So much has happened since we last talked. I have to tell you some back info before I tell you the big announcement!

My friend Tong and I have been doing a Bible study for over a month now. During this time I have just been sitting back and watching God change his life. It has been cool to see how God has been using the things we have been reading together to impact his life. He really has a great understanding of what we are reading; he has this uncanny ability to apply the things we are reading to his life. From there God does the rest, grabbing a hold of his heart, showing him gently that there are behaviors that need to change. While all this has been happening our friendship has been growing. I’ve definitely been making a concerted effort to make this a priority. I was once told “People will never care how much you know, until they know how much you care.” In my life I continue to use this as a governing principle in how I interact with friends, here or back at home. Applying this principle with Tong was one of the best things I could have ever done. Deep down, he is lonely, he is the guy who is the smallest out of all of his friends, so it’s really easy for them to tease him and pick on him. His relationship with his dad is broken, but he has a deep admiration for his mom. There truly has been a great orchestrator working behind the scenes, allowing all of these circumstances to culminate. 

A few days ago, my first Chinese friend accepted God into his heart! Wow. It makes me so excited just thinking about it. I’ve told you stories about him in previous Blog’s. Last week when we were having our weekly Bible study, he realized that the Bible he was reading from was substantially different than the Bible I was reading from (it had been given to him from his mom, who goes to the Three Self Church).  At first I thought it was just because our Bibles were two different translations. I know all my friends back at home are laughing a little inside, because I read the K_J_V. Stop it. He then took my book and lined it up with his, and as he sat there comparing the two in my living room, he became almost infuriated. I asked him what was wrong. He explained to that it wasn’t that they were different translations, but that important portions were completely omitted or changed in his Bible. I told him that it was ok, and that I could get him a new Bible. Why is my Bible so much different than yours, he asked me? I asked him if he could keep a secret and his eyes lit up. Tell me. Tong, there are two types of parties in Asia, there is one that is overseen by the Chinese government, this one is called the Three Self Church, and there is a second type called the Underground Church,  that is organized by Asian Christians. See I told you the government was rubbish, he exclaimed. This was directly followed with “Which one is better?”  I explained that when the government can control what is being spoken, or read, that the people loose. So this is why my Bible is so much different than yours, he exclaimed once again. Precisely.  “I want to go to the secret party! Can I go?” Sure. Let me talk to some of my friends and I’ll let you know when they get together. I gave him a new Bible, he was thrilled. The night ended. He thanked me as usual.

We scheduled to meet the following week, and have another Bible study. In the meantime I had gotten all the information for when the underground party met. The biggest party I’m aware of is formed by many Asian Christian’s who became believers from the efforts of other CT’ers.  Actually, the founder of CT, led a guy named Shawn to Christ, his first year here, and now Shawn leads worship at the party here. He also happens to be one of my Chinese tutors. Sorry for the tangent, I’m just trying to fill in some of the blanks. Ok, back to the story. I get the times for the services, I relate them to Tong. He tells me has to work during both of the weekend services,  but that he can make it to the week night college aged Bible study. I put Tong in contact with Shawn they arrange a time to meet and Tong goes to the Bible study. Afterwards, Tong tells me he had a great time, that he learned a lot of new things about God, and he didn’t realize that there were Christian’s in Asia, especially Christian’s his age.

That was Wednesday night, two days later, we are supposed to get dinner together and have a Bible study. The plan is that when he gets off work at six, we will meet up and grab dinner. Six turns to seven and seven turns to eight. He calls me frantically apologizing. Meiguanxi, I tell him. We have an amazing dinner, with some really great conversation. We talk more about the Bible study he went to during the week. He tells me that he feels like there was some difference between himself and the people there. Reasoning through what happened, he comes to the realization that the difference is that he has not given his life to God yet, and the others had made that commitment. During dinner he tells me that he is ready to make that decision and that tonight is going to be the night. By the time we finish it’s already 9:45. We discuss the option of not doing the Bible study briefly, but quickly dismiss that as being a possibility. 

Once again, we find ourselves amidst the familiarity of my living room. We read two or three chapters of John. As we read, Jesus’ words are as if specially written for Tong. There were quite a few times, he was on the verge of tears, and other times he was just speechless. If there were any question as to his readiness to make the decision, they were disintegrated by the time we finished reading. He looked at me and said “I really want this, this is my greatest dream”. I’ll never forget that.

Keep us in your thoughts.

Love Becks

Hero and I have continued to build relationships with our friends. We now have four Bible studies going on each week with four different friends. God is continuing to show Himself faithful and we will hopefully be starting 2-3 more Bible studies in the next few weeks. God has been opening doors and has allowed us to be open and honest with our friends. We have had opportunities to share personal stories with our friends and we have been able to tell them how God has moved in our lives. We have been challenging our friends to look deeper and search farther.  We have been asking God to help us pinpoint the friends that are ready and eager to learn more about Him and He has been faithful to show us exactly which relationships to pursue and which ones to let go of.  

