China Trip 2013





These past three weeks (May 16th - June 6th) in China were the fastest three weeks in our life! So many things happened in such a short time and we are just digesting them after we returned. We can see God's hand working everywhere. So thankful to be able to take a vacation!

The trip was originated by a phone call from my aunt. She was searching for God. Her friend brought her to Eastern Lightening(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eastern_Lightning; http://www.chinaforjesus.com/EL_development.htm). I told her that they were cult although they called themselves "Christians". She asked me to tell her more about God and Bible when I go home. She said late May and early June were the best time for her since she was not busy during that time so that we could have some studies. So we gathered all the Chinese Bible study materials as we could and booked the trip.

My sister in Shenzhen also booked the tickets home during that time. It was the first time for my parents to be with all their grandkids at the same time. It was also the first time for my sister and I to meet each other's kids. It was the first time for my sister and I to meet my youngest brother's baby. We were so excited for the trip! 

This is the view from the plane right before we landed in my home town.

As soon as we got to China, we found out my three months old nephew Rui Rui (my youngest brother's baby) was very sick in the hospital. The whole family was devoted to taking care of Rui Rui for the first week: preparing meals for the hospital; taking turns to watch Rui Rui; following the doctors to get updates; etc. The nurses in the hospital only did the minimum things. Even taking the temperatures had to be done by the family. Everyone in the family was exhausted emotionally and physically. David and I were the only adults in the family that didn't run around the hospital because I had to be the translator for Emily and Andy. Rui Rui suffered a lot in the hospital. Luckily after many prayers, he came home one week after we arrived, back to the happy baby he used to be.

Here is little Rui Rui. He was so happy to be home!

Since everybody else was in the hospital, we didn't have much to do at home. My aunt told us she was so busy at work. She even had to work during the weekend. We visited her after Rui Rui came out of the hospital and gave her a Bible and some Bible materials for her to read later on. Sunday my aunt and her daughter who was interested in Christianity attended church for the first time with us (many people there didn't know there was a church in the city). We bought a Chinese-English dual language Bible for my cousin. She was so happy to have it. Two days before we left, my aunt called us that she was free and she wanted to meet with us. David was out doing FriendSpeak. So I went to her house. When I got there, my aunt's childhood friend, an Easten Lightening member was already there. She tried to let me read their "Book", watch their videos and "wash my brain". Knowing what they are, I told them I had to leave to take care of the kids. We are so sad and disturbed that many Chinese sincerely believe the false teaching and follow the false Christ. That's exactly what Satan wants people to do. We pray that God will open their eyes and find the truth. Apparently we didn't get to do what my aunt originally asked us to do over the phone for this trip. But God opened up other doors.



My aunt asked my mom how to pray. Mom gave her many examples.

My cousin was reading the new dual language Bible. The man looking toward us is the father of my middle school friend. I was so glad to bump into him at church.

Every time we visited the church, the auditorium and other outside rooms were full. People sat or stood outside all around the church building to listen to the sermon from the speakers on the wall. The city is building a four-story church building. So next time it will be a different sight.

Because everyone was busy in the hospital, we got a chance to have an individual conversation with my Dad, who happened to come home to eat dinner by himself. He wanted to talk about his life and his view of life with me after dinner. He suffered quite a bit in the past. In the end he was so sad that all his friends in his age were dead. Seeing this, I shared with him God, the Christian views on death, how I became a Christian, etc . The frown on his face was smoothed. He made a comment, "I would be a Christian in America, but not in China. Many Christians in China are not true Christians." We thought he might refer to the Easten Lightening members in China. They are the victims of lacking of Biblical teachings. So we went ahead telling him what true Christianity was and he should make his decision on who God is, not what other "Christians" are. This made me more careful about what I do and what I say as a Christian. Our testimony has eternal effect on somebody else!! Later, my mom, who was baptized in America two years ago, came home and shared her experience with God and her prayer life. It turned out to be a very pleasant conversation! Dad went to sleep with a smile on his face.

Dad with Andy

During the second week, my sister's toddler caught a stomach bug. The bug went around the whole house. Every one got very sick except Emily. My brother's friend at work (the accountant) was interested in Christianity. She wanted to meet us and asked us to tell her about God that Friday. We had to cancel the meeting due to my sickness. She rescheduled to Sunday after church. But she had to cancel it later because of a meeting at work on Sunday. She went on the business trip the next day until after we left. So we never got chance to meet her. (UPDATE in 2016: when we were at home this time, I asked my brother about his accountant. He told me that she had already become a Christian!! "Ask, you will be given; Seek, you will find; Knock, the door will be open for you") My uncle came to our extended family gathering. He asked me a lot of questions about God. He believes God and  had positive views on Christianity. But without Biblical teachings, he was lost.

