Mei Ling’s family is very very poor.  The way Herbert described it, they don’t even have 1 元 to spare to go towards curing her.  In the past at the school when someone has had leukemia and no money to pay for it, nobody did anything.  But for some “strange” reason, her classmates decided to hold a fund raiser/activity thing to raise money for her.  They thought that maybe they could raise 50,000 yuan (which is no measly feat, that’s around $7,350 american).  Turns out, they raised…. Over 200,000 yuan!! (around 29.5 thousand dollars! That’s ridiculous in America for a campus, let alone Asia).  She will still need more money, but that will cover her through till she gets the surgery at the very least.  Also, according to Herbert, there are 2 phases to get through before she can have surgery which has about a 10% chance of working.  She passed the first phase where the probability of people getting past it is between 10-30%.  The whole situation is turning into a huge miracle that God is using and will use to affect many lives!

Please please please keep on praying for her!  Well, really we just want to see God’s glory seen by all right? J  Herbert is fast on the way to becoming a Christian, and with Easter season here we are getting many opportunities to bring up God and what Jesus did for us.  We will be showing the Passion movie tomorrow night, so please pray for a good showing of people who are receptive and will be impacted by God.

He is doing it!!

Adriel

Tomorrow Victor, my friend Herbert and I are going to a church in the area.  They are both excited, and Herbert is planning on buying a Bible!  It cost about 50 yuan, which for them is a pretty substantial amount of money (less than $10 American).  Pray for us as we go on this adventure, that God would speak to each of them… they are so close!

With love,

Adriel

This past week was finals week.  Those being over with, we have a great opportunity in the next 1-2 weeks to be able to hang out with friends and really pour into them as they don’t have anything to study for or distract them.  I’m really excited and hope you will pray with me for opportunities and for the Holy Spirit to move and work powerfully among our friends here.

I still do not know where I will go or if I will go anywhere for spring festival.  John and Jordan are both going to Harbin (brrrr) so as of right now I will be here by myself for the biggest Chinese holiday of the year.  I’m trusting God though in whatever happens.  One of our friends Willy will not be returning home for the holidays, so that will be a great chance to get to spend a lot of time with him, and I am very excited.

Thailand is coming up!  It will be great to see everyone else and get some good solid pouring into.  Please be praying for that whole event.  Also, while there secur!ty is not an issue, so I look forward to talking to all of you and being on Facebook! Haha

That is all for now, miss you!

Adriel

I really appreciate all of your prayers, they really do make a difference.  I can feel their impact on my life and others over here.  I’ve been really seeing the impact and power of praying recently, and have been recommitting more hours to it.  An interesting thing to me, a miracle really, is that it has seemed easier and more fun to pray for large amounts of time.  It’s been such a blessing and something I’ve really wanted to do more of.

Two days ago our team was on a walk n talk (praying on and for the campus) and we made a list of friends that were Christians and friends that were close to becoming Christians to pray for.  I put down five of my friends in the close category, and it turned out over the course of that day, I got to see all five of them!  I’m not sure if that was God’s confirmation or not but it was still really encouraging and cool to have happen.

So I have a challenge for all of you.  This coming Friday, January 8^th, we are going to be doing a 24 hour fasting and prayer sort of thing (it’s more like 16 for us).  Each of the people in GZ will sign up for a one hour slot anywhere from 7am to 11pm.  In that time we will devote ourselves to praying for the people and things happening over here in Asia.  I think it would be cool if you could do the same, but pick an hour in the 11p – 7am time range (that’s our sleeping time but that is the middle of the day for all of you!  I think its 10am -6pm for east coasters).  Fasting that day is of course optional, but encouraged.  I just think it would be really cool if we all joined together on this.  It seems that really cool things happen when a group of people get on their knees collectively before God.

On to prayer requests!  We are still looking for a place to move the study to, but unless something drastic and from God happens we probably won’t be seeing the fellowship start until March-ish.  Who knows though, anything is possible.  The five friends that I wrote down the other day are named Victor, Willy, David, Kevin, and Nature, and they could certainly use some prayer and a nudge into the kingdom.  Personally, I would like to have prayers for continued discipline in praying and spending time with God.  Also for increased humility.  Still haven’t had an invite for spring festival, so continued prayer for that would be great, but I’m not worried.  I am also seeking direction for after I come home.  I feel like I know what God wants me to do, but the final decision hasn’t been made yet.  Please pray for me.

Thanks and I love you all!