We are continuing to meet with Azure weekly for a Bible study. She truly enjoys meeting with us every week and God is really working in her life and revealing different things to her through His Word. Hero and I have had the opportunity to challenge her and we have asked her to think about becoming a Christian. She expressed some concern with sharing her beliefs with her friends and Hero was able to encourage her and also challenged her to be bold in that area. This week she will be bringing one of her friends to our Bible study because her friend is searching for something to believe in, so it sounds like God is already working in that area of her life. Azure truly believes the Bible and believes that God is real. She has shared that everything makes sense to her and she is starting to apply the Bible to her life, but it seems like she is missing the point of having a personal relationship with God. So, I was able to be honest with her and tell her that following the Bible was great, but none of it truly matters unless she has a personal relationship with God. Again, I asked her to think about becoming a Christian and she said that she would continue to think about it.

There are so many other girls that I have had the opportunity to pour into over the last few weeks. I met a freshman a few weeks ago and had the opportunity to share with her about God and the Bible. She had never heard about God before and seemed to be very interested. I told her that I could get her a Bible and she said she would like one. I met with her the next week and was going to give her a Bible, but she had already gone out and bought one because she was so excited. I have also had the opportunity to pour into my Chinese teacher. She is such a sweet girl and she really enjoys spending time with me, so it’s really easy to talk to her. She’s really interested in learning more about God and I will be bringing her a Bible this weekend. She has really opened up about her family, her friends, and how Asia has shaped her life and her way of thinking. I am believing that she will become a Christian before I leave! There are so many other girls that God has placed in our life and we are so thankful for them. God is continuing to open doors and slowly change hearts and ways of thinking. Please keep our friends in your thoughts. The enemy is really trying to come against them in many different ways including busyness, sickness, confusion, and many others. I am excited to continue to share stories with you about how our friends’ hearts are changing and how God is grabbing a hold of their lives. We are going to see the campus changed for God!

love,

Posh

A few days ago, Nico and I had a chance to go to this famous place in the Du called Jin Li Lu. It’s a very famous street because it has really old buildings and is very scenic. There are many street vendors selling specialty foods, and wares. There are also many restaurants and tea houses on this street so that you can take some time and enjoy the surroundings. I had been telling him that I’ve wanted to see more of the things that our city has to offer. We rode our bikes the 30 minute journey and spent the rest of the afternoon there. After thoroughly exploring and getting some great food for dinner, we headed back home. We went to unlock our bikes, and as is the total Nico modus operandi, he starts asking me many questions right before we are about to part ways. I had locked our bikes together before we went into Jin Li Lu, and now it was serving a very helpful purpose: ensuring he couldn’t go anywhere. He had been thinking very deeply about one question in particular, which was, “If I believe in God, but do bad things, does He stop loving me?” We stood at our locked bikes for over 15 minutes talking, until he finally looked at me and asked me if I could unlock our bikes. I almost laughed. As we rode home I continued to answer his question. Our 30 minute bike ride took over an hour as we talked, and he intensely listened. Our handlebars were touching and he could have not been more interested in what I was telling him. “Nico”, I said, “You can’t earn God’s love, He loves you regardless of the bad things you have done, and He wants to have a personal relationship with you. He already paid the price for your sin, the sin you have done in the past and the sin you will do in the future. When He died on the cross, He made a way for us to be friends with Him and no longer be at opposition with Him. All you have to do is accept Him into your heart and ask Him to forgive you for all the bad things you have done.” It was such a long ride home and such a deep conversation. God was doing such amazing things in his heart as we rode. At that moment I just felt so honored. Please keep Nico (Yu Qin) in your thoughts.

Today was a big first for me since being in China. I had my first Bible study with a friend. Last week I told you about Tong. This past week we have had quite a few chances to spend time together. On Sunday night, we were walking home from KTV (Chinese Karaoke…rubbish, sounds like a bunch of drowning cats) and as we walked Tong and I started talking about the afterlife. I asked him “What do most Chinese people think about the afterlife”, to which he responded “You mean like Heaven or Hell?” That about sums it up, I thought. “I’m not sure” He said, “But I can tell you one thing, I don’t want to go to Hell!” “Me either” I told him, “There is a way that you can know for sure you won’t go there.” “Really, there is?” He replied. In that instant the light bulbs started clicking. The previous weekend when I had been to his, home, he told me that his mother was a Christian, that he used to attend the party with her when he was a child and in his room he had a Chinese Bible and a cross on the wall. “Tong, I think your mother knows the answer to the question” “What do you mean? She does?” “Of course, why don’t you ask her when you get home tonight?” He said halfheartedly, “Ooook”. He couldn’t bare it any longer and he said “No! I want you to tell me right now, if you know the answer.” See above. We stopped at the corner store to pick up the most amazing ice cream bar in the entire world, and we continued talking. He asked me “How do I get closer to God?” I told him “The Bible says that there are three basic ways to get closer to God. If you pray, read your Bible and go to church then your relationship with Him will grow.” And so at eleven o’clock this morning after a long night of being up until 4:45 am watching the Champions League matches together, he was knocking on my front door with Bible in tow. We prayed together, He prayed for the first time out loud, and then we read John 1-3 together. He read in Sichuan hua (the local dialect) and I read in English. When we finished each Chapter, I explained to Him what it meant. While we were doing the book study together his best friend called him and wanted to come over and participate as well! He told me he had a great time learning more about Jesus and that he wants to come over once a week, to continue doing book studies with me. I’m so excited, and feel like finally, I’m seeing some fruit. Xièxiè Yēsū.

