What a whirlwind of a month, an emotional rollercoaster, new cities every few days…we went to CHINA!
Praise God! There was a moment – that lasted a few days – in Mongolia where China was a 1% chance. I felt so defeated and hit my breaking point (yes I know, during Month 10). I lost the will power to fight for it. Luckily I had Meghan, my teammate who fasted and prayed for it along others.
In short, we got our visas at the Chinese embassy in Ulanbataar. That day it snowed. It was crazy, we were wearing summer dresses the days before and then it snows. It’s an analogy for how quickly the atmosphere can shift, how a no can become a yes. Thank you God! We got our visas on Monday and on Wednesday we left for China.
We passed through Inner Mongolia via the Trans Siberian rail, entered through the Chinese city of Erlian, caught a bus (ask me about this story) to Hohot, hopped on train to Xi’an and we were instantly transported to a new land.
We had been in Asia for months now. Georgia was our precursor, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan and Mongolia were all leading towards China and I didn’t expect much difference. But my was I wrong!
As soon as we entered, I knew we were in a different country. The largeness of the city. The quiet hum of the electric scooters, bikes and cars. The vast infrastructure. Chinese lanterns, decorations, characters, the smell of Chinese food, and the cultural heritage that was evident in the buildings.
Xi’an was a wonder — the city walls were reminscent of an European castle; it surrounded the city center, and around the wall was a park and a moat. We visited the Terracotta army. It made me sad, to see the emperor so concerned with the afterlife, he had this entire army with him. But it wasn’t real – shattered clay, color faded. (But how real is our God!) A nearby monastery also made me sad. So many devout people, literally praying and bowing down to false physical idols. We spent time in prayer in this city.
Chengdu was the home of the giant pandas!
Guangzhou was hot and humid. We attended an international church in a hotel. They check passports and will not allow locals in. Afterwards we visited this sprawling cemetery of Christians who lived and died in China. There were so many.
We went to the Avatar mountains and saw the majesty and mightiness of God in nature. We made friends with people in our hostel and spent time talking, sharing about our story and trip and about God.
We went to Wuhan/Xianning. Andrew got the city Xianning during prayer. He didn’t know what it was, wrote the letters down, and looked it up on a map. It was a “small” city none of us had heard of before, of 2 million.
Wuhan was amazing. One day we walked into the university and instantly got stopped within 10 seconds of setting foot there. It led to two people coming to Christ. A few days later, we met these 5 girls (one for each of us to talk to!) and spent 3 hours discipling, sharing God’s word, showing them how to read his Word.
Xianning was amazing as well. We immediately start talking to people just a couple hundred feet from the train station. We share about how we talk to God, heard him give us this city and how we were obedient. Two more came to Christ that day. What an amazing place! The people in this city are so hungry!
Beijing was next – we saw the Great Wall and the Forbidden city and reflected on this year with the rest of the squad in our final debrief.
What a trip! God has truly done something beautiful inside us and through us.
