Ministry here in China is complete, and debrief has begun. We leave Harbin tomorrow morning, and we will spend a few days in Beijing. Next friday we will be leaving to head to our second month of the World Race in Thailand. And I can’t wait.
Ministry in China has been very interesting. Basically, we have been broken off into four teams, and each team goes to a different university in Harbin to talk to the students and introduce them to Jesus. We also briefly took a very basic census of the area around our designated university for our contact.
My team, which consisted of two world race teams (mine, Uniquely Knit and Peculiar Treasures), went to the Harbin Institute of Technology, or HIT, to meet students. This school is well respected in China, and we met very intelligent students who studied subjects such as electrical engineering, nuclear physics, and computer science.
Initially, we met some students around the campus and some who were invited by our jedi knight (leader for our team) Rebecca, and made some early connections there. However, within the first few days we found our home for ministry for the month: the Milk and Honey Land Cafe.
This small coffee shop near the university is owned by a Chinese couple, Chris and Lucy (their english names) who studied in the UK, where they became Christian. They came back and set up shop, Christian and British themed, were they have been in business for only a few months. A huge blessing these people and the coffee shop was, as we went there basically everyday after.
Here we were able to hold a couple english corners, where we connected with many students and talked to them about God. The students here in China are fantastic, and very open and eager to talk to us.
My favorite part of ministry was connecting with a young man named Jim (his english name, of course). He is a 20 year old man who studies at HIT. He is extremely intelligent, has advanced knowledge of english, and is very eager to converse and learn with us Americans. I met him on Thursday the 19th outside of a grocery store on the HIT campus, just after finishing handing out flyers for the english corner that we were having the next night.
He came the next day to the cafe, and we had a great conversation. When I began to talk to him about Jesus and what He has done in my life, I found him eager and interested to hear more. When I asked him if he’d be interested in becoming a Christian, he said yes. My heart lurched, and in the moment I didn’t know what to do. I invited him to a Bible study we were having at the cafe the next Tuesday, and he said he would try.
On Tuesday he came. At first, not many Chinese students whom we invited were coming in, so we were just having general conversation. After a bit of talking Jim said, “I thought we were having a Bible study?” Thank God for his interest! So we began to talk about the Bible for some time. I found that he knew some parts of the Bible story, but not the main point. So I grabbed Jacob, and asked Jim to come with us for a walk. While we walked around the area, I explained to him the Bible story, from creation, to fall, to sacrifice, to grace, to salvation. He was peculiarly inquisitive, which I thought was really awesome. He seemed to grasp what I was telling him well. Afterwards, he asked me where He should start reading in the Bible. From here, Jacob took over. The two conversed as we walked, Jacob suggesting books and rationalizing why he suggests them first.
Upon returning to the coffee shop, Jim asked where he could get a Bible for himself. That was all that was needed to be said, as Jacob and Christ immediately left and got him a Bible, written in Mandarin (Chinese). We showed him where we suggested he read first, highlighted John 3:16, and shortly after he left.
Our last day of ministry, this thursday, we had an english corner back at the cafe. Again, Jim was there, and had told us he read some of the book of Matthew. The lineage. The interest he has is fantastic, and the idea that God would use a guy like me as a vessel to plant in Jim a desire to learn about Jesus blows my mind.
So I ask that you pray for Jim. Pray for an open heart and an open mind, that he will continue to seek the Bible and seek God after we have left China. God has been, is, and will continue to do amazing things here in China. I love the people here, they have all been friendly and open to us. I wish I could stay a little longer, but now it’s time for me to head to Thailand and have the Holy Spirit continue its work here after I’m gone. I’ve been blessed beyond imagination to have been able to come to China for the time I have.
