Some of the breakfast club
Bible Club - small, but great group!
This is the entire team of teachers for 2008
My jogging path - beautiful - but not much time to use it
Talking to home via computer - my lifeline!
Studying English gave more than one person a headache
Feet washing - with Bible Club
I lead a believers group each Sunday
With Tom - a new believer and friends
The final week was hectic and then I made a quick trip to Korea concerning a ministry opportunity with SIM for 2009. I was home two days and Janelle and I went on an exciting trip with close friends to celebrate her birthday.
I couldn't speak very opening in China, but now I want to share some of the highlights of my trip to China. I'll be a little more straightforward in my prayer letter I'm sending out in September, but for now, this will have to do.
As you know we were teaching English to Chinese English teachers. They were excellent in grammar and writing, but for the most part did little English speaking. 24 hours a day, 7 days a week they were to only speak English. As someone who knows virtually no Chinese this was a perfect opportunity for me. They would often ask me what I did. I would explain that I was a pastor for 25 years. I often had to explain what a pastor was. Then I'd tell them I taught at LeTourneau University and at other places around the world. They naturally ask what I taught and I'd tell them Bible. They would almost always say they had never read the Bible. I would offer to meet with them before breakfast to answer any questions (6:30 am) and then we had a group that ate together for breakfast and we talked about the Bible (not a Bible Study - that would be illegal). At times we had around a dozen seekers talking about Bible stories at breakfast. Some were just mildly curious and some were full blown seekers.
Early in week two a man named Tony - we called him "Big Tony" - would walk around and stop right behind me and look over my shoulder and then walk around and come back. I found out a few days later he was a communist member and most likely keeping an eye on us. I heard that he had left for an important meeting one day and thought to myself, "uh-oh." However, hes came back and not only didn't give me the boot, but started sitting in on our breakfasts. He started asking me and others lots of questions. It was so cool. One day near the end of the time I asked one of the seekers, "Would you like to become a Christian?" She said, "What does that mean?" I didn't notice stealth Tony walking up on my left side, but suddenly I heard him say, "He means, do you want to repent and put your faith in Jesus?" I almost fell over. The last day Tony came up to me and apologized he would have to miss the our breakfast, but had a conflict. The Sunday after I left I heard that Tony had gone to church and even joined a new members class. He's still not a believer, but moving in the right direction.
One other highlight was a girl I'll call "M." She had a beautiful smile and was there every morning. She asked great questions and by the end seemed ever so close. As I did with several I asked her if she was ready to become a Christian. She explained to me, "Before you came I didn't believe anything. Now I believe much, but I still need more time." The next day she asked to speak to me and explained that her husband, her father, her brothers were all members of the communist party. She said that you couldn't be a member of the party and believe in God. A member of our team had several friends who were both so I asked if she would talk to him. When they met he told her about communist Christians, but then very soberly he said, "It maybe that someday you will have to chose what is most important to you." She's still considering what to do. Pray we don't loose contact.
One last story. We were graciously granted permission to have a Bible Club. You had to already be a Christian and member of a legal church to attend, but we did have 10 out of the 380 who both could and wanted to attend. The first week we attempted to build a unity ending the week with communion and foot washing. It was something I had never done before and in the Chinese culture a teacher washing a student's feet was hard to take - much like what happened with Peter in John 13. After washing their feet one of the guys came to me and pushed me in the chair and said, "Now, your feet!" Afterwards, each of the guys came and gave me a big bear hug and each of the women gave my assistant a kiss on the cheek and a hug. It was an incredible experience. The next week we talked about ways to share your faith (your story; the wordless book) and the last week we talked about how to study the Bible - which I'm continuing to do through email - very carefully. The amazing thing is that are doing all this in English.
This really was the most awesome ministry experience of my life. I've never before seen such a great opportunity and openness. The Chinese people are proud of their country - and you could especially see that with the Olympics there, as well as kind of gracious. Lord willing, I hope to return again in the future.
Thanks so much for all your prayers and support. Keep watching the blog. I'll keep you posted as I go to Malaysia from September 15th to December 15th to pastor a church there. I have no idea what to expect. If you want a break from every day life come and see me.
