After coming home for the summer I thought of an idea that I really wanted to do this year…I want to give you some different cultural information along with what God is doing!

An important lesson I have learned in my time here in Asia is that asking, “What is this?” at a meal is kind of like asking God for patience: you should only ask if you are appropriately prepared for the answer.

Cozy and I were having a first meeting with Ellen, a friend we had met on our campus. She wanted to take us to a special kind of hot pot called twan twan, which has a divider in the middle with one spicy side and one mild side. I have had this before with other friends so I knew each person got to pick their own food to put in the pot, but Ellen wanted to share some of her favorites with us and showed us by putting it in our bowls, which means there is no way out of trying it (haha). One of her favorites was cow stomach, which was thin and black with little spiky things all over it. The taste was not bad, but it tickles your throat when you swallow it. Another thing she shared was coagulated blood, which turns out as gray Jell-O-like cubes. That was the hardest thing I have had to swallow yet! The flavor was very bland, but just knowing what it was made it not my favorite. I took it upon myself to keep an eye on Ellen’s bowl and add more blood when her dish was getting low.

Since then we have found that Ellen’s father died two years ago, and she does not practice any religion. Please ask God to open her heart so she will be accepting of Him and not be turned off or afraid to share with us.

Duke

Well, I’m happy to report that in the few months in America, I didn’t lose my bike nerve! I recently got my bike out of storage and have been winding in and out of traffic with the best of them … or at least the mediocre ones (haha). I had two locks, so I lent one to a friend who didn’t have one and rode on my happy way. I parked my bike behind some bushes right by my apartment and hurried off to meet some friends.

Sadly, when I returned, I discovered someone had “borrowed” my bike! I must admit I was really stinking mad. I could not even talk, I was so mad. I went in my room screamed in a pillow and began to ask God, “Why?” It is so frustrating to me how these people seem so dishonest, and I just did not want to deal with it. But God is SO good and faithful! He began to break down my anger and replace it with compassion. I felt Him telling me, “They do not know me, they do not know what I have is better.” That, this very thing, is one of the reasons that I am here. So although I was still bummed about my bike, God helped me find truth in the situation.

He has also been so great in guiding Cozy and me to new friends. We are working on our satellite campus this year, and we asked Him for two girls we could connect with. He guided us to meet Jessi and CK, two freshmen economics majors who speak great English!

Please continue to think about Cozy and me as we are still getting to know each other and learning how to work together. Also, that He would open our new friends’ eyes and hearts to Him!

In Him,
Duke

My Easter was pretty special…my roommates and I each invited a few friends over to watch the Passion of Christ. I have seen the movie before but not in a long time. Sweet pea and I invited Catherine who is the most “closed” friend we have and her friend Sofie who was very interested at our Christmas party. I figured Catherine could not become any less interested and seeing this movie just might be what she needs to open her eyes.

After catching up with all the girls for awhile my roommate told a very brief history of Jesus Christ’s story and what the movie was about. It was a little hard because we had to put Chinese subtitles on and the movie isn’t in English, but the scenes really speak for themselves! Afterward’s the first thing Sofie said was, “so Jesus Christ did that for our sins?” We had GREAT conversation and Catherine asked all the RIGHT questions! It was so great to get to remember His sacrifice while being with people who realize it for the first time! We gave them the Bible and when they were leaving they asked “so if we ever have questions about Jesus Christ or the Bible can we ask you?” HAHA It was great!!

God has reminded me that there will be disappointments daily but it is a good reminder just how lucky I am to have Him to get me through them. We sang a song at our family church that had a great verse:
You are the strength that keeps me walking
You are the hope that keeps me trusting
You are the life to my soul
You are my purpose, You’re everything.

This is my prayer for you, that God will make this true for each of you! Please remember Catherine and Sofie this week that the Lord would continue to speak to them and that their hearts would be open!

