I’m currently on a train from Subotica, Serbia to Budapest, Hungary to go meet up with all of our squad. Month 8 has officially come to an end, and now it’s time to head to our 4th and final continent of our World Race journey, Central America.
I want to apologize if it seemed like I didn’t blog much this month. You’re correct, I didn’t blog much at all actually. This was a weird month for me spiritually and also with ministry as well. It was a good month of ministry, but it was also the end of a certain season for me, that I’ll talk about in my next blog. It was a quiet month for me spiritually. A lot of emotions. Good, bad, sad, happy, ugly, beautiful, on and on I could go. You have those months from time to time, and as we call it in the “World Race world”, I guess you could say it was my “bucket month.”
Anyways, I want to share with you about an incredible opportunity my team had last night. It was definitely in the top 10 most coolest, humbling, exciting, overwhelming, moments in my entire life…
Let me start off though by telling you where this all began for me. Back in month 5 of my race, we spent the month serving in Swaziland, Africa. One of my favorite months so far! There was a book that has been getting passed around on our squad called,
“The Heavenly Man.”
It’s about one of the first missionaries from China. Trying to sum up what the book was about in this one blog would almost be like trying to explain the book of Revelation to a 5 year old. It can’t be done. You honestly just need to get the book and read it for yourself. It’ll change your life.
Brother Yun, also known as, “The Heavenly Man”, is a man who took many risks to see that the Gospel reached throughout China. God basically used him to evangelize the majority of that amazing country that is very near and dear to my heart. While in China, we had the incredible opportunity to serve in the Henan Province, which is actually where Brother Yun is from. I didn’t find this out, however, until after our time in China.
God did some incredible miracles in and through the life of this one man. Thousands upon thousands of house churches were started, and thousands of believers began to rise up in China. Yun spent the vast majority of his married life in prison. He was beaten and tortured numerous times for his faith, and also was arrested the very night of his wedding, separating him and his was new bride for many years. They continued to hold strong though to the Lord, knowing that one day, they would be reunited.
Yun, during one of his times in prison, fasted from food and water for 74 days. He was reduced to about 60 lbs! Also, during one of his times in the Zhengzhou maximum security prison, he was beaten multiple times each day, to the point where his good friend had to carry him to and from his beatings. With both his legs broken severely, one day the Lord told him to get up and walk out of the prison. He got up, walked out all of the maximum prisons doors, and left with no problem. It wasn’t until later that he realized that his legs were miraculously healed!
These are just a few of the things the Lord did in this mans life.
Earlier this week while talking to our contact, our team discovered that Yun would be speaking in a nearby city called, Novi Sad. We immediately knew we had to go and hear him speak! I was humbled at the very thought of being in the same building as Yun. He is such a hero in the faith. After reading the book in Swaziland, I prayed that one day I’d have the opportunity to meet this “Heavenly Man” and I added it to my “100 Dreams List.”
As we pulled into the parking lot in Novi Sad, I prayed that the Lord would allow us to see Yun. HE did just that…
Once we got to our seats in the MASSIVE arena, I noticed a little asian man sitting down in the very front row, all alone. It was Yun. So a couple of our team members walked forward to meet him. Once they got up there, they waved the rest of us over to where they were.
For the next 15 minutes or so, we had the incredible opportunity to sit down with Brother Yun. He shook our hands, gave us hugs, and welcomed us with the BIGGEST and most beautiful smile. He was a very humble and gentle man. He wrote in my journal next to where I had written after reading his book, and also took some photos with us. Then, Jenn set down with him and began to share about her family adopting Zi-Ping. The even more amazing thing is that “Zi” lives just outside the city where Yun is from. We shared a picture with him of little Zi, and as we talked with him, Brother Yun placed his hand over his heart and began to cry. It dawned on me in that moment, Brother Yun was never allowed back in his homeland. If he ever returns, they’ll kill him. Talk about a humbling moment.
We finished up talking, said our “thank you’s and goodbyes” and then went on our way.
Brother Yun currently lives in Germany with his family and travels the world sharing his testimony. His son also travels with him and translates. It was crazy seeing this process. Yun speaks chinese, his son translates to german, another lady translated to Serbian, and then we had an interpreter share in English. It was an emotional and powerful service. The presence of the Lord was so thick in that place.
The best part though was still to come…
After the service, Yun had a time of prayer over folks that were in attendance. I couldn’t miss the opportunity to be prayed over by this man. So our team once again made our way to the front of the arena, and Yun made is way around and as he approached each of us, he placed one hand on my head, and the other on my shoulder and began to pray over me. Talk about an incredible moment. I could just feel the Holy Spirit all over the place as each word rolled off his tongue.
The rest of the evening as we made our way home, I processed. I just met “The Heavenly Man.” I know it probably seems like I’m putting him on a pedestal, but it isn’t that at all. I just realized how truly incredible our God is and that really ANYTHING is possible through Jesus. ANYTHING. I encourage you to go read the book. We serve a God who isn’t dead. Nope, HE’S surely alive!
Love y’all.
Check out this video. It's absolutely incredible. Eight of these languages are from countries that we have spent time in during this year. A very humbling video.