Adriel

It was a little difficult adjusting for me, between holidays and relaxing to getting back into the swing of things.  I felt disconnected after not seeing friends for awhile.  We started planning parties and events for Christmas though and the following weeks flew by.  About a week or two into it we had some security issues come up.  Apparently we were being a little too aggressive when sharing with friends, and almost feeling too safe for how things are over here.  What I mean by that is, we, or at least I was getting comfortable sharing God with everyone I met the first time I met them.  It was always very exciting and I loved it, but it draws attention… which is not what we are going for over here.  So from there I’ve been adjusting some more and refocusing what I’ve been doing and what our goals are while over here.  It’s been difficult for me, and I had some really bad days, more in the sense of attitude and relationship with God.  (Part of the reason for lack of updating… I was getting very unmotivated and even lazy)  The good news is, I know that I have wonderful support at home and you have been praying for me/us through the whole thing, even if I have been slacking on keeping you up to date.   (Which I apologize for) 

Ok, now that you are mostly up to date, here is what has been happening as of late.  Christmas parties!!!  We’ve been inviting our friends over to do all the traditional Christmas time things like decorating and making xmas cookies and all that.  It’s been a really good opportunity to share freely with friends and talk about what Christmas time is all about… Jesus!  They are so interested too!  One of the nights we invited some friends over to watch the Nativity, and it was great.  Sometimes they encourage me in my faith because it is so new to them and they are just wowed by the idea of a loving God and all that he does.  We had a huge Christmas party with friends who are not in the family, and most of our preparation was just praying that God would do stuff.  We also asked that He would use us to do it .  He answered our prayers, and it truly was a special time.  We have one more event planned for this week, a Christmas party with friends who are in the family.

Prayer requests.  The biggest one on my mind right now is that we would get to follow up on all that God has been doing this past week.  A few of our friends are oh so close to coming into the family, and we need God to nudge them in.  Also for our next party on tues.  Changing topics a little, we are looking for a place to start a church on campus.  It is our goal to get the study out of our house and into the hands of our friends.  We have already had one of them lead one of the studies, and she did a great job.  Also we are seeing some new worship leaders forming, and an increased passion and excitement for worship all around.  I would personally like prayers for guidance and opportunity for the upcoming spring festival.  We usually get a few invites to go to our friends homes for the Chinese new year, and I don’t know where I want/should go yet.

I love you all and I hope you have a very Merry Christmas!!!

Adriel

Another really miraculous thing about this weekend is what led up
to it.  God had told me to fast until one of my friends came into
the family, so I did hoping that He knew what He was doing and I
wouldn’t die haha.  Anyway, I spent the next few days praying in a
more concentrated time and amount than I probably have in my whole
life.  Then that Wednesday God told me to go and buy some bread and
juice.  So needless to say I was getting a little excited, for one that friends were going to
come into the family and that I would get to eat!!  That afternoon
I was on campus praying, and asked God to give me a sign that I had
heard Him correctly.  I asked Him to make it rain.  I waited a
minute or two and nothing happened.  So I inquired again.  His
response? You better get in under that roof if you don’t want to
get wet.  So I went under and it started raining! He listens, He
hears, AND He answers
After we had finished talking with the guys that night, nobody had
gotten saved.. But God told us to break bread because the work had
been done, and that He would finish it. So ended my fast and we got
2 new brothers!

Side note: The mountain was amazing and it was great to get out
into the wilderness (there were steps and all but it was close
enough to being a real getaway).  We ended up spending the night up
there and “slept” on concrete to see the sunset.. but it was cloudy
and we didn’t get to see it .  And ok, i’ll admit, there were not
a million steps. But it sure seemed like it!!  On the way down it
was even harder I think.  Our legs were shaking and threatening to
give out!

We’ll call this time period “the calm.”

This past week and even into today things have been shifting.  It’s like the fruitfulness lever just got pushed from “slow” to “go.”  We are starting to see fruit from all the time we’ve spent praying.  Friends are becoming more available (although this is still an area of warfare) and more eager to learn and talk about God.  I met two girls at an English Corner, named Queena and Lilac Walker.  Queena and her whole family are Christians, and she is looking for a place to be plugged in.  I got to take David, Queena, and Lilac to a church this past Sunday.  David wanted to get an English/Chinese Bible.  It was really cool to see all of the people they worshiping and praising at the top of their lungs.  I found out today that since David has gotten his Bible, he has been reading it like a madman!

I had a meeting with a Christian named Oscar.  It was a really cool meeting and we prayed for each other (it was at his prompting actually!).  He is interested in our study, but more excitingly, he has a friend who is a student at the university I am at, who very recently came into the family, and who was asking if there was a study he could go to!  It’s a perfect setup from Dad.

We’ll call this time period “the shift.”

The Storm yet to come

Quotes of the week (actually more just quotes from today)

Alex (not in the family… yet):  God is so generous

You Christians are more happy than us Chinese.

You really are a son of God (how ‘bout that for encouragement )

I really feel like we are right on the edge of an explosion of activity that we will see.  Your prayers will help push us over that edge.

