For those who know me, you know my eyes DO NOT open in the sunshine. I have been given eyes with just a bit of a slant in the corner. I have come to be ok with this. What I didn't expect, was to be called an american asian. I have the eyes, I am small and I happen to have my hair cut with bangs and a cute bob. I blended in with the people. I oddly felt right at home. Maybe I have asian ancestors? Who knows!
China was amazing. It was a country that I was very excited about going. Some people asked me why we were going to such a "rich" country. My response was that no one is exempt from receiving God's love and they too need Jesus. Our first exposure to Asia was Hong Kong. Woah. That place is rediculous! I loved every second of it. I felt like I was in New York but a crazier version. The buildings and views were amazing. The people were friendly and they had cute fashion:) We quickly left the glamorous and hopped on a train for Harbin, China. We had a 38 hour train ride. We were on "hard" seats, which meant just that. We were in either a row of 3 facing another row of 3 (picture our knees touching our neighbors) and a row of 2 facing 2 more. Let's just say we were cozy. We all had an open attitude and sat down excited to see what it was going to be like. Sitting straight up and trying to sleep is just a little tricky. By 2 in the morning, I was so tired, I literally laid on the floor covered in spit and sunflower seeds and went to sleepunder the seats. Every square inch of the train was covered with people…even the sinks had people on them.
Somehow we survived our 2 day adventure and were super excited to arrive in Harbin and were told we had 2 apartments in a skyrise next to a 5 story mall!! After a hot shower and a nap, we were ready to conquer anything that came our way!
Ministry in China was pretty simple. We got to make friends, hang out with them and disciple them. I loved it. I have always known that I have a gift of relating to others and I love connecting other people. I felt like I could really see this come to fruition. Pam and I were at Harbin Engineer University. We attended English clubs and passed out flyers for a bible study. People showed up the next morning pulling out the flyer in their pocket ready to learn about the bible. After the study, I started talking with Emily (we were able to give them american names) and Max. The four of us went and ate 100 dumplings for lunch. It was so neat that they were so open to hanging out with us. We made plans for dinner that Tuesday and met again. We did this for the 3 weeks that we were there. Our group of 4 grew to 8 by the end of the month. We had so much fun just being with them and showing the love of Jesus to them. Our final outing was to KTV, which is a private karaoke room you can rent. We had a blast singing our little hearts out!
During our last bible study,I got to share what I had learned. As I began to speak, tears came to my eyes. It hit me how important discipleship is. I had read John 17 and Jesus prays for us and those who will believe through us. We have to make relationships with others. We have to love them. We have to be Jesus to them. Because once we do that, they will continue the process with the people that come into their lives. We have to have a heart for the lost. We have to love others more than we love ourselves! It was very sad to leave our friends, but I have to believe the seeds we planted will be watered by those who attend the church. I have faith they will continue to believe and crave the Lord.
"My Prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me." John 17:20-21
