I'm sitting in a KFC in a mall in Harbin, China a little uninspired. It's 8:49 am on a Wednesday morning. The mall isn't opened yet, but I can see across the way some ladies doing a dance routine at the grocery store to start their day. All of the locals are eating fried bread and something I think is oatmeal. It's not. I just asked the girl next to me. It's rice and eggs of some sort. So question answered, but I feel like I want to talk to the girl next to me. I generally don't feel nervous to talk to strangers. It's what I do every day at Starbucks. But I'm finding it hard to go ahead and talk to her. So I decide I'll ask her where the post office is. She knows some English, but is so nervous and excited to meet her first foreigner. She calls me her sister and her name is Yen Yen. I will be teaching her English in two days, same time, same place. She says she is bringing me a gift for the Moon festival.
It's 9:31 am on a Sunday. I'm sitting outside in a courtyard listening to a teammate play guitar. I see other members praying and singing. Some are talking with some of the locals or playing with the neighborhood children. I am sitting and chatting with my new friends Simona and Ci CI. A woman approaches our group and knows Simona and Ci CI. She is their English teacher. They introduced her to me. She is so excited to meet me since I speak English. She walks me over to her house nearby so that I can come visit her and she will make me dumplings. I plan to teach in her English class tomorrow and she's going to let me share my faith in Jesus with her classes.
We haven't had internet for a couple days since the wifi was blown out in our local coffee shop. My friend, Kristin and I are exploring the mall after we made some purchases at the grocery store on a Wednesday at 6:30 pm. As we roam around, we see a new coffee shop. We go inside to see if they have free wifi. In fact they do. We meet the barista, Bill who we endearingly call Billy. His English is some of the best we've heard and he knows slang. He tells us he'll make us a latte in a hot minute. We buy one, but he makes us three. He says he's going to try to come to kung fu this Saturday with us.
At a local park, I run into an elderly lady on a Thursday at 2:45 pm. She sits in a wheel chair hunched over. She can't see me so I kneel down to tell her hello. She smiles at me and I talk to her in English. I ask her caretaker if I may pray for her. She wants to ask the Lord for her health and to be able to speak. We surround her and I pray over her as I look into her eyes. She holds my hands and smiles. Her caretaker tells me she has known Jesus for 20 years. I tell her I love her and not to forget to come see me at church this Sunday.
There is something very different and rather exciting about the people I'm meeting in China. They are extremely welcoming. They are very interested in who I am. They almost immediately treat me like I'm family. They are very generous with both their time and money with me, a complete stranger.
I shouldn't compare, but I do. I imagine myself back at home. Would I in the same circumstance be as generous, as welcoming as intentional with a complete stranger? I fear not. I would withhold a piece of me. I would cling to a portion of both my time and finances in order to protect myself from a stranger.
They always say that when you go overseas to do mission's work, you will find yourself blessed and changed. It's been 6 days in Harbin and these are just some of the people met mostly on my "time off".
I always believe everything happens for a reason and it is my hope that my chance encounters with people I now call my friends has a much greater purpose in the very near future than teaching some English or learning kung fu.
If God can make Divine arrangements with others and me, He most certainly can make Divine appointments with my friends and Himself.