No-one came into the family last weekend, but we were able to share
with Mo’s sister who was amazingly open and ready to hear about
God.  We also got to be there with Mo and encourage him as he told
his family that he is now a Christian.  He lead praying for dinner in
chinese, and then his mom and dad also prayed (from what I could
understand I think they just said thank you for this food).  I
don’t really know if they understood who they were praying too, but
it was cool to witness none-the-less.

I think my biggest story this week involves a propane tank.  Can
you say BOOM?  Haha, just kidding.  We ran out of gas to cook with
right before we left for Mo’s.  When we returned on Sunday my leader
made arrangements to get more, but they said it would come Monday
morning by 11:30.  Now this was somewhat risky because we were
planning on making tacos for 15 ppl Monday after our meeting.  This
was sort of my idea, and I was basically running, planning and
prepping for it.  I felt a little under pressure and wanted to do a
good job and bless everyone.  We had the meeting, 11:30 came and
went.  The meeting ended around say 1pm, still no gas.  I went in my room and silently
prayed.  What am I supposed to do now?  I trusted you, and
here I am looking foolish and about to be humiliated.   I was still
seeking out God, and I don’t think even 1 min had passed when the
doorbell rang.  It was the gasman!!! God had such perfect timing
for us, that we were not interrupted and it came just as our
meeting ended.  I was completely floored.  Here I was, helpless and
at the mercy of God, having not made any back up plans because I
was trusting Him to provide, having done nothing to really deserve
the gas being on time, but He came through for me/us.  I was just
left speechless.  I kind of gave me a little glimpse of the big
show, when I’ll be there standing helpless before Dad, totally
deserving punishment, and Jesus is there to say NOT GUILTY, PAID
FOR.

Wow.  I just witnessed an amazing event tonight.  You’ve heard the
phrase, everything is bigger in Texas, I’m sure.  I would have to
submit that, in fact, everything is biggest in Asia.  Today
was National Day, the 60th anniversary of the Chinese government in
power (kind of like our 4th of July), and boy was there a
celebration.  Sooo many fireworks! Take the best fireworks display
you have ever seen with all of the types of fireworks you have
seen, then add a few new ones you haven’t seen, then multiply by
about 50.  That’s China fireworks.  I was told the total cost the
government spent on the show just in GZ was over 3,000,000 yuan.
That’s about half a million dollars!  And there were so so so many
people there.  Now, another cool thing about this show is, you know
how in America when there’s fireworks people just watch and clap at
the end?  Not here.  Every single new set of fireworks that went of
there was an oooo or aaaahhh or wwaaaah!! It was so very cool to be
a part of and experience .

There is always so much that has happened between updates.  This
week hasn’t been as eventful or visibly fruitful as the one before,
but non-the-less it has been filled with some pretty cool stuff.
GOd has directed more than a few people into my path who are hungry
for Him, one girl who was practically begging to come into the
family (God said it wasn’t the right time or place).  At the
English corner this past week I found myself totally relaxed and
surrounded by people asking questions about God and asking
questions allowing me to talk to them about God.  For example,
there are just some questions that are absolute gifts from above.
I got one question that went something like this:  The economy in
America is struggling and there is a lot of financial hardship, and
jobs are scarce.  How do you feel about this, are you worried?
Bada bing, bada boom.. open door to talk about security in God and
how my hope is not in present circumstances but in eternity.  Also
about how faith is not based upon how things appear in the now.  He
is so good and is taking care of me, molding and leading me.

I was walking through campus with some friends and nothing too
spectacular was happening on the conversational level (we weren’t
talking about God or anything, just random shooting the breeze and
whatnot). We walked to the river (this was at night) and just
talked there, with a coolish breeze and many lights.  I was so at
peace and rest in Dad, it was one of the first times I didn’t feel
under pressure or constantly on my toes.  Conversation just flowed
and I got to tell stories about God and his Son and the cool stuff
they did.  After a somewhat medium length lull in conversation, all
of the sudden I hear a “hello” on my left.  So I strike up a
conversation and figure out about this guy, named Alex, and his
friend David.  We get to talking, and by God’s grace and divinity
we ended up talking about Him.  I got a statement as follows.. I
see that many Asians are becoming Christians, but I don’t know why.  I
ended up getting to share the whole good news with these two right
there and then, and both were really open, especially David.  It
was just a really refreshing conversation and they were really real
about how they felt and what they believed.  I really enjoy the new
friendship with them, and i just love these guys.  I met with Alex
again and we were talking, and he said, “I don’t believe in God
yet”  … That’s right, yet. It is just amazing to me some of the
simple yet such powerful things that come out of their mouths.

Which reminds me, quote of the year so far.
In the initial meeting and conversation with Alex and David,
towards the end of it, David says, and I quote: “Wow, God is so
mightyful!”  Too good and too true.  That He is David, that He is.

