China… where do I start?

 It was a whirlwind month.

With a sleepover in the Kuala Lumpur Airport, we arrived midday in Hong Kong where we were greeted by two people from YWAM. They housed our squad for almost a week as we waited for our visas. It was a great way to rest and relax before our final month of ministry and epic long train rides through China. Between the cute apartments and time I was able to engage with my friends on the squad and YWAM staff, I was much more energized for one of my final long travel days.

Jill and I were able to travel together during the month because it was month 11 and our squad coaches and mentor love us. We went west with three of our teams and met with a long term missionary from Oklahoma. He and his family have been living in China for 10 years and do life in several cities/towns in the west. Our 35 hour train ride took us to Lanzhou. We then took a van taxi two hours to another city where we all had lunch and an orientation in a hotel room so that we would not be overheard.

At this point, some of us loaded into our contact’s car and a public bus and rode another couple of hours out and up into the mountains. We arrived at 9500 feet with cold winds whipping around our faces and hands.

We were led upstairs to an apartment that would be all ours for the month. It was complete with couches, beds, and a kitchen to cook in. We had a shower, toilet and a washing machine. Perfection. The apartment is used as a sort of respite place for some of the missionaries in the area.

There were also several massive blankets and extra coats for us to use. This was such a blessing because the heat in the entire town was shut off on May 1st for the summer weather. We arrived in the area on the 8th of May. It snowed the next morning. Nothing major really. Just some small flurries. But our transition from the high heat and humidity of Malaysia into the mountains of China was a pretty big deal.  We attempted to find hot chocolate and watched Frozen on a laptop to celebrate the weather. Also, some people took the celebration a bit further and snagged some colds and sinus infections.

Our ministry in this town, located in the geographical area of the Tibetan plateau, was to build relationships and talk with people. In the small town we were in, the demographics are 50% Muslim and 50% Tibetan Buddhist, 0% Christian. There is a monastery there that houses over 2000 monks. Our contact gave us information about the area, provided several tracts, and books to read and set up a meeting for us with his friend that is a monk and then gave us the freedom to choose what life would look like for us each day. He took us to a local noodle shop for dinner and then he made the long drive back to his home.

We began the next morning, people rising as slowly as they wanted to. I woke up with the sun… which was a 0430 — thank you China. I learned to sleep through this bit by bit, but the quiet of the morning with no one else awake in the apartment was also nice. We padded out to the living room, grabbed journals, Bibles and books and spent the morning hours reading, talking and making our deliciously bad cups of instant coffee or tea. We used a space heater to add some warmth to the main room. I liked sticking my socked feet by it until the warmth tickled its way up to my hands.

We passed every morning like this for the time that Jill and I spent there. Late morning to early afternoon were usually the first times that any of us would venture out. Some days required the extra padding of coats and scarves. Some days brought the sun and glorious clear blue skies when a light sweater would do the trick. Either way, I loved walking around that town.

The first few days we walked along the streets, smiled at people, played jumping games with kids and walked in and out of shops, greeting shop owners with our limited Mandarin (Thank you Chinese Phrasebooks) and eating many many noodles. At this point, I can proudly say that I do pretty well with chopsticks.

We met with our new friend, George, who is a Tibetan monk a few times to share meals and talk. He wants to practice English and also has several questions about our faith, and his own. We discovered a local restaurant at the other end of town run by a Tibetan man and his Dutch wife. His wife left a day after we met as she leads tours of tourists around China, but we were able to maintain a good relationship with Mark. Some of my teammates helped in the restaurant and also doing minor construction projects at his building in the days after Jill and I left.

We never found too many other people in the town that spoke English and so we relied on Sarah’s Cantonese and our small ability to pick up Mandarin from reading it out of a phrase book. The game of charades and smiles was always handy as well because, well, everyone spoke Tibetan… not Mandarin. Good times.

We hiked a couple of days about the monastery. The first time was a more relaxed day of walking, getting out of breath, stopping, sitting and thinking. This process repeated and we sometimes added talking to some of the monks up top.

The second time we climbed, we carried instruments and a kite. It was on Buddha’s birthday and the day of his death. So many monks and Tibetans were making a pilgrimage walk of sorts from the monastery to the mountain top and into a valley to release prayers and pay homage. We did not know the significance of the day and chose it to climb only because it was a beautiful warm day. We climbed up the mountain and as soon as people saw our drum and guitar and David’s kite, they began to gather around. Some would stay for a few moments, pausing only to get a glimpse and others stayed for a full hour. We were challenged by our teammate to use the Chinese phrasebooks to start conversations and I am really glad that she did. We had so many fun and good conversations with people about our lives and theirs. We were able to ask questions about life in the monastery. We talked about Justin Bieber and listened to Rihanna on the ipads of monks that were only 16 and 17 years old.

My favorite moments from the week I spent there included the quiet mornings, reading books side by side my teammates and friends, the simplicity of being able to plan our day as it went and the moment up on the mountain when we worshiped God and all around us Tibetan Monks were singing along and taking pictures and videos.

Mary and Sarah started playing and singing music up on the mountain. Initially it was pop culture songs, in hopes that the people around would recognize it. Then they went for it. And they began singing worship songs. We sang out Our God and Blessed Be Your Name. And in a moment of pure joy, Mary’s voice cracked above our voices joining in. Standing near her was a younger monk, singing along the words to Blessed Be Your Name. It was a powerful moment and one I hope to never forget.

 The town where there are no known Christians was prayed over by us in our time there. I saw God move there and I felt His presence. We carried it with us. He is there and one day, hopefully soon, more people will know it. 

This little boy ended up with my drink and it still makes me laugh at how persistent and cheeky he was