One of my best friends Chelsea came back last week and I was so excited to see her! Chelsea is not only a really sweet person she has so much potential for God’s work! At one of our parties she was telling the other girls “I am not ready to be water baptized but you should do it.” So I went to see her the night she got back and I felt like she had become a tour guide and wouldn’t talk about anything personal or serious just pointing out what kind of flowers we were passing. I was very disappointed and this has been a trend with our friends.

After a lot of prayers yesterday we had a pretty big success! Our friend Kathy is Baha’i sort of…she became Baha’i last year after her grandmother passed away because she felt very sad. At lunch she confessed she does not believe in heaven or hell, or talking to any higher powers. She said she doesn’t really care if Baha’i is real she just likes it because it teaches her how to be a better person. By the end of lunch sweetpea and I prayed to help her with some stuff! I felt like it was a huge step and once God comes through I think her eyes will be opened!

This time of year was really hard to be away from family but it is the perfect time to share the story of God and His Son! At every party whether there was 2 girls or 80 we shared the Christmas story and then why Jesus’ birth was so important. It was so incredible to see their faces!! Only a few had ever heard anything about this they thought it was just about the “fat man” (Santa Clause). They had so many questions and almost all were very interested. At our big Christmas party 7 joined the family and 4 others want to study and learn more!! God is really rocking our city!

Since the party we have started studying with our new sisters and gave the Bible to everyone so I have no doubt there will be many more to come! I do need your help with all this…

Please think about us as we begin to teach and explain things that our friends would understand and really grasp what this is all about, that they would have time to study with us before they go home for their holiday. Also that God would really show Himself to those that haven’t decided. One of my best friend’s name is Chelsea, ask that her questions and doubts be answered and that she would come to the family. She is an amazing strong woman that will be a key person in continuing things when we leave! Also please continue to ask for safety for me and my team. On Christmas Eve morning a very popular Western restaurant was a bombed only two blocks away from my apartment. I was out shopping with my roommate and we were on our way to the restaurant that was bombed and saw a little shop three stores away open and luckily went there first! We heard the loud boom and the store we were in shook, it was kind of scary. Also there was an earthquake on Christmas that woke us up at 2:30 am from the shaking and tremors. It was not a serious one but Asia is known for having serious ones.

I realized I was no longer listening to the Police talk so I quickly turned back in and throughout a “Ting Bu Dong” which means I can hear but I don’t understand . At this point another Police man began to talk (still in Chinese) as if I would be able to understand his Chinese, at this point I decided we should study questions a Police might ask at the beginning of the year. Finally the three Police looked at each other than one shook my hand and pointed me towards the door haha.

I bet your pretty confused of how I got in the Police station at all…well it all started Thursday morning when I was on my way to class…I was just walking along a noticed a woman several feet in front of me. Two guys went up beside her and one was distracting her while the other was reaching in her purse. Feeling responsible to help this woman I yelled “NO.” Which scared the guy and he then grabbed the whole purse and ran off.

I can really relate to this woman because my wallet was stolen my first month here and I wished someone had helped me so…I took off running after the guy! There were many trees that he was swerving around and finally one time he went to swerve I leaped out and tackled him. He pulled back his had to hit me so I hit him first, which ended things because it made his nose bleed.

I am then quickly pulled off by another Chinese man and a crowed has formed wondering why this foreigner was beating up this poor Chinese guy. Finally the woman whose purse I saved caught up and explained what had happened and we went took the guy to the Police. I totally felt like I could star in my own action movie that day! haha

On a more serious note, God has been making serious progress in our friend’s lives! We had a big Thanksgiving party where we had over 20 of our Chinese friends come and have Western food and just spend the day together. At one point we went around and said something we were thankful for and half the people said something about God!! Then later that week two of our friends that seemed kind of closed decided they would want to study the Bible with us! I am constantly reminded how good the Lord is and how much our “thoughts” matter!!! I want to thank each one of you for all you have done for me and especially for all your thoughts! They are really working! This year I am most thankful for the opportunity to come share God with people who desperately need Him and that I get to do it with All of YOU!!!!