My youngest uncle and me

Things finally got normal during the last couple days. We got to spend some quality time with our family. We celebrated my sister's Birthday and my older brother's birthday. We attended my niece's Children's Day program at school. We took the kids to the Plaza to play. We visited the family farm. We all had a great time!

People were everywhere doing moring exercise or evening exercise

Watching the musical water fountains

My niece's school program for the National Children's Day (June 1st)

Riding a boat

Playing games

Visiting the farm I grew up with

The kitchen I spent most of my teenage years with

One night, I overheard my sister and my sister-in-law talking about Buddist in the living room. I joined their conversation. I ended up sharing my faith, my journey as a Christian, the differences between Christianity and Buddism, ... My sister-in-law began to ask some questions. We could tell her heart was open. My mom pinched in and shared her testimonies too. In the end, my sister-in-law told us that her daughter (my ten years old niece, Deng Qi) wanted to be baptized. The next day when we had an extended family gathering, Deng Qi told me that she wanted to be baptized. We asked her how she decided to be baptized. She said when she was three years old, we gave her a Children's Bible during our visit. She started flipping through the book and looking at the pictures. When she was old enough, she began to read the words in the book. When she was sick, she would ask her mom to read from the book. She always found comfort, joy and peace in the readings. Later after grandma (my mom) was baptized, she always went to her with some spiritual questions. Grandma would explain to her what Bible said. Whenever she was alone and afraid, she would listen to Grandma's Christian tapes. She read most of the Bible by herself already. She said she couldn't wait to become a Christian! I was surprised by how much she knew and how clear her thoughts were. So after attending church with us on Sunday, both Deng Qi and her mom (my sister-in-law) were baptized by David. The whole family, including my sister and Dad, attended the baptism. That definitely was the high note of the trip. The day before we left, Deng Qi asked me to tell her more about God. She said she wanted to make the most of our time together to learn more. I summarized the great redemption story to her as brief as I could and borrowed the quote I saw on a blog I just read before the trip: "When you unite your life with His---everything that belongs to Him now becomes yours. His righteousness replaces your unrighteousness. His Spirit fills your spirit. His love becomes your love. His joy becomes your joy. His mind becomes your mind. His desires become your desires. His will becomes your will. His purpose becomes your purpose. His power becomes your power. You are living out the love of Christ that dwells in you!" (Follow Me, David Platt). Our conversation was interrupted by the call for dinner. I'm so proud of Deng Qi and her heart for God's Word. (Romans 10:17  "faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.")

We pray that Deng Qi and her mom will have contineous spiritual growth. We are so happy for them and for our family!

Deng Qi and her mom getting ready to be baptized

Re-act "Death - Burial - Resurrection"

Joy

First Communion

 I oversaw this on my mom's phone book on the day we arrived. Deng Qi wrote down her mom's phone number as well as "Jesus Loves You :-) ", "The Power Of Love"

We had planned to re-visit the orphanage that we visited six years ago. But because of the sickness and the tight schedule (plus, we called several times but nobody answered the phone), we didn't get to do it this time.  (For pictures of our last visit to the orphanage, please see here: http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=0AauGTZs0cNmbCrA)

David got to do FriendSpeak with several college students and one graduate student on a daily basis. It was funny that after we were back to America, David told Emily "Let's go to FriendSpeak!" Emily asked, "Which Friendspeak? You mean our church's, or Friendspeak in China?"

 David's reader Soloman bought Emily and Andy the Chinese traditional toys and showed them how to play with them. Soloman said David was a philosopher :-)

Sarah (in the middle) wrote David a sweet email before we left saying that he was an Angel sent by God

One day when we came home from my brother's apartment, the taxi driver asked us about Christians in America. She told us that her family was Christian. When we arrived home, she only charged us half price and said "We are all brothers and sisters. God bless you!" That's something that we experience more often in America. China is certainly changing!

We had some bumps on the returning trip. But all the time we spent in China made them worthwhile. Three weeks are not enough! Emily and Andy already talked about going back. China always occupies a big tender part of our hearts. We miss the people there already!

Below are some random pictures we took.

Instead of a grass lawn, most people have vegetable garden in their yards

Happy Birthday sister!

In-home Barber service

 Ostrich egg

 Seasoned traveler

 The wine produced from my parents' grape orchard

 The delicious dates from the farm

 High School classmates gathering

 The third generation

Emily was pretty good at using the chopsticks

How many people can you fit in the backseat of a car in China?

 Emily was making a card for Deng Qi's baptism

The biggest change that I noticed from this trip was the air and water pollution. My home town used to have clear sky and sweet water. But as the city became industrialized, a lot more factories were built right among where people live. The toxic fumes were everywhere during the two hours trip between the airport and my parents house. This picture was taken from the central plaza, where lots of people do exercise and play. Appeals were sent to the government but none had effect. The cancer rates already raised up. So sad for the people/victims!