So last week I received questions from two readers. The questions were…

1). What precautions do you have to take when talking about Christ in a country where Christianity is forbidden? 

Great question. It’s very important to be cautious of who you are speaking to and who is around when you are talking about Christ. I usually only speak to my friends who I’ve met with at least once, and are receptive to religious ideas. As a general rule of thumb, if you know a persons’ name in China and you have spent more than a couple hours with them, they like you better than they like their own government.

2). Do you guys get home sick at all? What does a normal day look like to you and how do you get food?

Part one, see the first line of the blog. Haha. Part two, a normal day consists of usually a lunch meeting with a friend, an afternoon activity (for me, it’s usually soccer, or basketball, sightseeing, tea and cards, or mahjong, for Posh it’s usually badminton, tea, KTV…basically whatever our friends want to do), and then followed by a dinner meeting with a friend. Part three, food is readily available. We are in a city with more people than NYC. There are grocery stores right below our apartment complex, and we live on one of the busiest roads in the city, so it is lined with restaurants of all sorts. It’s less inexpensive to go out to eat in China than it is to cook for yourself. Hope that answers them.

I think the questions are great. I’ve received all of your emails and I’m sorry it has taken me so long to respond, we have been insanely busy.

Love Becks

Our friend Laura is such a sweet girl. Hero met her a week or two after we arrived and we have maintained a steady relationship with her ever since. Hero had the opportunity to share about God with her and Laura showed a lot of interested and had a lot of questions. So, Hero gave her a copy of the “Purpose Driven Life” in Chinese in hopes that it would answer some of her questions. Hero encouraged Laura to ask God if He was real that night. A few days later Laura sent Hero a text message telling her that she appreciated all that she had done, but had made her decision and could not believe in God, but hoped that we could still be friends. Hero took time to meet with her and told her that she still loved her regardless of her decision, but wanted her to know that God was the only true god. Laura felt that she could not believe in God because she was Chinese, so she needed to believe in Confucius instead. On Thursday, Hero and I specifically prayed that God would work in her heart and start to change her way of thinking. That night, Laura sent Hero a text message apologizing for making such a quick decision about God and said that she wanted to learn more about who God was before she made a decision. Wow, God heard our prayers and He moved so quickly in Laura’s heart! We were so excited and encouraged that she was open to learning more about who God was.

About a week and a half ago Hero and I made plans to meet up with our friend Sherry who I met at the English corner the first week we were here. About 5 minutes before she was supposed to meet us, she sent me a text message saying that she would not be able to come because she had to take her boyfriend to the hospital, but she said that her friend (who we had never met) would still be coming. We met her friend Natalie and went to dinner with her. We were not sure what to expect, but we had a great dinner with her! We had the opportunity to talk with her about God and she seemed genuinely interested. She shared that she had an interview for graduate school the following weekend, so Hero and I said that we would be praying for her and she thanked us. We received a text message from her on Friday saying that her interview went well. She shared that she felt like the interview went so well because we were praying for her and she said that she could feel God with her during the interview. What a profound statement! Again, God was just showing us that if we lifted our friends up to Him, He would do the rest!

This last story is my favorite one of the week! Last week I shared with you about Azure and what an amazing dinner we had with her, so I wanted to update you on what the result of that dinner was! During our dinner Hero and I encouraged her to talk to God and ask Him to show that He was real in her life. So, on Saturday  Azure sent Hero and me a text message. Her text message said “…I have asked for God and He has answered me, thank you again for showing me the way. I believe I will make the decision soon.” Hero and I were so overwhelmed with joy when we read this text message together! God totally showed Himself faithful this week! We will be meeting with Azure this Saturday afternoon  at 2pm, so please keep this meeting in your prayers. We are so thankful for all of you that continue to lift us and our friends up in prayer. I truly don’t believe that any of this would be happening without your continued support!

This past Saturday we had a game night with all of our friends.  We had 18 of our friends show up; both guys and girls. It was such a great night and our friends had so much fun! We planned this game night in hopes that our friends would get to know each other and start to build community. We are going to continue to have our friends over in hopes that it will turn into a fellowship!

