Day 05 四川

What a day. Went to the earth quake memorial park, witnessed the grave devastation of the power of nature. Went to another church in a rural area today. They have just purchased a unit in a run down apartment. Today is the first day they gather there. There are about 15 brothers and sisters there, mostly older female. I have a strong feeling there. I guess I'm more excited when I see the birth of something, struggling to grow up and take shape, more than something already established and striving. Incredibly a song I have chosen for our morning communal devotion time, is sung by them in that church, but in their village version! I really feel God is with us! This is no coincident. We are the same church! No matter what denomination, from which country, or what differences we have, Baptist, Alliance, San Zi, house church, we worship the same God, we worship the same Jesus, we are the same church!

Day 04 四川

Woke up at 4:30 am to go to another town. End up it isn't a rural town, but just a smaller town than the one we were staying. We arrived there for their church Christmas celebration there. This pastor and his pastoral team we've been working with has to manage more than 10 churches in that area, this is only one of the many churches they are traveling around to celebrate Christmas with.

In this church, for the first time in my life, I was asked to speak a sermon. I used Mandarin to share. I am very thankful that I saw people's head nodding, that means they understand at least some points I made. I don't know how well they received the message, but I just leave to God to do the rest of the work. What a privilege, the pastor doesn't go there often, but he didn't speak and let us spoke the sermon today.

Day 03 四川

Today I get to finally talk to the local. At night there was a young adult fellowship. At the end we had some time for fellowship with the people there. Thank God people are super friendly there, I didn't have to approach anyone, they approached us. I asked them questions to understand them more, and they asked us to pray for them. Not like in Canada, its like sometimes we have to ask people if we can pray for them. Their faith in prayers is great!

For 3 meals a day, we eat at the church. They always make good food for us, Their favorite food is fat pork. Its not very healthy, but it is the best food to keep us warm. And its the dish that take the most time.

Tomorrow I'll have to wake up at 4am! I signed up to go to a rural town. I'm both excited and worried, for God has assigned a very important task for me tomorrow. But I should not have any worries, but cast all my cares unto Him!

Day 02 四川

The next morning I felt extremely tired. The more tired the more I felt I needed to pray, 'cause this morning I need to share my testimony in the Christmas day pre-service. So I woke up to pray anyway. After prayer, went for the hotel breakfast. It was mostly spicy stuff. I had a bit of traveler diarrhea after the lettuce soup yesterday, so I sticked with the few non-spicy non-liquid food. Amazingly, after the breakfast, I felt the warmth came up my neck and I felt much more comfortable.

At the pre-service, I ended up with only 10 minutes to share, with translation. I was able to share most of the stuff I have prepared though. I shared about my transformation after my mother past away. When I got on stage, I felt God had prepared the congregation for the sharing. They applauded even before I spoke, and they stopped the talking. Most of them are elders, and they love to talk. Prior the pastor had to ask the people to be quiet. i think it was the first time I share that whole experience in a formal setting, and I almost cried, but I managed to hold myself back.

However, I still havn't really talked to any local yet, my mandarin is not as good as I thought, and i need more courage to talk to them, and more concentration to understand their local mandarin.

四川 Day 01

Found a way to post, but I can't read my own blog.

Arrived 四川 safely around 7pm at the church. It seems cold, maybe because I was too tired. Had a very simple dinner at church, mantao and lettuce soup, then joined their Christmas eve celebration. The church was packed, and they had a whole night of celebrations, but after the dinner, I was very tired. i thk I still have some jet lag. Half way through the program, I was struggling to keep my eyes open. After the sermon, they had more singing, and dramas, and dancing. Everyone were so into it, I bet they've spent much time to prep. By the time I went back to the hotel it was 11:30. But the HK team went on to have siu yea, living up to their reputation of not needing to sleep.

Day 00 四川

Stuck in Beijing for the nite, and had to share a room with a stranger. What
service Air China! Thank God my roomate was super nice and polite and didn't
snore. I said to myself that whatever get thrown at me in this trip I'll accept
it, and know God is in charge!

For the first time I experienced the China Great Firewall. No access to Facebook
and Blogger. I'll see if I can keep update this. We should all treassure our
freedom of speech and expression.

Finally arrived HK and met up with the team. What trip already! It feels like
I've been traveling for many days already, but actually it hasn't started yet. I
just want to settle down in one place so I can adjust and get comfortable. But
tomorrow have to wake up at 5am to start the journey up north.

Day -01 四川

I used to be exhilarated just packing and carrying my big backpack to the airport. Doing this once a year, nowadays this seems more like a routine. But it is the unknown ahead that excites me. I absolutely do not know what to expect. Honestly though, I'm looking forward to Beijing, because I know exactly what I'm gonna do there, but what lies ahead in 四川? Well, I'm not gonna expect too much. My objective is to be able to use Mandarin to really talk to the people there, to understand their needs, physically and spiritually, to care for them however limited an outsider can do, and perhaps even to make a friend or two.

Right now though, I'm stuck in YVR. 4 hours delay! I might have to stay overnight in Beijing. But whatever gonna come up, it's all part of God's plan. Got a $10 lunch voucher, and I'm so full now. Actually I prefer to stay in Beijing for the night, so I can change some RMB there, and don't have to find the hostel in HK in the dark.

四川 anticipation

And suddenly, I'm going to another mission trip, to 四川. It's hard to describe how I suddenly came to this decision. However, in retrospect, I realize that this is the trip I meant to go 1 1/2 year ago. As my tasks in fellowship wind down for the year, this opportunity came up. However this time is not me who want to go, somehow I feel it is God who is leading me there this time. As soon as I took that step, doors started to open, cheap air fair, my last minute holiday approval, ...etc. If I have to choose, I probably wouldn't choose this trip myself, but now He has chosen it for me, I will embrace it.

I am worried about my language, and I'm worried that I'll get overly anxious about the way things get done there. My mind set is so different from 1 1/2 year ago now. I just tried to watch a Mandarin news report now, I cannot understand any of the important part of the sentence! Also I really don't know how well I can work with this team. But somehow, these all make sense. Whenever you think you are capable, that's an indication you're not ready. But when you think you are inadequate, that is God's timing that you should start sailing.