About five days ago (and a few blogs ago) we were doing ministry at the college and I was feeling bummed because I wasn't hearing from God and none of my conversations were really amounting to anything. So I went outside and sat down and was pretty much like, "Ok Jesus, I need you to bring someone to me…" Out of nowhere a guy walked up and said, "I know English!" So we talked for a little bit, I got his number, and we went our separate ways.
Yesterday I finally got in contact with him again and we decided to meet today. Our time in china is running short… So I just asked him straight up, "Hey, would you like to meet and study the bible this week?" After he looked up what the bible was, he said yes and we made plans to meet. I told him I would bring my American friends and he said he would try to bring his friend that was the leader of the English club.
I figured I had better bring a couple guys with me, just to make sure he did not think we were going on a date! So, I found our guys and told them he wanted to study the bible and they were glad to help me out. They said they had already planned to study the bible with Eric, one if their friends they had made at the same time, so we figured we could combine the date. I mentioned he said he might bring a friend, and asked if they knew the guy that was in charge of the English club. Guess who it was???? ERIC!!! So we already knew Jesus was up to something!
It came time for us to meet and I was soooo tired. Our ministry this morning was handing out flyers about the church, plus I had just spent around 4 hours traveling all over Harbin trying to get my debit card back from when the ATM ate it (PRAISE JESUS I DID GET IT BACK TODAY!). But it would have been so easy for me to try to reschedule with him. In fact, I told Allison I may just meet him and try to get him to stay with the guys. But luckily I decided to stay because I would have missed out on a huge blessing that Jesus had been preparing for me.
I walked in to Starbucks, where we were meeting, and the guys had already started with Eric and Thomas (my friends English name) had not arrived yet. They were studying the bible with him, and explaining that he could have a relationship with God, and they asked him if he would want be interested. He said he believed the bible was very good and he thought Jesus was good, but he wasn't sure if he was ready to make a decision. About that time, Thomas walked in. We invited him over, and asked Eric if he would share with Thomas what we had been talking about. So Eric was able to share with Thomas in his own language. We even had an English/Chinese parallel bible which was awesome. Thomas said it was his first time to see a bible, but that he had heard a little about Jesus. After we shared the gospel with him, we asked if he was ready to make a decision to live for Jesus and he says, "I like very much!" PRAISE JESUS! The Holy Spirit was able to bust through the language barrier and claim a soul for heaven for eternity! So, we explained a little more to Thomas, and Eric seemed to be under conviction of the spirit more and more. We talked to him a little more and he decided to give his life to Jesus too! I'm on cloud mine right now! Honestly, our contact told us we may not see anyone come to Christ while we were here, but we saw two tonight!!! AND! We're going to see if they can be baptized before we leave!!! Jesus had already been working on Thomas because he had no reservations, no hesitation at all! We just brought the word and he was like, "Yeah! I want that!" It was so awesome. We're going to meet with them again tomorrow. This blog is choppy and not well written, but I hope you can hear the excitement as you read this! I hope you feel the same joy I do right now! Two lives were changed tonight and Jesus was gracious enough to let me be a part of it. I'm so overwhelmed with joy.
Prayer!
-Be in prayer for these two new believers, that we could get them plugged into a church and that they would have a bold faith that they share with everyone they meet!
-Still be in prayer for Hannah and her headaches. We want her to be at 100% ASAP so we can keep rocking china
-We're not done yet! Pray for the two guys to be able to be baptized soon and for us to see even more of Gods glory as we end here