Thank you again for all that you have done for us. I truly mean it when I say that we would not be here if it wasn’t for all of you! We love you and miss you so much and we hope that we are making you proud!

-          Posh

Stories, stories, stories. Where to start…hmmm. Well this past week was a huge holiday here in the land of China, it was the 60^th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China. Everyone, business men to elementary school students got six to eight days of vacation, or holiday as they call it here. On October 1^st, there was a giant fireworks display in the main city square called Tiān Fū Gūang Chăng. Posh and I rode our bikes, for what was about a 20 minute bike ride to take in the sights and sounds with, in my estimations, at least half of a million Chinese people. It was beautiful sight, seeing about an hour of explosions in the sky over the city high rises. It was great to be able to enjoy such a special event together, and with our friends.

A few days later, my friend Tong (I got to give him the English name Thomas) who plays on my soccer team and is the runt of the group, so naturally has a special place in my heart, asked me if I had plans for the afternoon. I had just finished a Monday morning church service. Mondays are usually our day off, so that we can catch up on various different things. I didn’t have plans, and so I asked him what was up.  He told me that there was a huge football match later that afternoon and that he wanted to take me. It was the Chengdu Blades F.C. versus one of their arch rivals Ch0ngqing Lifan F.C. The Derby match as he called it. Apparently, there is some history here, about eight years ago, Ch0ngqing became independent from the Sichuan province. Since then they are tremendously disliked by the entire Sichuan province, including the Du. When we met up to taxi down to the stadium in the center of the city, Tong gave me a brand new authentic Liverpool alternate grey Adidas Fernando Torres #9 jersey as a gift. Let me just say, I like Arsenal, one of of Liverpool’s bitter rivals, but the grey jersey is really fresh, Fernando Torres is the only player I like on Liverpool, and Torres and I both wear the number 9. It was a great gift.

During the game some highlights included, Chinese fans wearing newspaper origami hats of various styles, such as the cabby, the pirate, and the marine to name a few. The match was insane, the Chinese fans don’t cheer like back at home, instead of “Lets go” it was “Slit their throats” and “Kill them all”. All of the fans started cheering for the away team, after the home goalie gifted them two goals with his terrible keeping. There were many Gatorade bottles and lighters thrown in the vicinity of the referees, players, and coaches. The fans also kept holding up and waving money, to say that the home team, their coach and the referees had been paid off to lose the game. After going down 2-0, they stormed back and tied the match 2-2, only for the goalie to sloppily let in a third only eight minutes from time. Following the match, my friends ushered me away from the stadium where massive riots were about to insue. There were even talks of flipping the traveling team’s bus over. One word, INSANE. LOL. After the match, Tong and I had a great chance to talk and he shared with me that his mother was a Christian and that he could see himself believing some day.  Tong, just like Nico has been a huge help to Posh and I and I’m really excited to see our relationship grow.

Speaking of Nico…as you could imagine, holiday posed some problems for us, because it was difficult to meet with friends as many of them traveled back home for the week. Not Nico. He is a Chengdu Rén.  If I were a book author, Nico would be my main character. I’m ok with that. Earlier I told you about the 60^th anniversary of the PRC, but there was another special day only a few days after that, it is called mid-autumn festival. It’s a special time for family and friends, some of the customs include giving your friends moon cakes (pies with different fillings in them). Posh and I received two large boxes of moon cakes from Nico and another one of my teammates. Nico’s family invited Posh and I over to their house for dinner to celebrate mid-autumn festival. Unfortunately for Posh, she was ill, but she encouraged me to go regardless as this would be a rare opportunity, do you know what that meant? More food for me! Nico’s mom and dad were so kind to me, they made this massive spread of fruits, nuts, and over ten local dishes. It was amazing. Nico served as the translator for the evening as I fielded questions from his parents. I brought them a gift of three of my favorite types of tea. They had a few gifts for me as well. They gave Posh and I a terracotta like traditional Chinese teapot, a gift that I will treasure, as well as some tea. Nico also knows I collect pins from different places I’ve traveled so he got me a pin of my favorite football team, and he also got me a bus card, which is very practical. After eating for over two hours we played mahjong and Dòu Dìzhŭ (a Chinese card game) together. His parents definitely boosted my confidence, they told me my chopsticks skills, my mahjong skills, my Dòu Dìzhŭ skills, and my Chinese skills were all very good. Each time you say skills, think Napoleon Dynamite. It was the Yu family’s first time to have a foreigner in their home, and it was my first time at a Chinese friends home. Simply put, a very special night.

I also wanted to say thank you to a special friend, who after hearing about my stolen itouch, is sending me a new one as a gift. This will be a huge help with communicating with friends here. This was truly an answer to thought.

Remember send me those questions!

We love you and miss you all so much. Thanks for being such a vital part of what we are doing!

