China…amazing place…it absolutely rocked my world. I saw God work in such amazing ways. To read about some of the amazing things that happened, click on this link read what happened to us. This is the story through the eyes of one of my amazing teammates, Sarah (Click on her name to read her blogs).
I want to tell you about something that happened to me once we left our “ministry” site. After taking a 30-some hour train ride, we ended up in Beijing. We met up with the rest of our September team.
Our first day there, a group of us went to the Great Wall of China and it was completely amazing. I got to take a ski lift type ride up to the wall with one of my teammates. The view that we got to share was absolutely breathtaking. I had the chance to catch up with some teammates and we got to enjoy our first snowfall together. We even got to throw some snow at each other…it made me feel like I was at home. It was such a cold day but it was one I won’t forget.
The next day, a group of us decided to go to Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City. We were only staying a few blocks away from them, so we were going to walk there. As we were getting ready to leave, I ran back upstairs to drop off some stuff and grab my hat and gloves. When I walked out of my room, I ran into a guy.
The End….
Just kidding…
So one thing that I like to do is strike up conversations with random people. So I started talking to him. He had just checked into the hostel we were at and didn’t really have anything going on that day, so I invited him with us. He accepted and ran to grab his jacket and money.
As the group walked we drifted towards the back and talked. His name is Eliyahu…I pronounce it Elio. I soon learned that he was born in Israel. He lived there for awhile as a child, but then moved to New York City and lived there for almost 20 years before he moved back to Israel.
That might not be very interesting to you but it was very interesting to me.
Why, you ask?
Here is a little known fact about Kyle…to date, I haven’t read through the whole bible yet…but I am working on it.
Lately I have been reading a lot of Old Testament stuff which talks a lot about Israel…and honestly, I just don’t know much about it all.
And I figured that as he was growing up and in school he had to have history class…like the rest of us…but history class for him…the history of Israel…is the Old Testament. That is awesome. So I had a pretty amazing chance to just listen and learn…and I wanted to take the opportunity to just listen to him.
So we just talked as we walked around the square…about life…about growing up…about China…and about the Old Testament. At one point, we had been talking about bad things that happen and how God uses them for good…he told me about a Hebrew phrase that had to do with this…it is pronounced something like…gum sa la tova…which means also for the good. I thought it was a pretty cool little saying.
We were still walking and people kept stopping us to see if we wanted to by stuff from them…things like hats, gloves, little toys, and other fun Chinese souvenirs. We just brushed most of them off…but we ran into one lady that was very persistent…so Elio stopped to try to bargain with her for a pair of gloves. He was wearing the little girly gloves my sister gets a Target…she was offering to upgrade him to a pair of North Face knockoffs for about a dollar. After a while, he gave up bargaining with her and we walked away.
We kept walking and we went underground to cross to the other side of the road so we could go into the Forbidden City. While talking in the tunnel, we ran into three guys.
Andrew approached me and we started talking. He was a college student studying in China from Korea…which to me is awesome since I lived in Korea for about 7 months. So we talked about Korea…I tried to speak a little Korean to him.
During this time Elio was talking to the other two guys…Peace (a college professor) and Rain (a college art student).
All three of them spoke English fairly well. When we got to the other side of the tunnel we talked for a bit at the top of the stairs…the group we went with was now waiting for us so we told them to go on ahead and we would catch up to them in a bit.
We kept talking to the three guys when we were approached by a homeless guy…he was all bundled up and he was asking us for money. I motioned to my mouth to see if he wanted food and he shook his head rapidly while mumbling something in Chinese…so I assumed he was saying yes. I walked him over to a vender and Elio and I bought him a couple hot dogs and a hot drink. I have never seen a guy scarf a hot dog so fast…he would have made Kobiashi (a hot dog eating champion) look like he was eating in slow motion. After his hotdogs, we gave him his drink and he didn’t even know to take the wrapper off the straw…I had to show him how to take it off. Afterwards, he got on his knees and bowed thanking us…I looked him in the eyes and pointed up and told him not to thank me…but to thank God.
As we walked away he waived bye to us.
The three guys that we were talking to earlier were still hanging around so we started walking and talking with them again. We walked into this big courtyard leading to the Forbidden City.
If you remember back, I said Peace was a college professor…for art. The other guys two were his students. It was winter break and there were there showing some artwork. So they brought us into an art gallery that was hidden and kind of off to the side in this courtyard to show us some of their artwork. Elio and I sat there for about 45 minutes as they showed us a bunch of paintings. They had some interesting stuff, but nothing that I wanted to pay a lot of money for.
Afterwards, it was almost noon. I was getting a little hungry and I wanted to eat some famous Peking duck. I tried to get some the night before but it was too expensive. I talked to Elio about trying to find some. The other three guys said they knew a place we could get some duck. So we decided to have lunch together.
They led us to an interesting little Chinese place…definitely nothing fancy…just your typical little Chinese place, but the one thing that was different was that there were about 12 different teas spread out on the table. They asked if we wanted to have tea first. We looked at each other and it seemed like a cool little experience so we sat down with them.
A lady walked into the room…and started mixing up the first tea. Another lady brought in a small plate of apples, oranges, and tomatoes to snack on as well as a bowl of pumpkin seeds to eat.
The lady mixing up the tea started telling us in Chinese about the tea she was mixing up…and Peace(the professor) got all excited and translated for us.