PizzaHut in Beijing

Japan has the best airport. It has free Internet cafe and free kids activities. Emily and Andy learned to do the Origami while I took a short nap

The kids watched DVDs during five-hour layover in Japan

 My parents and siblings

A Muslim lady spreaded a blanket on the grass next to a street intersection and started praying. Her kids were playing around the vehicles that took them there

When we returned home, we were surprised by the harvest from the garden

 David took a few pictures of the "Chinese English" for fun. China needs FriendSpeak :-) !

If you are interested, here is a Recap of our last China trip in 2011 http://whenachildisborn-woodward.blogspot.com/2011_09_01_archive.html

My mom's baptism was recorded in this blog entry: http://whenachildisborn-woodward.blogspot.com/2011_01_01_archive.html She was very instrumental in shaping my niece's faith.

Below is the summary of our China trip in 2007 (before I started blogging):

We had a great trip to China.

We spent five days in Beijing taking engagement pictures and visiting Wendy's college and high school friends. On Sunday we attended Gary and Danita's house church. We were impressed by Gary's sermon in Chinese. After the service, we had lunch with the local Christians. Then Gary and Danita took us to their apartment and to a coffee shop for some coffee. David's Friends Speak reader's mom came to see us before we left Beijing. It was heartwarming. We stayed at Wendy's friend's apartment. She works at the Communist History department in the University. She told us that several professors in her department are Christians. We left a Chinese Bible for her as a personal gift.

We spent a week in Wendy's hometown. On the second day there, we visited Shihezi University. It happened to be the Registration day for the new students. We walked around the campus and stopped at the Foreign Language Department booth. Several students came up to speak English with us. They invited us to their PE class and asked us to come back the next day. We went back the next day and met the class leader Harry. He volunteered to line up Friends Speak readers for David. David read with 6 students in one day. We were also invited to the two welcoming parties for the new students. We broke into two small groups and answered questions. David's readers connected us to a Christian student there. Her name is Zhang Baomei. Baomei came from a Muslim city and was put into prison for her faith before she came to the University. She took us to the government church to attend the Sunday service. Our experience at the government church far exceeded our expectations. The auditorium was packed with people. The yard around the building was packed too. We couldn't help wondering: what do they do in winter when the snow covers everywhere? People were so sincere in prayers and worship. We talked to the Christians in the bookstore. We were surprised by their openness to us. They even invited us to come back and speak at their Friday night gathering. We asked what they need. They said the biggest needs are discipleship and Biblical teaching. They asked us to pray that God would send more workers to teach and disciple them.

One of Wendy's cousins came to the family reunion. He told us that his grandmother was a Christian. She inspired people because she began to learn to read at age 60 so that she can read the Bible herself, When she was dying, she requested to be cremated in her best Sunday clothes. One morning after breakfast, Wendy asked her mom whether she believed in God and whether she wanted to become a Christian. She said yes. That brightened our day.

We visited an orphanage in Shihezi. We bought some backpacks and wall clocks for the orphans with the money our friends gave to us. As soon as we got there, the director said the kids were waiting for us. Down the hallway and upstairs we found a big room full of about 50 kids excitedly waiting to perform for us. With lively music and rhythm, the kids danced and sang for about 30 minutes. We didn't expect such a nice treat. We promised to prepare something for them next time. The kids laughed and leaped the whole time while we played games together. We were impressed by the living condition and the love they had for each other. The management told us that the Buckner Children's Home from Dallas donated a van for the orphanage. Many organizations have gone there to do summer camps. The kids loved it. Sadly, when David tried to teach the kids the song "I have decided to follow Jesus", they told us not to teach about Jesus.

We also visited the largest of 18 government churches in Urumuqi. The four story building was packed shoulder to shoulder with 3000 members. We were touched by the passion of the preacher and the sincerity of the local Christians. David took some video of the service. We had lunch with a young girl Yan. She just got her new job working as a psychologist in the prison. She was looking forward to the opportunity to bring the Good News to the prisoners. While we were in Urumuqi, another Yan, who was baptized in Memorial Road Church of Christ in OKC and returned to Urumuqi, took us for dinner at a five-star restaurant. She showed us her beautiful home and asked us to tell Memorial Road COC how much she missed everyone there. Later that evening while we were walking around the Muslim market and observed a service in a Mosque, we met a guy named Aili outside the mosque. He told us he had been married five times. David began to tell him the story of the Woman at the Well and Jesus. We became his friends instantly. He insisted buying us some drinks and took us to see his wife and mother-in-law. He begged us to call him if we had a chance.

We loved the food in China . We loved the people too! Everyone we met invited us to come back often. We certainly wish that too.