Love,

 Becks

One of my first friend meetings this week was with this guy named Tim. Ken, my team leader, had met Tim at the English Corner the previous Friday and asked me to go to lunch with him and Tim. He told me that Tim liked to play basketball, was a free thinker, was very close to making the big decision, and that Tim and I would get along well. Matt and I met at the English corner and prayed for a little bit before we met Tim for lunch. We went to this Western restaurant called Grandma’s. Tim immediately told us that he has had a deep rooted interest and desire to learn more about God, since a very young age. He recounted some stories about doing book reports and reading books comparing and contrasting Eastern religions such as Buddhism and Christianity. He informed us that he has been going to the library at his university to read the Bible. He continued to open up to us; telling that he wanted to be closer to God. We told him God loved him and wanted to have a personal relationship with him, regardless of the things he may have done wrong in the past. Tim exemplified one of the main issues we see over and over again with our Chinese friends, and that is that most of our friends think that just like Eastern religions, your relationship with God is based on performance. What I mean is this: the more good things you do, the closer you will be able to get to God, and that when you make mistakes, you become further and further away from Him. The more good things you do, the better your afterlife will be. The problem with this philosophy is that it’s subjective. How much good is enough good? What about the bad? There is innate insecurity based on fear.

We told him not to fear. Tim told us that he wanted to get to know God on a much more personal level. We encouraged him to pray to God as if he were talking to his biological father. He asked us “How will I know when I’m hearing from God?” and we told him that God will talk to us through His Word, when we pray, when we are at church and in other times when we are close to Him. Tim said “I’m not sure that I will be able to hear His voice”. I asked him “Are you able to hear your father’s voice and know it is him? Do you know when he is in the room?” He replied “Yes of course”, I explained to him, his relationship with God would be the same way.  Tim continued to ask us questions, and one in particular really stuck out in my mind. He said to Ken and I, “I know my parents love me because they sacrifice many things for me; they sacrifice their time and money so that I can have a better life. What things has God sacrificed for me?” I looked at Ken, and his eyes were bugging out of his head. As the Holy Spirit fell, I told Tim that God had paid the ultimate sacrifice for him. We shared the good news that Jesus died on the cross and rose again, so that all of his Sins could be forgiven, and that if he were to ask God into his heart, that the sin in his life that has separated him from God in the past, could be wiped clean, as far as the East is from the West. He was amazed. I was also amazed. Amazed, that my Chinese friend who spoke amazing English actually knew the word sacrifice. Not many Chinese students know that word, let alone use it in a sentence in perfect context. I told him that was the best question he could have every asked. He is so close. I got him a Chinese Bob;e, so that he can read more (I will probably give it to him next week). IKen and I offered to answer any other questions he may have. We also encouraged him to pray to God in this upcoming week as if He were actually in the room. He was really encouraged, and needless to say, we were as well. Lunch turned into dinner and after dinner, he asked me to go sit in on one of his classes at the university. My first Chinese class. Even during class I could see God working on Tim’s heart, as we had a couple chances to talk about how what the professor was talking about did not line up with the Bible. Please keep him in your thoughts. I will be meeting up with him again soon, and I promise I will keep you posted. God is good!

If you have read this far, I’m warning you this blog might be a little long because God has just been rocking my socks the past week.

The second really amazing thing that happened this week happened about half way through the week, after playing soccer with Nico and some of his friends. Nico, Lele and I decided to go get dinner together post soccer. They suggested dòufo (tofu), this would be my first official experience of the goodness (try and grasp the sarcasm there). The dòufo itself wasn’t too bad, it was the accoutrement that was very testing. The dòufo skin, noodles made of the dòufo, and scrambled egg-like hunks of the dòufo were in a giant soup bowl, with seaweed, tomatoes and bean sprouts. Then the waitress brings out three dishes, and in the very limited English Lele speaks, he tells me one is fried pork, and the other two are pig lung and coagulated blood, and that they were all going in the pot. Haha. This is the first time that Lele has been at a meal with me, and Nico informs him that I’m going to pray for the food. Lele is really excited because I don’t think he has ever seen someone do this before. While eating this delectable meal, Nico starts asking me about Judas, and the correlation with the number thirteen. It kind of caught me by surprise, but I asked him how he knew about this story, and if he knew any others. He told me that his dad used to read him stories from the Bible when he was a little kid. He told me that when he was as child he was very interested in accounts from the Bible. I asked him if he had his own Bible and he said no. I asked Nico if he would like his own Bible in Chinese and he said he would love one, and that it would allow him to learn more about God in his spare time. Fast forward to tonight, I gave him his own book in Chinese! I’m so psyched. He was really excited. I told him to start with the book of John. I also asked him if he would be interested in doing a Bible study with me (i.e. we would read passages together and then discuss) and he said he would really like that. So cool. I hope you can see how amazing God is and the unbelievable things He is doing here.

