So there I was sitting at the little table on a small stool, which looked like it should have been meant for a preschool-sized body instead of mine, when two girls sat down across from me. One of them smiled and said hello.

A little while later a song came on from the shop next door. It sounded just like the Tibetan style of music I had heard up in Shangri-la when I was there this past week. This song that was now playing, was it Tibetan music? I had to know! So I asked the girl across from me. She looked up, surprised.

“Yes, it is. Do you know Tibetans?” she asked. I told her I was just in Shangri-la this past week, and the music sounded like the same style as I heard there. She went on to tell me she herself was from Shangri-la!

Now I was the one surprised! We chatted a little bit more, and I started to wonder if I should get her phone number. I told her that I went to Shangri-la with some friends because they are starting a mountain biking company there. She told me she is a student at one of the nearby universities, her major is tourism for English speakers, and she hopes to return to Shangri-la once she has graduated. She got up to pay for her food and leave, and I did it; I asked for her phone number.

Neither one of us had paper or a pen, so she asked to borrow from the restaurant owner. That’s when I found out her name: Betsy. I was left sitting there lost in my thoughts, wondering if anything more would ever come of this connection. Because I had just come back from Shangri-la, it seemed really cool that I met this girl. I marveled at the way it seemed God had orchestrated the conversation. And then Betsy stopped back at my table after giving the owner back his pen and said, “Can I ask you a question?”

“Sure!” I replied.

“Are you a Christian?” she blurted out.  

I was shocked! “Yes,” I nodded my head incrediously. “Are you?” I asked back.

“Yes!” She smiled at me. “I am new at studying the Bible. Just one month now.”

Even though I’ll be leaving China in about a month, I think this is a connection God set up for me. I’ll be meeting with Betsy and her friend again soon!

Looking with eyes wide open to see what Father is doing,

Dove

We were being hosted at a Miao Chinese person’s house for dinner, and she was now singing a worship song the Lord gave her to write herself in the Miao style of singing. I had never before heard Miao singing. Actually, I’ve never heard anything like it before in my life! The words of her song translated:

“He has sent the good news to every place and every people.

We can talk to God and have relationship with Him.

Our hearts receive His comfort.

Our Heavenly Father is the greatest.

We shouldn’t worship idols or be with other gods.”

The next day we traveled three hours by bus along switch-back mountain roads that barely had enough room for two vehicles to pass. Though this province is poor, the land is breathtakingly beautiful! The driver of the bus graciously stopped many times for me to capture the land’s beauty. We arrived at this sister’s hometown and met her family: her father, her sister, her sister-in-law, and a few others. Miao people are known for being amazing silver smiths, and her family showed us their items for sale, hoping we would buy some. Our host put on her family’s silver in the traditional Miao way; there was so much sliver, it almost looked like she was wearing armor! In the end, I think she was wearing about 5 head pieces! 

Miao Chinese people are one of the 56 people groups recognized by the Chinese government. Since being introduced to their unique culture through this sister we just met, I have a much greater appreciation for minority people and an even greater understanding of what it will look like when all the Redeemed celebrate together at the Marriage Feast of the Lamb. Our Miao sister will be there dressed in her culture’s formal attire, singing with a heart abandoned before the One she loves her “new song unto the Lord.”

Beloved, when we are all together before Him on that day, Oh, how beautiful it will be!  

Dove

One day a couple months ago I was having some problems I needed to talk out, and our bike guard lady just happened to be the closest one nearby with a listening ear. Using the Chinese I know, I told her my problems, and she gave me condolences in return. Afterward, she hugged me, which is very rare in C-land. People show affection in other ways, like putting their arm over the other person’s shoulders while walking down the street or even holding hands, but very rarely do Chinese people hug. I was amazed and completely blessed that she initiated this show of emotion. Ever since then, whenever I see her (and I mean WHENEVER I see her) she freely and openly hugs me.

So she invited me to have dinner with them, and since I wasn’t traveling, I gladly accepted. It’s so wonderful to feel like you have family with which to spend the biggest holiday in Asia.

I wasn’t exactly sure when the meal was because she told me “afternoon”, so I showed up a little after 12:00 to see that she was just starting to prepare the food. She was squatting at a facet, running a knife along a long stringy piece of meat. Yes, she was cutting open the intestines of some kind of animal (I was guessing chicken based on the wet feathers on the ground at the base of the facet), cleaning out the fecal matter. I started to question whether I should change my mind and back out of the meal commitment.

I didn’t change my mind. I came back a couple hours later and hung out with the extended family members, watching reruns of previous Chinese New Year shows until the food was ready. After waiting two hours, we were all sitting around the table, and I was looking for the intestines. I couldn’t recognize them, so I’m not sure if I ate them or not. I filled up on some really delicious food, though, all homemade, which is a treat that I usually only get at this time of year.

