CHINA UPDATE

I love reading my China Journal from time-to-time. I tried to write daily about where we went, who we saw, and what we did. Sometimes – to be honest – it’s a boring read; but other times it is utterly fascinating. I read about things that I barely remember. I typically read regarding the current day’s date during one of our three years there.

Today I read about a correspondence from Tracie regarding our finances. Two checks had bounced and we had outstanding NSF charges on our account. Being on the other side of the world with a 12-hour difference makes it challenging to try to address issues like this.

We immediately asked her to check our ‘mission’s account’ with the Free Methodist Church. She responded later that six family and friends had given during the summer months [while we were home]. Their gifts totaled $2,175!!!!!!!!! WOW! We were SO BLESSED at this remarkable support.

Tracie contacted us a day later and had cleared up the problem. All the NSF charges were dropped and the error was corrected! PTL!

What we were paid in China was adequate for living in China. However, the exchange rate hurt significantly when we came home for five or six weeks in the summer.  If we saved $7,000 yuan, when we came home we had a little more than $1,000. This was when the gifts became an important resource for us as we travelled to see our family and took care of medical concerns.

Reading all of this really blessed me this morning as I was given opportunity to recall how gracious God was in providing for our needs! It may seem small to others, but it often seemed miraculous to us! Just the fact that He had gotten us to China was amazing. Then, His provision was so faithful and timely.

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 Since leaving China in July, 2015, I have tried to maintain contact with some of the friends and students from that season of our lives. A year ago, I sent a message of inquiry to a young woman who was part of a Monday night group that met in our apartment [they were the brightest students on a campus of over 20,000]. She did not respond until two weeks ago. She had been going through difficult times and didn’t want to share that with us. But now, she has come out stronger than before – having cleared up some issues that had been plaguing her life! She now is studying to be a counselor/psychologist so that she will be able to help others.  She indicated that she observed how important our faith was to us and decided to become a person of faith as well!

It was so exciting to talk with her and hear her report. She is a VERY capable young woman and I’m confident that God will use her for significant purposes.

I also just chatted with my favorite student, Colleen [English name]. She and her husband, Wudsi, had a little girl back in 2020. She sent me a picture of ‘wu muchen’ and she is as beautiful as her mother!

I still get brief messages from lots of my former students on China’s annual ‘Teacher’s Day’. Teachers are held in VERY HIGH ESTEEM in China! I rarely had any problems in my classes. Most boys studied in the science department. My classes typically had about twenty girls and possibly three boys.

These years were a great privilege and the highlight of my life! I’m so grateful that God gave us this opportunity! We cherish our memories and the many connections we made there. Although I don’t share about China very often, I have a host of wonderful stories from that season of our lives! 😊