Stories from the Field

July 2003

God Always Provides in China
China testimony from A. a volunteer from Ohio State University

Before we left for China, we understood that it would be more of an effort to 'remove stones from the field to prepare it for cultivation.' Sometime down the road, someone else would plow; later there would be one
to plant seeds and water, then eventually God would bring a harvest.

There were 22 of us going from Ohio; most were college students. We divided into 3 teams and my team went to various cities where there has previously been no gospel presence. Our task - to tell the Story and let the Father draw Chinese people to salvation.

We went to these unreached cities with no interpreter, English speakers, or believers to accompany us. Because of the evangelism, we could be at risk of being discovered, any foreign believer could lose their visa, and any Chinese believers could be persecuted, or worse. We would have to get around and find schools, parks and universities on our own. No one in the city knew we were coming and we would have to do the best we could to find and build relationships. No one on our teams could speak
Chinese and there are few in these cities who can speak English fluently. It was intimidating and out of our comfort zone. We had a decision to make. We could ask for another assignment or trust in the Father. We decided to trust in the Father.

In the first city, we set out for the high school not knowing if we would be able to get into the school as there was a gate with a guard. As we approached the gate, I stopped and prayed for a way to get past the guard and into the school. Before I finished praying, a young lady came running up and asked if we spoke English. It turned out that she was a teacher at the school and she asked if we would like to come in. She escorted us around the school and took us into a classroom. At lunch time, we invited her to go to lunch and she said she had another commitment. She turned and asked us if we would like to join her for lunch at the school and meet the foreign teachers.

We went to lunch and met a couple from the US who, we found out later, are in China teaching and sharing their faith. We met 10 students they had lead to the Lord in two years and also got to witness two of the students' baptism in the couple's bath tub.

One of the students at this school had received a tract in Chinese several years before (exactly like the ones we were handing out) and had worn it out reading it. She had prayed the prayer of salvation from the tract and had also prayed for someone to come along to explain it to her. When she found out that this American teacher was at her school she came to him on the day we were visiting and boldly asked if he was a Christian and if could help her learn more about the worn out tract she carried! The couple had to leave the country a few days later, so we were able to help this young lady. God had placed us in the right place at exactly the right time to answer this girl's prayer - and all we had to do was show up!

These stories are only a few examples of the ministry God opened to us and His provision of our needs. Every time we needed help from God, someone came running. By divine appointment, we were guided and led to exactly where we needed to be. Schools in this communist country were wide open to these unannounced foreigners knocking on their door.

We only expected to move rocks out of the soil, and yet we saw 25 people come to know the Lord! We passed these names mature believers, so Bible studies and churches will be started in these cities where there were none before.

God blessed our feeble efforts because of the prayers of the saints who were lifting us up. I was a little nervous and intimidated going into this trip - it was out of my comfort zone! - but I was utterly amazed at the swiftness with which our Father answered our every need as we proceeded along the path of this journey. God accomplished far more than we ever could have imagined and we had really set our expectations far too low as we started out.