Every morning my team eats breakfast together in the girl’s room. We share stories and get to know one another while eating bread, fruit, and the sought-after peanut butter. Each morning looks a bit different. Some morning we head to ministry early, others we have some free time to rest or hang out, and every few days we go grocery shopping. After eating lunch at a nearby noodle/rice place we head out to our “area”. Our goal for the afternoon is to walk around the area and talk to strangers, pray over the houses and schools, count the number of houses in the area in order to gather information for the church, and make contact with daycares in order to teach or play with the children.
On Monday we found a University in our area. We walked around and talked to students during their PE class. Some of the students walked around campus with us as we tried to speak to them through broken English and a translator. Kyle and Will were able to meet up with some of the boys they met for a movie and invited them to church on Sunday.
On Tuesday morning, we worked at a daycare. We were asked to teach the children some English through songs and games. Most of the children were 3-6 years old so you can imagine the difficulty. We divided into teams of two and made our way to the classrooms. Kyle and I worked with a three year old class. It was so embarrassing but I embraced the awkwardness. We danced like fools to Chinese songs, sang the hokie pokie, sand head shoulders knees and toes, and taught the children how to count to ten.
On Wednesday we counted houses. We have a giant area with many apartment complexes. We sectioned our map into blocks and counted the number of apartments in each. Basically we counted the number of doors on the bottom floor of each building and multiplied it by the number of floors. It was a very interesting job. Today we accomplished three blocks. We hope to do a little each day.
After we spend a few hours in our area we head to the University we were assigned (not the same as the one in our area). We head over the University about 4pm. The boys play basketball whenever they can and the girls walk around the campus trying to find people to talk with. We also meet up with people we have met. Today we met three girls who we spoke to yesterday. We had coffee with them and we were able to ask them about Church, Harbin, and College. There were very friendly girls and I hope to see them again this weekend.
Our days are long but we try to balance a little free time each day. Tomorrow the entire city celebrates the “Autumn Festival”. I am not sure what this entails but we will find out. In the morning we are meeting Chinese friends on Central Street. This is a famous street for shopping. It has many Russian influences and a beautiful Orthodox Church as well. I hope to celebrate with some University students in the evening as well.
Please pray for the following people that we have met over the last few days.
Frank: He is a believer but he is afraid he will get in trouble if he studies the bible.
Celine: She is a Christian and is our guide for the next few weeks. Pray that she becomes more confident in herself and that she can learn to balance the stress of school and the pressure she feels to succeed with being worthy just because she is a child of God.
Happy: She says she believes in Jesus and that He guides her decisions but, she says she has no religion. We are not 100% sure what she means by this statement.
Winter: She says she is a believer and I can see the joy she has from Christ. Pray that she reads her bible in her free time. Pray that the bible becomes more than just a book of stories and that she begins to know God at a deeper level.
“Rebekah’s Girl”: I am not sure what this girls name is, but we met her last Saturday. She approached us because we were Americans and she wanted to say hello. We are meeting with her again on Saturday to visit a nearby island and have a picnic. Pray for the ability to communicate with her (though her English is poor).
Fu and friends: Kyle and Will were able to follow up with these men and invite them to church. Pray that they come and we can continue to have conversations with them about God.
Conversations in China are very difficult because many Chinese struggle with English. They are either unwilling to speak or shy about their abilities. Pray that we are able to have clear communication lines as we meet people. It is very hard to share the gospel with people, let alone through broken English. Google translator comes in handy J It is very enjoyable to walk around the city each day. I love that my job is literally to walk around and meet students and have dinner with them. I am enjoying my time here and will be sad when we leave Harbin in 10 days.
Until next time…