I had the privilege of leading a Bible study this past week.  Get
this, we talked about what to teach on and were all set to go.  We
were praying together beforehand and I opened my book and just felt
God leading me.  He changed what I was going to teach on 15 mins
before I was about to talk.. and to something I don’t think I had
ever read! (It was out of Deut. and totally fit perfectly with the
week and this weekend.. explanation to follow)  Mo brought a friend
and she almost came into the family that night, but reconsidered
and said, I think I need more time, I need to choose between some
of my Chinese culture and beliefs and the Lord.  I know she didn’t
accept yet, but man that’s encouraging.  She gets it.  She gets
that she will be giving her life over.  Dad is amazing. Flat out,
just incredible.
Stephen had lost his Bible so he didn’t bring it with him.  We told
him to look for it more and if he couldn’t find it we’d figure
something out.  I get a txt from Mo a little while later saying,
Adriel, we found the Bible! It’s a miracle!  It is so encouraging to
hear an outlook shift from this guy who has been in the family for
less than 2 weeks.

I figured I had just left it at Aidan’s, so I wasn’t worried or
anything.  I prayed and just gave it to God and went about my day.
I went home and finished my homework and then went to class.
Afterwards I went to Aidan’s to look.  We scoured the house, to
no avail.  After retracing my steps, we deduced that I had either
left it on the bus, it was stolen on the bus, or I left it at the
restaurant we had eaten at the night before.  So we went down to
the Muslim noodle place, Patrick, his Asian friend John, and me.
John asked them if they had found one, but they hadn’t.  So we
prayed, and I turned to John and said, well, if we find it we will
know it was God, and a miracle.

I went home and started to de-activate my two atm cards and my
credit card.  Luckily I did not have much cash in my wallet (about
10 bucks American), and only 2 other somewhat valuable things, but
they were more of convenience items.  I checked my bank accounts,
and everything seemed to be intact.  So I decided at that point I
would get some dinner (I keep my money for the month in my room, so
I still had money accessible).  As I was walking back, God reminded
me of an event a few nights previous.

I was coming home around 11pm and a girl, maybe 20, stopped me and
said her and her friend were hungry.  They were standing outside of
mcdonalds, and, having missed the chance to help someone out in a
similar situation a few weeks before offered to buy her some food.
I wasn’t really thinking to clearly at this point and we went into
mcdonalds.  Now, to make this clearer, I do not eat at mcdonalds
because it is too expensive.  But we went in and she ordered, and
it came to 50.50 kuai (I usually eat a meal for around 10).  My
entire generous and loving attitude suddenly went out the window.
As we left the girl asked me for another 50 kuai so they could get
a place to stay, but all I had was a 100 and was taken aback by the
whole encounter, so I just walked off to my room.

That night it struck me how much the amount of money impacted me,
and how my heart was obviously not in the right place.  As I was
walking back from dinner, God reminded me that money comes and
goes, and it didn’t matter how much I spent because all the money I
had in my wallet was gone now.  It really was a good lesson, and I
felt totally at peace about the whole situation, it was in God’s
hands.

As I got back to my apartment, I noticed I had a missed call and 2
new texts.  Aidan found my wallet!  Woohoo! Praise God! It’s a
miracle!  And so cool how He does everything, and is continuously
taking care of us. (remember that update I wrote awhile back about
God’s provision and love )

There has been so much happening these days.  We have another new
sister, named Apple!  We had a prayer and prophesy time the other
night for our chinese friends that are Christians.  It was great. We got
to speak into their lives and then they started prophesying over
each other! One girl had only been in the family for 2 weeks.  It
is so cool the things that are going on.  One kid, Nature, is not a
Christian and was deeply impacted by the night.  He said that there must be
some greater power that made this world and is orchestrating
things, and pointed out how God had been directing him to the point
in his life he is at.  I got the opportunity to sit down one on one
with a kid named Kevin and field questions and read about how Jesus
died and was raised to life.  It’s such a privilege to be here

Prayer requests: Last update I mentioned very briefly about health.
Well, probably about 75 percent of the city has been or is sick in
the last few weeks, and some severe back pain has also come up.
(thankfully I have not gotten sick at all )  So please be praying
for protection against that form of attack.  Busyness is a huge
stronghold over here, especially at this time of the year with lots
of midterms and tests 1 and 2 months away. (sometimes friends will
tell us they can’t meet for a whole month or more because they have
a test coming up and need to study).  We didn’t have anyone show up
to the study this week (after 9 ppl last), one person got a fever
that morning and was in the hospital.  Satan definitely does not
want people coming to our study, so that is encouraging in way, at
least what we are doing is powerful.  I did, like I said, get to
meet Kevin later that night.  We are really seeing and praying that
God is working in our friends lives no matter how often we can meet
them or how busy we are.  It’s been heavily evident.

That’s all for now
Much love,
Adriel