People of China

The Sign of Christ

When they sat down with a group of deaf acquaintances to eat a meal, the overseas visitors were introduced as followers of God. As a brief discussion in sign language ensued, the visitors were asked if it was their tradition to pray before eating. They acknowledged that it was and asked if they might lead the group in a prayer of thanksgiving. Everyone agreed. When the person praying invoked the name of Jesus at the end of the prayer, it became clear that one of the deaf men was very confused. Touching the middle finger of each hand to the opposite palm, he duplicated the sign for Jesus to the man seated next to him and asked what it meant. It was a word that he had never before heard or seen. The visitors were excited to be able to tell him in a language that he could understand of the Savior’s love.

Waiting

They had only been in China for one year when they had to leave because of their overt witness. It was so hard to understand. The young overseas couple had sensed His leading as they had been preparing to move even closer to the core of the unreached people group, and now it appeared as they would be far away from them. Knowing that it would be a long time before they could return, they cried out to the Lord, questioning how He would allow them to be separated from the very people that He had called them to reach. But as they adjusted to their interim setting, they realized that He had placed them in the very location that they needed to be. Their wait to return to China was filled with blessings they hadn’t anticipated. Not only were they able to serve in an evangelistic training center targeting the very people group that they had adopted, but they were able to spend long hours in learning the difficult minority language. The wait is now behind them and they are headed back into China, bolstered by the special season of learning that God prepared for them.

Faithful to Witness

“Do you mind if I pray for you, she asked the noodle shop owner. “I don’t see many customers in your shop. I’m a Christian and God hears my prayers. He never fails to answer.” The shop owner readily agreed, not only to allow the American lady to pray for his shop, but to also let her to tell him and his employees about Christ. Two weeks later he received Christ. When she asked the question that day, the lady evangelist had no way of knowing that the witness of the noodle shop owner’s Christian father-in-law had prepared him for that moment. Likewise, the father-in-law could not have known when he witnessed to the man earlier that God was preparing to send an American woman to draw the net. Since receiving Christ, the shop owner has become very active in telling others about Christ and hosting house church gatherings. He is following in the footsteps of those who were faithful in witnessing to him.