Imagine being in a giant meat freezer.
Fill that meat freezer with people.
Stick a few more people in there for good measure.
Imagine that the floor is absolutely filthy. Seriously, so dirty that you have trepidation about even stepping on it.
Now, listen. You hear people hawking loogies. You hear ten different cars at a time blaring their horns. You hear recorded voices advertising God knows what because He actually speaks Chinese.
You're surrounded by light and sounds and so many people.
Welcome to China, the gigantic meat freezer of the Orient.
Highlights from the month:
ate my fill of beef and noodles (a HUGE lunch serving was only $1 USD!)
talked to an atheist on a train
saw the great wall
learned the Chinese character for God (it looks like a ballet dancer)
learned how to count to ten in Mandarin (ee, ar, san, suh, woo, leo, ti, ba, jio, shur).
Learned how to barter with a little old man at the market who tried to rip me off for a t shirt.
Mastered the art of squattie potties
wore my keens ALL month (with four pairs of socks on underneath, it's just like wearing winter boots)
went to the Olympic stadium in Beijing
taught an ENTIRE “English as a second language” class at a university what Christmas is and why we celebrate it in America
explaining the concept of "stockings"
Prayer walked around a mosque
The trek from Hong Kong to our location won the award for the most testing travel day thus far. It included, but was most definitely not limited to, spending the night illegally in a freezing train station, staying for a day near a crowded square (complete with curious gawkers, hecklers, and all sorts of awkward situations), and a 35 hour train ride.
My new team (Hidden refuge) and I made it to our location, in the middle of China. We stayed in a flat in a city called…well, I can't tell you that. BUT, I can tell you that our flat was just down the road (by just down the road, I mean a mile away) from a HUGE mosque (Islam is prominent in China) and about a 20 minute walk away from everything. (We did a LOT of walking.)
Here's how we got to ministry every morning: we walked from our flat to the bus stop (about a mile) rode the bus for about 4 stops (20 minutes) and then walked up a hill (about a mile) to the University we were ministering at. The very first day we were there, we met a girl named “Skye” (not her real name). She's a ballet dancer at her university, and we were blessed to get to know her over the course of the three weeks that we were there. We would meet up with her just about every day, watch her dance class, and go to lunch with her. (since her class was in the performing arts building, I also got to sit in on a couple of piano practices.) by the end of the month, she was a dear, dear friend. On our last night with her, she visited us at our flat. We made dinner and prayed with her, telling her how much Jesus loved her. Raychel gave Skye her bible, and told her she could use it to learn more English. We introduced her to our contact's wife, and they hit it off immediately. Everyone was crying as we said goodbye to Skye. We exchanged e-mails to keep in touch. I'm so excited to see where God takes her next.
One of the Saturdays that we were in our city, we went on a prayer walk. We call these prayer walks “ATL” – or “Ask The Lord.” we start by asking Him where He wants us to go, and then we wait to hear what He says. The results are often encouraging and faith-building. This time, it led us to our local mosque. Immediately, we were hit with spiritual attack. Lynette's foot was in severe pain, Zandra was feeling frustrated, and I (though not usually a violent person) was ready to punch something. We walked around it like Joshua did with Jericho, knowing that we might not get to see the walls fall down, but that someday, someone would blow the horn.
The oppression in China is unreal. We were tired all the time, and satan was constantly dropping lies on us. Every little thing had a lie attached to it. My team was nearly destroyed by a dumpling, for goodness sakes. We combated this every morning by coming together for prayer and worship. Even with our efforts, by the time we got to debrief in Beijing, we were down for the count. One of the biggest things that China taught me is that Spiritual warfare is REAL, and real dangerous. This is not a dress rehearsal. We are in a war zone. Our enemy is ruthless, but our King is fiercer, and He has BIG plans for China.
Thank you for standing on the front lines with us.
-Anna
