Hey Everyone! After a month in China and feeling like we were Amish due to the lack of technology and communication with the outside world, we’re back (and by back, I mean we have left China and are in the Philippines, but that’s not what this blog is about!). China was a great month for me. For starters, we all got to be together as a squad, and we went to school for the first two weeks! That’s right, we went to Chinese cultural classes every morning because we participated in a cultural exchange program at a university there. It was such a cool experience! And I must say that I laughed so hard so many times! 26 Americans trying to learn Chinese culture interactively can be pretty entertaining!
Let me describe a few of the classes for you:
Mandarin: All of us in a room repeating after a teacher in unison…we sounded nothing like her! 26 Americans from all over the States trying to master a foreign tonal language…hilarious!
Calligraphy: We tried really hard at first to imitate the instructor’s brush strokes, but after about 20 minutes, it all started to look like an elementary school’s finger painting display!
Paper Cutting: Almost all of us lacked the patience for this difficult art form! It was really funny to watch Jane, who is Korean. Everyone in China thought she was Chinese, so the teachers flocked to her to see what beautiful work she would yield with her scissors, only to stand and watch, bewildered as this girl fumbled at the skill they assumed she must have!
It was a good time in the classroom for the June squad! In the afternoons we would do something called English corners. We would all meet upstairs on campus and wait for the university students to come around to practice their English with us. I loved looking around to see my teammates surrounded by 9 or 10 Chinese students, laughing and talking. It was so fun for us, and we made great relationships with them. I met some amazing girls and got to hang out with them for those two weeks.
The hard part about being there was that we couldn’t openly talk about the Lord. We came to find out that most of the students knew we were Christians before we even got there, but we weren’t allowed to speak freely when it came to the Lord or our faith. We made up code words though, such as “The Chief” for the Lord, “samauris” for angels, “rogues” for demons, and “peeing” for praying, all of which were extremely fun to use on a daily basis! It made me realize how much I take that freedom for granted. There were so many times I had to bite my tongue, which I guess is a good thing. We all realized how intertwined and central the Lord is to us that His name is constantly brought up throughout the day. We had be careful so as not to endanger our contacts. In the end, I think our love showed what we believe. One of my favorite memories was hanging out in the dorm room with one of my friends, talking to 10 other girls who had come by and giving them all English names!
After our cultural exchange, the teams split up and went different places. Those next ten days were huge in my life. Our team went to another city and locked ourselves in a hotel, waiting to hear from the Lord. We didn’t know what we were supposed to do, but we all were ready to sit at God’s feet and hear what He wanted us to do. It turned out that we didn’t get any instructions as a team, but we each had little assignments and tests of obedience individually. Some of us felt that we were supposed to just pray and not leave the hotel room, others of us were told not to talk at all for a few days, but just listen to the Lord. It was so cool to see the obedience of our team and to know that the Lord speaks to all of us and is so personal. It was a precious and very sweet time for me and the Lord. I found a rooftop spot that no one knew about and that’s where I spent my days…with the One I love. It was intimate and challenging and restful and stirring and….just what I needed.
In that time, the Lord slammed me with the truth that I have fear of man in my life. It was a hard thing to hear, because I have never felt like I really deal with that issue. It comes up not when I am told to do something for the Lord or speak about Him, but with other Christians, mainly my teammates! It seems so silly that I would ever be worried or fearful about what my teammates think of me, but I was confronted with it this last month, and it was an ugly thing to see in myself. God wanted me to get to a point of repentance in this area so that I could truly say that no one’s opinion of me matters except the Lord’s. His approval and vindication are all that I need. I live my life for an audience of One.
China was good for my soul. I feel more battle ready and more rested at the same time than I have all year. How is it that the Lord can pick me up and rock me in His arms and in the same moment place a burning passion in me for Him and a call to fight that stirs me to action? I tapped into something so beautiful that I fear I will cheapen it with more words. China was a good place and I have been catapulted further on my path in this journey that I’ve now come to call life.
Oh, and we eventually all met up in Beijing to hike the Great Wall! It was so cold up there with the wind that our faces actually froze…which made for some great pictures with really strange looking smiles! It was an awesome day and I couldn’t have been happier to do it with the squad! Keep an eye out for some pictures to be posted soon!