Last blog I told you about how many of my soccer teammates were starting to be inclined towards me and befriend me. One of the most dramatic cases is the case of Lele, one of Nico’s best friends. The first time I ever met Lele, was the first time I ever played soccer at the university. I actually sat and watched for a couple minutes before I started playing and in those couple minutes, I saw Lele elbow someone in the face, and kick another person in the back of the legs before pushing him on the ground. He is kind of a mean looking dude. He has the Du growl as I like to call it. Basically he speaks a dialect of Mandarin, called Sichuan hua that makes him sound like an animated pirate. He wouldn’t look at me, he wouldn’t talk to me, he wouldn’t pass me the ball, it wasn’t looking good. I thought he hated me. But over the past few weeks he has really opened up. His English is actually much better than I gave him credit for originally and he is really funny, he always plays practical jokes. He is just basically hysterical. It’s amazing to see how God is already reshaping people’s views and forging new relationships.

Ok ,last but not least is Happy Chan. My friend and team partner Hoagie went to a remote campus of  the Du to meet up with a friend of our friend’s: Happy Chan. Happy is also very close to making the big decision. During dinner, he had many questions but the one moment that stuck out in my mind was when he asked us “How will I know that God cares for me?”. I said to him “Did you ever think that maybe God cared so much for you, that He sent Hoagie and I from America to tell you about Him?”. He looked at me with his eyes wide, and choked back tears and said “Wow. That is a very deep thought. I’ve never thought of this before.” A few seconds later he looked back at me and said “Right now, I’m feeling in my heart that God cares for me in a very special way.” I was so moved. These interactions have really been super motivating for me. I hope that they provoke you as well.

I’m sorry my blog was so long. I really felt this week it was needed. I wanted to be able to convey to you thoroughly what God is doing, and I didn’t want to rip you off. Thank you once again for your continued support. Without you, none of this would be possible. Keep us in your thoughts and prayers.

Love Becks

 I played in my first competitive men’s soccer match with my new friend Nico and his team called EnjoyZ. I scored my team’s first goal and two of our five goals in my first game, which we won. I’m very excited if you can’t tell. It’s a blessing to be playing soccer with my new friend, but more importantly to see what God is doing behind the scenes. Gradually, I’m winning over each one of the other players, all of whom are Nico’s friends. Soccer translates language barriers. So does my deliberate actions. When they ask if I want to smoke a cigarette during halftime of our games (I know it sounds crazy, but that is what happens here) I tell them I don’t smoke and when they ask why, I tell them I’m a Believer. Wŏ ài yēsū is what I tell them. When we go to dinner and they ask me if I will have a beer, I say no, I don’t drink when they ask why, I tell them I’m a Believer. Wŏ ài yēsū is what I tell them. Before meals, I ask them if it is ok to pray for the food, they all get very excited to listen and agree when I pray. It’s not me, it’s Dad for sure. Their hearts are being inclined towards me and I’m seeing the doors of opportunity opening.

After the soccer match this morning, I had a chance to go to a Chinese first league match at the home stadium of the Chengdu Blades F.C. with my friend Tian La a twenty six year old university graduate student I met at the soccer fields on campus. He is so kind, polite and friendly. His English is good, so it is relatively easy for us communicate. The first time we met about two weeks ago, he was instantly attracted to me. He came right up to me and ran me through the typical gamut of questions, “Where are you from?”, “How long have you been in China?”, “How long will you stay in China?”, you get the drift. After playing with soccer together for a few hours, he was sold. He wanted to be my friend, and to be honest, I wanted to be his friend as well. We exchanged phone numbers and before we left, he asked me if I had ever been to a Chengdu Blades F.C. soccer match before. I told him I had not and to that he replied, “We will go together”. So cool.

Yesterday, we met up to play soccer once again and he told me that Chengdu Blades F.C. would be playing today and that he would be able to get us tickets. While we were playing he introduced me to one of the players on the field who I found out after the fact, was a player from the Chengdu Blades F.C. named  Feng Zhouyi. Feng is an under-23 Chinese national team player. He is injured right now, so he attends the matches as a spectator. Today he met me and Tian La there, and gave us really great tickets to the game for free. The stadium is in the dead center of the city, it is a really neat site. It is surrounded by skyscrapers, and it contains 30,000 seats. Feng, his girlfriend Yoyo and Tian La told me that I was good luck, because today Chengdu Blades F.C. got a positive result while playing a man down in a very important match. I have been thinking that God softens the hearts of the people I come in contact with while I am here in China and also that he allows me to meet couples who are in pivotal places in their relationships. Throughout the match, Tian La was opening up to me and telling me about how difficult it is to be a Chinese college student. He said he faces many pressures, from his parents and society. He told me that he would love to pursue his dreams and do what makes him happy, but that he needs to make his parents proud, by following this cookie cutter mold of making money, having a nice place to live, a nice car to drive and be married by the time he is thirty. I was able to tell him that in America I worked for two of the best companies in the country, and that no amount of money will give you true happiness. I was able to tell him that true happiness is only achieved by a personal relationship with God.