So for about an hour she mixed up all twelve teas…some good for our eyes, some good for fighting cancer, some good for your stomach, some for energy…some were sweet…some were bitter…some of them did cool things when you added water to them. Each time Peace was just shocked by what she said and so excited to tell us about the tea we were going to drink and what it was good for.
It was a blast…we sat and had such good conversation…we laughed and joked…and just enjoyed each other’s company. At one point, the tea lady pulled out a little naked boy pottery piece…she put it in the hot water and poured more hot water on its head and then quickly pulled it out, pointed it at us, and it peed on us…we all thought it was funny so we laughed at each other because we got peed on.
I sat there with a huge smile on my face and thought about some of my teammates that I wanted to bring back to this place so that they could experience it. I asked them for their number so I could call them and go back the next day and they gave it to us.
They saw that we were having a great time…and they offered to buy us gifts. We looked at each other shocked and said alright. They bought me a variety pack of all the teas we had and they bought Elio a tea set…then they pulled out a wad of cash and paid for it.
After all the rounds of tea and gift giving, they brought out some food. I looked around for duck…no duck. I asked about it and they said it was going to take too long to cook it. So I went with it…it looked good…and it was exactly what I usually order at most restaurants anyways…and it was good…just like every other Chinese meal I ate in China. After we started eating, they opened up a couple bottles of wine. We toasted to “true friends…not fake friends.”
After out meal, they brought out the bill.
Now typically in Asian cultures, when invited out to eat, the oldest person or the host of the meal will cover the bill…it has happened so many times to me in Asia. I was kind of expecting this since they had been buying us gifts and showing us an awesome day…but I was ok paying for my share.
Typically you can eat for 20-30 Yaun per person…I was thinking I might have to pay around 100 because of the little show and all…but our bill was about 5000 Yaun…more than 800 dollars. I was shocked…then they said they wanted to split the bill…they looked at it and told the waitress that they wanted a discount. She bumped the bill down to about 4000 Yuan…
Elio and I looked at each other just shocked.
Neither of us had the money, so I had to go to the bank and pull out money to cover both of us…I loaned Elio 500Yuanto cover part of his bill.
And then the three guys walked us back to where we had met them.
Afterwards Elio and I walked back and we laughed because we had just gotten ripped off so bad…and there was nothing we could do to get out of it.
We started talking about what went wrong, how we could have avoided it, and what we could have done different.
We walked back together to the hostel laughing…we couldn’t believe that had happened… We decided to celebrate how ridiculous it was by sitting down and having a tea party with our new tea and tea set. We drank our favorite teas for about 3 more hours and talked about it…and laughed.
Then I started to tell others about it. I was told that I was stupid to fall for something like that and other negative things…my laughter started to turn into anger…and I had this rage building up inside of me…I started to get mad at the tea lady and the three guys that scammed us. I was thinking so many bad thoughts about them and what they did to me.
And I didn’t like it…
What was done, was done…there was no going back and undoing it. But what was I supposed to do now…
We started to talk about it and talked about what we might have done in the pasts, and what others we know would do…we could go back and get into a shouting match and demand out money back and maybe go Kung Fu on them if they didn’t give it back…we could call the cops…Elio mentioned that in the past he would have gone back and broke people’s legs.
None of which were very loving…
So what was I supposed to do…how was I supposed react…or think about these guys. As a Christian, I am supposed to be different…set apart.
Then as I sat there something came to mind…Right before we left for Beijing I was having dinner with a group of Christian friends we had met in China. I was talking to one of them that had really helped us a lot and was very wise. I asked this girl for one piece of advice…about something she was learning. She told me, “Fight evil with good.” I wrote it in my journal but didn’t really think about it until now.
Fight evil with good…
What does that mean…
Romans 12:9-21—Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good. Be devoted to one another in love. Honor one another above yourselves. Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord. Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. Share with the Lord’s people who are in need. Practice hospitality.
Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse. Rejoice with those that rejoice, mourn with those who mourn. Live in harmony with one another. Do not be proud, but be willing to associate with people of low position. Do not think you are superior.
Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everyone. If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone. Do not take revenge, my dear friends, but leave room for God’s wrath, for it is written: “It is min to avenge; I will repay.” says the Lord. On the contrary: “If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink. In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head.”
Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.
I realized that I need to go back, have tea, and pray for these guys. The next morning I got up and prayed with my teammates for these guys…do you know how hard it is to bless someone who ripped you off…to pray a blessing on them…it is so opposite of what I normally do…but it was what I needed to do…
God wanted to teach me what it means to love an enemy on a new level…because I just don’t know what it means…and this was his way of making it really sink into me.
God works in amazing way…it is fun to watch him work in my life.
The next morning I got up to go back to the tea place…it was the day we were leaving. I walked outside to big puffy snowflakes…just like the ones I love to try to catch in my mouth on a beautiful snowy day in Minnesota. I walked by myself down through the square, but I was cut off. In the mornings, they have a big flag raising ceremony and the only path I knew was cut off…so I never made it back to the tea house. I sat in the square and prayed for them again.
So I just want to ask you to do two things…join with me now in praying for them again…praying that god would bless them and reveal Himself to them…pray as you feel led…for Peace, Rain, and Andrew…my friends from China.
And also pray that I would not let this change how I view people I run into randomly…pray that I wouldn’t guard myself against people I am meeting…pray that I would be so open and loving of anyone I meet that I would make the same mistakes again. Pray that I would begin to know what it means to overcome evil with good.
Please pray for them…it is better late, than never.
