My summer in China

As many of you know, I spent 2 months in China this summer on missions. God did some amazing things while I was there, and He continues to! I'd love to share some of the things I saw and heard while I was overseas.

My team: I was in China this summer with a team of 3 other missionaries, all from Mississippi. Nick Starkey, Maryalice Truitt, and Timothy Wells (left to right) were my companions this summer in making the Gospel known in Northeast China.

Some of the first friends we made were:

JACK

Jack has recently become a believer through a series of amazing things that God orchestrated over the past 6 or so months. Before Jack gave his life to Christ, he was an atheist. Some of our American friends from Christmas in China decided to pursue Jack and share the gospel with him, although they had heard that Jack was told about Jesus before and rejected Him. They spent their 3 weeks in China sharing with Jack, spending time with Jack, and loving Jack. On the last day during the Christmas in China experience, our American friends decided to try once more to share Christ with Jack, and it was on that day that Jack became a follower of Jesus Christ. 6 months later, when we arrived on the scene in China, we were introduced to Jack and made instant friends with him. God used Jack in enormous ways while we were in China. He worked through Jack to translate bible studies, work with us during our 2 months there, and eventually be teaching his own gospel-sharing class before we left. Jack was also baptized while we were there.

ALLEY

Alley became one of my best friends during my time in China this summer. I met her through a contact list left by some girls who had been there before me. Alley and I spent lots of time together eating lunch or dinner, reading through some scripture, talking, walking around the city, doing bible studies, and having fun. God grew Alley (and myself!) in enormous ways. I was blessed to be able to walk alongside her and disciple her as she was learning and growing. After our first week in China, we were blessed to be able to see Alley get baptized!

MERLIN
Merlin also became one of my best friends during my time in China. She had given her life to Christ a few months prior to our arrival, and was growing quickly and eagerly. She had lots of questions, and a hunger to know God better. Merlin and I spent many hours together talking about how to handle struggles and trials as followers of Christ, and how to glorify God in the midst of hard times. Merlin is on fire to share the gospel!

ALLEN
Allen was also a Christian for about 6 months when we arrived there, another recipient of the good news via our Christmas in China teams! Allen's testimony was one that will forever amaze me. He was skeptical about the idea that there is a God, and responded accordingly when the gospel was shared with him. The missionaries involved with him continued to show love and patience to Allen, and would share Christ with him continually. Allen tells us there was a night when he didn't get a wink of sleep, and the reason was that he could not stop thinking about Christ. That was the night when Allen decided to surrender his life to Christ. Turns out that was also the night when one of the missionaries stayed up all night -- praying for Allen to receive Christ! God is amazing. We were blessed to see Allen get baptized at the same time as Jack and Alley.

BRIAN
Brian also had recently become a follower of Christ, and was baptized while we were in China. Brian has a strength and determination to see God glorified, and a hunger to know Him better. Not to mention Brian is a Celtics fan!

FREEMAN
Freeman also became one of our very close friends. He speaks nearly perfect English, and is extremely interested in the gospel of Christ. Freeman is still searching and sifting, and there is a stubbornness in his heart to surrender himself to Jesus. Join with me in praying for Freeman to let go of the things that are holding him back and to give everything into Christ's mighty hands!


SCHEDULE: What did our days look like?
You might be wondering what our day-to-day schedules looked like. From 8-10 AM Monday-Friday, we would learn Chinese (we were enrolled as international students). Our teacher's (English) name was Haley, and we were able to share the gospel with her. We went out with her a few times to dinner or KTV (Chinese karaoke... the most interesting thing you'll ever come across).
After Chinese class, the day was yours. We filled our schedules with lunch appointments, dinner appointments, bible studies, and just plain hanging out with friends. I would generally eat lunch with a girl and then invite her back to our apartment for a bible study. As my time in China came closer to an end, I would strategically spend more and more time with the girls that I was discipling, answering their questions and teaching them from the scriptures. There was lots of free time, which was great. It meant that we could hang out with friends for as long as we (and they) wanted to/could. This proved to be a very beneficial aspect of our time in China.

Here is a picture from our Chinese class. In the middle is Chen Laoshir, our teacher (Haley).

Other Chinese happenings:

Our Chinese friends bought MaryAlice and I bunnies. No kidding.
I named mine Charlie, and she named hers Pablo.
Charlie and Pablo lived for 4 days after we got them... but it was a great 4 days!

We held a going-away party and invited all of our friends over. Our apartment was filled to the brim with virtually everyone we had met during our time in China. What a great night!

We spent a day visiting Jack's campus (he was  medical university student). One day Jack will be a doctor. This picture is amusing because it's where I lost my first Chinese phone. My phone decided to take a dive into the well behind us.

Nick showing a substitute teacher some dance moves, and vice versa.

Chinese Wal-mart proves to be slightly different than American Wal-mart.

This is all I got for now - - more to come!