No Better Place than Home
Maybe my best part of the trip were the home visits! It was so
neat going into people's homes and hearing them say, "Tell
me about Jesus." (Ok, so maybe I couldn't understand when
they said that, but I did hear it from the translator.)
Every night we went into a home--usually we broke into teams of two
or three with a translator to visit a home. Sometimes we also went
in the mornings or in the afternoons. Each time we went into a
home, the experience was different.
We left some celebrating!
We left some with burdened hearts.
Regardless to say, I could fill pages with what happened. I
decided to keep it to two of the times we left celebrating!
Story number one:
Donald, a police officer who has an awesome servant's heart and
took us into many homes, took us to another police officer's home
(picture is above). A-dong and
Donald work shifts together, and so Donald had shared Christ and His
life with A-dong many times.
We sat in A-dong's apartment and shared the plan of salvation with
him. I also showed him some Chinese characters and how they reveal
stories from the Bible and God himself. So, after much talking, I
asked him if he wanted to receive the free gift I
was telling him about. And to my surprise, he said yes!
There in his tiny home we prayed with him to receive Christ! It
was so exciting!!!
Story number two: On Thursday
night, we all went to one woman's house! That's right, we filled
this tiny country home
with 15 or so people (picture just below)! She had been a believer
for twenty years and wanted her husband to believe too.
This woman had prepared a feast! While we
were eating, I began to chat in Mandarin Chinese with her husband.
We seemed to click and he began calling me "Lee Shou
Jeh" (Little Miss Lee--my family name with a
title). When we sat down to talk, he seemed very open!
(I know his wife had already shared a lot with him.)
Anyway, they all talked for awhile and I got the
impression that he believed everything my team members were talking about, but
he seemed to think he was not good enough to
be a Christian. So, I interrupted the
flow of conversation and told him that was the whole point! We
don't get cleaned up before we get in the shower, we get in the shower
to get clean. Christ loved us while we were still sinners, and we
come to Him for forgiveness and power for life.
So, our team leader asked him a little while
later if he would accept Christ as Savior. Again, to
our delight, he said yes!
And then we celebrated!!! We had birthday cake and sang
"Happy Birthday!" It was a great evening! I then
gave him a Bible and inscribed a blessing in the cover, and he wrote his
name and the date of his new birthday!!
Here I am giving him the Bible!
Father, I pray for these
two men who accepted Christ, that they will continue to grow in you and
live in the fullness of your grace. May they lead their families
to you as well and be godly husbands and fathers. Lord, I also
pray for those who decided not to accept you when we were in their
homes. Move in their hearts and cause them to feel empty and alone
without you. Have mercy and patience--giving them more
opportunities to hear your good news and love!
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