This picture perfectly describes Chiachi. We met Chiachi in Puerto Lopez, Ecuador. She is from Taiwan but currently a foreign exchange student in Lima, Peru. She is also one of my favorite humans.
Chiachi carries so much happiness and fun within her. She is quick to become a friend who loves deeply and unashamedly.
After meeting Chiachi in Puerto Lopez Jesus made it clearly to me that He was not done with our relationship yet, and that our paths would cross again.
About two weeks after we met Chiachi, our squad headed to Lima, Peru – the city she is studying in! Once arriving we instantly reached out to her. We got to spend this past weekend with her and it was the biggest joy.
Chiachi is filled with curiosity and Jesus has been chasing after a relationship with her. We got to share with her aspects of our mission trip she had never heard of before – like praying to God and Him speaking to us about where to go and what to do. “Unbelievable!” She said, with an awe filled smile. She proceeded to ask more about how He speaks. We explained how He speaks to each of us differently – how because He created us He knows us so intimately, and knows the specific ways to communicate with each of His children individually!
In sharing life with Chiachi we shared our dreams with each other, shared about our homes and our friends and families as well. I showed her a picture of my siblings and I at Christmas. In Taiwan Christmas is a holiday to get off work and gather with friends, but with an unknown meaning. I expressed to her my love for Christmas and how Jesus’s story changed my life! When she asked how I shared with her why Jesus came – the Son of God, leaving heaven so that God’s broken children could be restored to Him!
“A few people have told me the story of Jesus,” she responded. “And every time they look just like you. Your eyes light up, and it is like Jesus is the most incredible thing to you!”
He is!!! “One of the most incredible things to me about Jesus, is that He did not come to bring only certain people from certain parts of the world back to Him. He came to give every single person in the world the opportunity to be restored in relationship with Him! Every person! No matter where they were born or what kind of life they have lived. It’s the coolest thing!” I said.
We invited Chiachi to go to church with us. “What do I do there? Do I have to pray?” she asked. “You don’t have to do anything!” I replied. “At church we just get to meet people and sing and dance with them. We get to encourage each other, and be in fellowship! An incredible thing about Jesus is that He is always with us, and all around us. There are no rules or things we must do to get into His presence. Church is simply the group of people that join together in fellowship!”
“Then I will join!” She smiled.
Church was filled with meeting lots of people and taking lots of videos and pictures for Chiachi. Afterwards she told us how she never realized what fun church was!
That afternoon we got smoothies together. I shared more of my story with her – how I grew up knowing God as a holy, high up, distant King. I thought I needed to do all these things to be in good standing with Him. And while I knew He was real, I thought He was too distant to be in relationship with.
She asked me how I came to be in relationship with Him then.
I shared my experience at summer camp when I was twelve years old. The years before that I had taken on a lot of guilt for different things my family was walking through. My camp counselor sat with me as I brought those things to Jesus and for the first time encountered Jesus as God with us. In that moment I knew He was right there with me, and I knew that He cared, about ME.
I told her about the bumps in the road that came after while I was learning to walk fully with Him, but the eternal LIFE it has brought.
“Wow.” Wide eyed, wonder filled her.
“You know Chiachi,” I said, “Jesus loves you that much too. You said many people have told you about Him. I am confident each person that has shared His story with you has been sent by Him because He wants to live life with you too. He is persistent with His children, because that is how much He loves us! That is how much He loves YOU!”
“Maybe one day,” she grinned.
As someone who has grown up with Christianity surrounding me, I often don’t comprehend the weight of inviting someone who has never known Jesus as Savior to be in fellowship with Him. It is something that is life changing! And life changing can be intimidating.
But I know my Jesus‘s love is patient and persistent and BIG.
We hope to see Chiachi at least one more time during our stay in Peru, but even more pray that the Lord would bring others to continue pointing her Jesus’s love for her long after we leave. We would love for you to join us in praying for this!