After the game, Feng, Yoyo, Tian La and I went to a traditional Sichuan restaurant where frog dry pot and the meat from a rabbit skull where the food selections for the evening. During this time Feng and Yoyo began to open up and tell me more about themselves. Feng has been living on his own since 13 years old, when he moved to Chengdu to be in the Chengdu Blades F.C. football academy. His parents live in a completely different province very far away. Yoyo studies Japanese at the university. Yoyo and Kim will get along really well, I can just tell. Feng and I seemed to have a great connection so I’m looking forward to see what God does in the upcoming weeks and months.

We capped the night off with some tea and Mahjong. Afterwards, as Tian La and I rode our bikes back towards our apartments, he began talking with me more about yēsū. He explained to me that he is very interested in learning more about Him, and that he understands a little but he needs to know more before he can trust in Him. His eyes lit up when I told him, he could pray instead of only wishing, and that yēsū hears his prayers. Tian La like many Chinese college students are very hung up on the fact that most Chinese people do not believe in God. I told him, although many Chinese people do not believe, there are many that do. I also told him that God loved him and wanted to have a personal relationship with him. He told me he would like me to get him a Chinese Bible, so that he could learn more about yēsū. Some of his last words as he departed for the night were “I am thankful that yēsū has allowed us to meet one another.  I am very happy that you are my friend. I would like to meet again and talk some more about God. I would like for you to explain more to me about God. Then I will be able to make a decision one way or another. “ I hope these stories encourage you as much as they encourage me. I have so many stories I want tell, but due to space limitations will refrain from. I would love to hear from you.

 Love,

 Becks

Last Friday night, I went to my first English corner at the university. In case you are unfamiliar with what an English corner is, let me tell you; it is something like you have never experienced before. Friends of mine had joked with me and tried to explain to me how insane of an experience this would be, but they fell way, way short of doing it proper justice. Let me momentarily indulge by painting the picture for you. Imagine this, five flag posts next to a large sports complex called the sports bug in the center of a Chinese University which dwarfs Syracuse University by comparison,  surrounded by between two to three hundred Chinese college students , most of which have never interacted with a foreigner before.  We all know what happens on Friday nights at most US college campuses, but not in China. Instead, many college students will gather together to practice their English with one another in a giant mass of humanity called an English corner.  In my estimations I was surrounded by close to three hundred students in total, immediately upon arrival both Kim and I were swarmed! It was such a great experience to meet people so interested in learning and practicing their English. They had such an immediate love and attitude of embrace towards us, it made me feel very welcomed in China.

So far I’ve felt very embraced and welcomed. It has been amazing and very encouraging to see how easily I have been able to make friends. Everywhere you go people will stop you. If you are on your bike stopped at a busy intersection waiting to cross the street; if you are walking down the street to go meet up with friends; if you are waiting in line to buy lunch; it’s inevitable, it will happen.

This brings me to Nico, my Chinese friend who I made almost immediately upon my arrival in China. Our apartment is only a few minutes by bike from the university. This is an amazing thing for me, because it also means I am very close to the soccer fields: so awesome. One of my first days here, once we were almost settled in our apartment, I decided to ride down and see if anyone was at the soccer fields. I pull up to the two side by side outdoor turf fields, and both are jammed packed with students: so awesome. I park my bike and lock it up, and walk through the gates onto the field and it was as if all of the balls in play on both fields hit the fences surrounding the field at the same time. That’s the only logical thing that can happen when everyone, and I mean everyone, stops what they are doing, and turns not only their heads, but their bodies as well.  As I walked across the field to where I wanted to play, I got some points and stares and a lot of “měi guo rēn”, which means American person. It’s ok, I don’t mind. After all I should be used to all of the stares and pointing by now, I do have a Mohawk, remember?!  The guys playing were more than happy, to let an American come play soccer with them. I noticed that everyone was wearing their favorite team’s kits, so it was only fitting I was rocking some Inter Milan socks and shorts. I fit right in. I looked around so I could try and remember which of the twenty plus Chinese guys on the field were on my team. Two of the players on my team particularly stuck out in my mind. Maybe it was because they were standing close to me, or because one of them was heavily clad in the arch rival of my favorite team (which I was also heavily clad), or maybe it was because they were talking about me and pointing at me. Who knows. All I can tell you, is that within minutes the one heavily adorned with AC Milan garb had stopped playing and started standing in the middle of the field talking to me, asking me all sorts of questions. This was the beginning of, what I believe will be an amazing friendship.

After the match, he took me to the drink stand and got me a Gatorade (this is a great way to make friends) and we exchanged phone numbers. Since then we talk or meet up almost every day, and I believe we are in each other’s lives for a specific reason. Talk about a special appointment, he has already helped me figure out my clothes washer (which all of the settings where in traditional Chine$e characters), he has taken me to the carousel mall of electronics stores (an 8 story complex, housing only electronics) and interpreted specifically what cord I needed to buy, he has helped me set up my internet, and he has shown me around a good portion of the University and The Du. I know these may seem like insignificant things, but they have all been such a huge help to Kim and I.