Then I announced that I was full and needed to rest, which meant that I was done eating. I stayed at the table, enjoying the conversation between the adults, or in reality, the parts of it that I could understand. I was about to excuse myself when one of the adults pulled a black chicken foot out of a pot. I watched in horror as he dropped it in my rice bowl! Now I was obligated to stay longer and very obligated to eat it. I didn’t hear a word of conversation after that. It took all my mental, physical and emotional energy to put the foot in my mouth. Gnawing on it, trying not to think about the claws, I finally managed to pull some skin and cartilage off. After I ate what I thought was enough, I thanked my guests for their generosity and headed back to my apartment, but not before getting another invitation to come back over for another meal tomorrow.

Even though I’ve lived here for a while, there are still things that catch me by surprise. I’m reminded I’m not completely Chinese yet; I’m still a little in shock from this afternoon’s experiences. As I’m wrapping up this blog, the sun is going down in the city, and so starts the onslaught of fireworks. I’ve been trying to gear myself up for a good solid 6 hours or more of fireworks…I plan on going up on the rooftop to see them going off all over the city. It should be a pretty amazing sight.

Happy New Year!!!

Dove

I had met my new friend Lucy while walking on a pedestrian bridge crossing above a road. She was working her part time job, passing out papers to the mobs of people passing by. She approached me, and I got her phone number then, wondering if I would ever really follow up and give her a call. An hour later, when I was on my way back through that way, I thought of her and then was surprised to run into her again, but not on the bridge. I decided then and there to make the follow up phone call after a few days.

Though I had invited her to hang out, she wasn’t available. But she called me the following weekend and invited me to join her and her friends on a trip to a park. So there we were sitting in a circle in the middle of nature. It was incredible. I was enjoying our relaxing environment that was so different from the busyness of city life, when one of them asked a question.

“Do all the people in your country believe in God?” It was an amazing open door to talk about our Father and the relationship He wants to have with every single person in the world.

These same friends are coming over to my house to celebrate Christmas. Let’s ask God together to show Himself to them, that their hearts would be prepared to receive the seeds that are being planted this season. 

In His love,

Dove

“Do you ever have that kind of moment when you realize the harvest is so great, but the laborers are few? That’s how I feel here at my new job.” Already she’s started sharing her beliefs with co-workers, even taking them to a nearby church she’s found. Mainly only experiencing the atmosphere of a house church up until this point, she now attends a 300+ person church with a praise and worship “band.” She marvels at the Presence of the Lord in their midst when they abandon themselves in worship. The co-workers she’s brought with her have also remarked about the times of worship.

This last year some of my first fruits from ministry in China graduated on to the workforce, leaving the campuses behind. As I’ve heard back from each one, the story has been the same: the Gospel is spreading!

Can we do it? Can we change a nation? My prayer is that we would continue to faithfully labor by the power of the Holy Spirit in this field that is white for the harvest and that we’d be led by the Holy Spirit to the people He’s also called to labor alongside us. Please stand with me in prayer, asking the Holy Spirit to lead us to these world changers. My friend is asking God to bring two other people to collaborate as a leadership team to start this new church at her workplace. Let’s co-labor with her in asking Him to send those other mature believers her way!

All for Him,

Dove

 Trying to hail a taxi going by, the driver told me she needed to use the bathroom and wasn’t stopping to pick us up.  Later we were told, “Dongxi tai duo le! You’ve got too much stuff!” The sheets, blankets and pillows didn’t look like too much, but it was the foam mattress that made it look like we had a huge load. Just as it was starting to rain, we got one. By the time we reached the guys’ apartment, it was pouring, and I called them to help carry their stuff up the 6 flights of stairs to their new home.

 Upon arriving, we exclaimed at how wet everything was…the bedding and us! After laying it out to dry over chairs and beds in the apartment, the guys proudly showed Firefly and me around their first home in China. Both of them are spending their first full year in China and are most proud of their squatty. (This will be a life-changing year for them!) Their kitchen utensils included a cutting board and knife and a few chopsticks. They hope to get a wok soon. Everything in the place spoke “Bachelor.” There was no extra furniture for decoration’s sake; none needed. But I wish you could have seen how happy their faces were! The guys were already talking about having Chinese friends over and what they plan on doing to build friendships. 

It has been a really crazy couple of weeks since we’ve arrived in the country. I’ve been helping each apartment get set up and have yet to move into an apartment myself. I’m staying at a friend’s house, crashed on two couches pushed together. I look at the situation and laugh…God’s grace really has been sufficient!

Dove (Laura)

Last week we had started teaching a handful of children ages 2-10 about the Fruit of the Spirit. Beginning with love, we taught the kids the song Jesus Loves Me (we used the Chinese translation!). They stood together in pairs, sharing a piece of paper with the words to the song. Even though half of them couldn’t read, they squinted at the paper and tried their hardest to say the right words.

Starting out really quiet, we sang the song through once. Getting louder and louder each time, we sang it until I thought we couldn’t go any louder, but the kids insisted they could! Now that they had memorized it, we sang it one last time, and then each pair of kids got to do a “performance” for the whole group. When they got to the chorus, all the kids joined in to sing “Zhi Yesu ai wo! Zhi Yesu ai wo! (Yes, Jesus loves me!)” with out being told to. Little kid voices are so cute!!! It was such a blessing to see them really enjoy learning!

