man sometimes it takes an entire lifetime for us to realize how much Jesus loves us. Sometimes it takes a lifetime just to say “yes” to the One who died for us. To say “yes” to the One who loves us more than anything.
Heck it took me 24 years to realize that and it’s not my job to defend God because He is God! It’s my job to be a son and allow Him to do His work with everyone’s lives that He specifically hand picked.
I remember in 2011 when I got the Mandarin tattoo of family and in 2012 when I got the Mandarin tattoo of happiness. Although I’ve also gotten a whole lot more ink after those two, it is so cool that even though I wasn’t living the best life for Him at the time, He still redeemed it years later.
I still find it so fascinating that God used tattoos to spread His Word in a country that was so closed to Christianity. I never would’ve thought that I would get a chance to share my love for Jesus with anyone because of a language barrier, but guess what? There are no language barriers in God’s Kingdom.
He has the ability to open doors that people never would’ve thought could be opened. God expanded my faith into a whole new realm in China because He sent people our way even when we didn’t think we’d be able to minister to anyone.
I may not know any Chinese, but praise the Lord I know HIM and that’s a million times better.