Imagine with me…your outside at night talking in a group of people. A big group, in which you are the center of attention and everyone wants to talk to you, and does so all at the same time. Then suddenly a breath of fresh air breezes by…a young woman moves up beside you and asks are you a Christian? Shocked by the question and wondering if it is a trap you finally after a pause answer yes.

This is how Sweet pea and I met Winter, at a local English Corner (which is where students go to practice their English). Since we have met Winter we have started a Bible study and this past week she said the sweetest thing to God asking Him into her life! We have a new sister!

She is so hungry for truth and wants to know more so she can go tell more people in Asia.
God has been doing incredible things in my personal life as well. I have been on sleeping medicine for over 8 years because I would not sleep without it. But I came to Asia in such a hurry I did not have time to go to the doctor and get more so I stocked up on Tylenol PM and hoped for the best. Come to find out I could not take enough to put me to sleep and still be safe, so I was going 6 days with no sleep and would finally crash for a few hours and start the cycle all over again. As I was reading I came across many verses that opened my eyes to the fact that this was not ok.

Two that I read are Ps. 103:3 “Who forgives all you iniquities, Who heals all your diseases.” And then in Mark 11:24 which is about prayer and asking God for things. I say all this to say after much prayer I have been healed!! I sleep all the way through the night with no medicine, tea, or even soft music! God is faithful and powerful and wants so much to bless us!

Please think about Winter this week that she will get a greater understanding of God and living for Him. Also for our many other friends that their minds and hearts will be open to hearing about Him. We are starting a weekly group soon so ask that things go well with that. Also please think about me that I would have discernment in making decisions that I need to make.

For example…Sweet pea and I went to our campus to make new friends which has been frustrating because we had not made friends that way before, but we decided to try. So we are walking around and I decide we should buy some cards and then we can ask people if they want to play, not exactly a great strategy but it made sense to me haha.

So we buy cards and find a table and things just didn’t feel right so we got up and began walking again. Finally we see an empty table in the middle of campus and start towards it we are almost there and two girls sit down. Sweet Pea sighs and says they stole our table and I knew we had to talk to them. So we sit on the railing around a tree so we are close by and began talking really loud about what game we should play hoping they would invite us over to sit with them. Silly I know but it was the best plan we had haha.

Out of nowhere this cat went up to the table and was begging for food, I being the pet lover that I am saw the opportunity and told sweet pea “I’m going in.” I began to pet the cat and then in perfect English one of the girls said “oh do you like kitty cats.” We sat and talked with them for 45 min!

Thanks so much for praying about me and my friends it is stories like above that remind me how important your thoughts are and how much they help! Continue to pray about my new Chinese friends and that they have an open mind. There are been some great conversations about God already but ask for them to continue. Ask for wisdom for Sweet Pea and I as we direct conversation and answer tough questions.

Two days ago my friends and I got our bicycles which was a pretty fun experience until I realized that meant I had to ride it home!  We cautiously ride to the corner and gaze upon the busy street which consist of 6 lanes of traffic (not that people stay in the lanes) as well as hundreds of other people walking, riding bikes, and driving mopeds.

My friends and I lunge into the flow one-by-one trying not to get run down.  We weave in and out of traffic up and down hills and attempt to gauge just how fast buses go.  If you are into video games at all, it is like I have been placed into Frogger, only with no chance to get extra lives.

Besides the craziness of riding around town things have been going really well.  Our Father has provided in so many amazing ways!  We ask Him for something and before we know it He has provided.  Sweetpea and I have already made some good connections and are  beginning to build real relationships!  It all started with going to our campus to pray. We were walking along, and then two girls just showed up and actually waited for us  to finish talking to some other girls.

Both of our new friends are English majors and took us to their dorm room where we met their two roommates.  One of the girls even asked us to live her an English name, which is a big deal here.  After much thought Sweetpea and I decided to name her Abigail from the the Bible, which opened the door to share with her a little about the story of Abigail and King David.

Please pray for Abigail as we spend more time with her. That her heart will be open to our Father, and that we will continue to get closer to her roommates.  Also, pray for us that we will make more new friends. Pray that we stay focused, healthy, and unified!