We plan to model how to teach the kids’ class for a few Sundays we have remaining before coming back to America. After that, the parents of some of the kids can continue the Fruit of the Spirit theme. I’m excited about this new class! Before there was nothing; now there is a group of young, eager hearts absorbing everything we teach!

Bus number 52 arrived at the bus stop, and I was on my way to pick up the first ever production of Shawn’s new CD. I heard Shawn had recently written some worship songs, and since I was going to be in town, I asked him to make a CD, so that I could take it back to other friends. I want them to experience worship in their own language, led by a student just like themselves. Burning within me is a desire to see students’ hearts moved to write songs, a new and fresh flavor of worship from their generation. “Let the worshipers arise!” has been a prayer from my heart for the past 3 years. Being able to sow vision into his life for production of a professionally made CD was incredible!

As I’m writing this blog, I’m listening to Shawn’s music. It’s rough and unrefined and beautiful! It’s so exciting to hear his heart expressing God’s greatness in Chinese! God’s anointing on him to write songs for his generation is so strong! Two years ago he didn’t even play the guitar; now he’s writing and recording songs! It’s just the beginning!

Going from appointment to appointment, my day was full of reconnecting with various friends. Each appointment left me amazed at what God is doing among them! After picking up the CD’s hot off the press from Shawn, I met with my first Chinese friend who became a Christian (Lianna), and she totally opened up an opportunity for me to share the Gospel with more of her close friends at an English Corner she started. Next, over lunch with Cathy, a sister I met with regularly last year, we took the time to boldly pray for each other right there in the restaurant! Then, I met up with Sophia, who suggested we take some time before shopping to randomly tell people walking by on the street that Jesus loves them. Even though I’ve summed up each one of these meetings in a sentence, each one is a much longer story, an incredible testimony of what God is doing in the lives of my friends from the Du!

Having the opportunity to visit friends in the Du was a major treat for me this past week! I’m so encouraged to once again see God’s faithfulness to take care of His own!

“In your whole life have you ever met other Christians? Sarah’s brother David and his wife are Christians. Did you notice they prayed before the meal?”

“Oh, one of my roommates is a Christain,” Jane said. “At first, she said she didn’t want to believe in Jesus, but she said her brother kept talking to her about it, telling her the story from the Bible, and she finally believed. She’s very devoted now. Just recently she asked me what the most important thing in the world is. I don’t remember what I told her, but she told me it is to have ‘relationship with God’.”

Just then the bus pulled up, I gave the girls hugs, and they climbed on, waving goodbye and welcoming me to spend more time together at their school.

Because there are SOOOOOO many people to reach, I have been asking God to bring other Christians into the lives of our friends, so they can hear about Him from more people than just us foreign workers. I was so excited to hear an example this week of other people stepping out in boldness to share their faith. Thanks for the encouragement, God!

Recently I was visiting my really good friend, ZB. The very first time we hung out together, she invited me to come to her house for the Chinese New Year. At that time (way back in September), I thought she was being overly friendly, so I didn’t give it another thought, but over the past few months our friendship has really developed; ZB is now one of my closest friends, and it was my pleasure to accept her invitation. After spending a day traveling back from our annual retreat in Thailand, I repacked and spent the next day traveling to her hometown, way up in the north of Asia.

Even though I was tired, I was enamored by the snow and the cold, reminiscing about my own hometown’s winters which I haven’t experienced in 3 years. My breath came out in visible puffs; my nose hairs tingled and threatened to freeze. WOW! This place was COLD! The Jack Frost on the bus windows was breathtaking! I almost cried looking at the details meticulously etched on the glass. Spring Festival (the Chinese New Year) had arrived, and I was in the North!

Now we were eating a traditional dinner on the eve of the Spring Festival together with ZB’s whole family. I mean, the WHOLE family! Everyone had come back home for Spring Festival. Her Grandma hosted the event at her house; the eldest uncle cooked all the food; and everyone else (the 6 aunts and uncles, plus their one child and the child’s boyfriend or girlfriend) was responsible to eat as much as they could. More than 20 dishes crowded the table, waiting to be eaten (I really felt like some of them were calling my name!), but we paused, and ZB’s family asked me to pray a blessing over the food.

I prayed in Chinese. In the midst of all the traditional expressions of celebrating the coming of the new year, I had a chance in front of ZB’s extended family to say something about God! When it was just the 4 of us (ZB, her mother and father and me), we had more opportunities to talk. ZB’s father explained he already bel*eved in J, and her mother decided ZB should marry a Christian. I was able to give them some worship music in Chinese too! They played it over and over! Seeds are being planted in ZB and her family!

My prayer for them is now “man man chi.” Keep eating! There’s so much more for them to grasp about God and the relationship He desires to have with us. I want to help ZB get a Bible soon, so she can read more about it. Pray with me that they’ll make the decision to be followers of Jesus Christ and give him their whole lives! Pray their hunger for more of God would increase!