Our relationship has already been evolving; just in the short time we have known each other. We are able to go out to eat for lunch or dinner and have meaningful conversations. Nico loves a specific type of noodles called dao chăo miàn, which are a famous type of noodles, because they originated in a specific province of China, and they are made a special way. They take a ball of dough and spin it, and while spinning the dough, they slice off pieces of the dough into a boiling spicy broth, and the noodles are cooked in this way.  The noodles are thicker and wider than most Chinese noodles, and the edges have ridges like a lasagna noodle. They are very spicy but amazing and I could easily eat dao chăo miàn everyday. Five kuai ($0.75) dao chăo miàn are now a great way for us to connect, and for me to be able to impact his life!

I hope this blog has been informative and has provided a long overdue update. If it were not for all of you at home Supporting both Posh and I with your thoughts, prayers, emails, and finances, these experiences would not be possible. You are a tremendous blessing to us, and I hope these stories bless you. You are in always in our thought and minds.

Love Becks

“Hero” (my partner) and I did have a really great meeting this week with a girl that we met two weeks ago. I set up a friend meeting with this girl Jane who I met at the English corner and she brought Azure along with her. Azure appeared to be a very intellectual girl and shared that she had taken a Bible literature class in the past and had read almost the entire book. She appeared to be interested in the Bible at a knowledge-based level, but not at a personal level. “Hero” and I quickly wrote her off because of our initial interaction. A few days later we received an e-mail from her sharing that she was very interesting in the Bible and had a lot of questions for us. We met with Azure on Friday night for dinner and we had such an incredible conversation with her. She said that she found the Bible very interesting and she used to attend Church about 5 years ago and thinks that she believed in God during that time. I asked her what changed and she said that she did not really understand who God was and began to question if He was even real. She asked us how we know that God is real and what He has done in our lives. So, we had the opportunity to share with her that God helps us each day with different decisions that we have to make and we also can feel His presence in our everyday lives. We encouraged her to ask God to reveal Himself to her so that she knows that He is real. We had such an open door to answer so many questions that Azure had and also clear up some misconceptions. She is such a sweet girl who is genuinely searching for the truth in every aspect of her life. I see so much potential in her, so please keep her in your prayers.

On a side note, I just finished reading the book “The Shack” by William P. Young. If you have not read it, I STRONGLY encourage you to read it (YOU HAVE TO READ THIS BOOK…. IT WILL CHANGE YOUR LIFE!).Ok, there was my plug. This book totally revolutionized the way that I look at God and my relationship with Him. It gave me a new perspective on who He is and how much He truly loves us. This is the first time that I have finished a book and said “ok, I’m going to read this book again!” So, I am starting the book over again! If any of you decide to read it please let me know and also let me know what you think about the book. Can’t wait to hear all about it .

-Posh

So, this last month has been a time in my life where I have been truly looking deep within myself and attempting to rediscover who I truly am as an individual, wife, daughter, sister, friend, and as a child of God. It has been a time of reflection and questioning. Some of it has been good, but a lot of it has been working out the ugliness in my life. By no means is the process even close to over; it’s only beginning! I am so excited to discover who God has made me over this next year and I have started to get little glimpses of this over the last week.

In terms of life in China and our reason for being here: God has been so incredibly faithful! There have been so many great things happening over this last week within our team and even throughout the city. We had some amazing friend meetings this week where we had the opportunity to share the entire Gospel with our friends. Each person that we met with this week had heard about God in some way, shape or form. Most of them have taken Bible Literature classes at the University, so they have read a majority of the Bible. They have so many questions because they do not understand it and it was explained to them as a piece of literature and nothing deeper. Most of them were eager to sit down with us again and asked us questions about the Bible and have us explain different stories to them. Others have family members and friends who are Christians, have been to church, or have heard about God in some other way. After each of our meetings this week, I left feeling completely overwhelmed with joy and excitement. By the end of the week I sat down and thought to myself “Wow, this is what I was made for!” I truly felt like this opportunity is the perfect fit for me at this point in my life! I have never experienced the kind of joy that I experienced this week when I saw my friends’ eyes light up while we shared with them about how much God loves them. During our city church time this week there were so many amazing testimonies. People were sharing about total divine appointments and two friends becoming Christians after the second meeting! God has been moving in a mighty way throughout this city and this is only the beginning!

I can’t wait to start sharing specific stories of my friends when we start meeting with them one on one. Please continue to keep us in your prayers as God continues to move! We know that your prayers are part of the reason that God is giving us so much favor this year! Also, I challenge you to take the time this week to look deep within yourself and reevaluate who you are. God has an awesome plan for your life and sometimes it is so easy to hide behind other people who are in your life. Have the courage to step out and allow God to show you what you were truly made for!

-Posh