Hey friends! Sorry for the small print…technical difficlties! This is a little overdue since I am currently in Chiangmai Thailand in MONTH #2! Before I let in you in on the incredible things happening this month, I wanted to recap the rest on my time in Harbin, China!
China was a month full of divine encounters. There was A LOT of meeting people randomly, who then introduced us to other people, who then introduced us to other people. There was a lot of good that came out of every relationship built. I am so excited to know that we get to keep the relationships we built. Many of our friends are now our friends on Instagram, email, etc. Also, a lot of our friends (if they were open to it) we were able to connect with the growing church in China. Here is how one divine encounter was built and just how far it went:
In one of my previous blogs, I mentioned that one of my teammates, Samie, met a girl in Starbucks who just happened to be an English professor at a nearby university. She invited Team Teleios to tour the university and sit with the Dean of Students and Heads of the many departments. This is the same group that presented us with gold medals. We didn’t up going back to the college to teach English but we became great friends with our tour guide. You can read my teammate, Samie Griffis’ blog entries entitled “Brother From Another Monther” Part 1 and 2 to read the story about Alan.
Alan ended up introducing us to a friend of his who is part of the church in Harbin. Samie, Stefanie, and myself met with her and had good conversation. She then invited us to a prayer meeting with the Church. Before going to the meeting, she led us to a coffee Shop to meet with the Pastor who told us how he, along with his wife and family, have been missionaries in Harbin for 8 years. He explained the differences between the Three-Self Church, which is controlled by the government, and the Christian Church. If you profess to be a Christian and are not a part of a Three-Self Church, then you cannot worship in a church building or public place. This is why there are house churches all over China. This Pastor has a heart to create a safe place for Christians and anyone else who would like, to come and fellowship together. I was so excited to hear this man’s story and how God has poured favor over him. His boldness, courage, and strength to be a light in China are truly encouraging.
After meeting with the pastor and the others, we walked to the prayer meeting. When we walked into the apartment, we were met with the sounds of singing. There were maybe 15 youth and college students all praying for each other in Korean Style (everyone prays out loud and all at once). I could feel the presence of God and His delight over this group. After they prayed, they invited me to lead a song on the guitar and share a testimony. We all sang How He Loves and I shared about God’s grace in my life. Afterwards, one of the students shared his testimony with us of how he came to believe in Jesus and how God has changed his life and healed his mother of cancer. It was absolutely wonderful to be a part of this group. I knew at that point that if God asked me to, I would return to China one day just to be with these people again. They love Jesus and are not afraid to love Him back. This evening was so cool and one of my favorite times in China.
I also mentioned about Lynn. Lynn ended up taking Addison and I to lunch and since she enjoys music so much, we invited her back to my apartment to do some songs on the guitar. We had a blast! I even taught her how to play Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star! We sang lots of worship songs and she joined right along. We had such a great time! A couple of days later, I met Lynn for coffee for the last time before leaving Harbin and again was blessed by our conversation. We definitely will keep in touch!
At the very end of the month, we were able to visit one of the house church that Jake and his ministry are a part of. What a blessing it was to worship with them and here the pastor give a message, which they translated for us into English! At the end of the night, I was asked to lead some worship. I played Our God is Greater and had goose bumps the whole time. The words of the song are so strong and powerful and it was so cool to be able to proclaim this in a land where there has been such opposition. However, there has been more and more breakthrough and the church is growing and strengthening and people are getting set free! Yay God!
If I had to summarize my month in China with a word, that word would be “blessed”. China blew away my expectations in a good way. It was an awesome kickoff to the World Race!
