China update

Since our water was shut off last Saturday night we’ve actually received a significant
amount of rain. Tuesday night at 7:00pm it began to pour down on us and didn’t stop
until later Wednesday evening. My umbrella turns inside out more times than not,
catching the water until is starts to leak through. I am grateful for water in all forms!
The rain has stopped, the plumbing has been repaired (as of this afternoon!), and the
living water is continuing to be poured out too!
Today we did some shopping as a team. It wasn’t a typical shopping trip to buy groceries
or candy to give to our students. Nope, this one was illegal! Our trip this afternoon was
in search of Bibles. We were able to find twelve of them with the help of a couple girls
who had come to our gathering last week. After last week’s meeting there were a number
of students who said they would like a copy of God’s word, so we are very excited to
have this opportunity before us. We will be giving them to our students this weekend
as many of them are leaving for home over the next month during summer vacation.
Yes, summer vacation. It’s already here, our time is coming to a close, and I keep
thinking about how amazing it has been. Today after my students gave their final
speeches, as this was their oral exam, I had a little speech of my own. I have seen them
overflowing with generosity and love to the point that I think it will change how I live
for the rest of my life. The few students who have part-time jobs make about $0.74 an
hour. Upon my prompting, a girl told me today that the reason she is working during
her summer break is to buy her dad a wallet for his birthday. This sacrificial love is
undeniably admirable but even more it humbles me. Too much of my focus is on myself
and not on others. Today my Korean neighbor bought me a coffee when he saw me at
dinner. One of Brandon’s students bought all six of us treats at the market, and I’ve
never met her.
It may be easier to sacrifice for someone you love, but for a guest or a stranger? If
I say I love Him who I cannot see, I must love my brother who I can see. I’ve been
contemplating the meaning of the passage in Matthew 26:6-10. This is the story of
the woman who poured her expensive perfume on Jesus so that she could worship
Him. How much do I save so that I can sacrifice for the Lord and His purposes? Our
students have been incredibly gracious to us. It has truly been a joy to serve here this
summer and help them improve their English. In our next week on campus we’ll be
doing some more one-on-one time with the students remaining in the area and we pray
that lives will still be changed as the Holy Spirit opens their eyes and fills their hearts.

We were extra sleepy when we left our dormitory this morning without a shower to
wake us up. Due to the water no longer reaching us on the top floor of our building we
were all a bit surprised, but with all the construction I figured it would return later in
the afternoon. Most of our Chinese students only shower once or twice a week; I knew
I could wait until we got water again. After we returned from church we were told
they were working on the problem and water should return within three or four days.
Currently, we take the elevator to the first level sink and Eastern style bathrooms. It is a
challenge I had personally been considering doing voluntarily but not having the option
of a daily shower will be a humbling cultural lesson.

Our morning at church was unique as we praised the Lord with a large Korean
fellowship. Normally we go to a small church with other Americans, some
Germans, Russians, Philippinos, and Koreans who are all volunteer workers in this
city. Worshiping with the Korean believers brought some of us tears of joy and
encouragement through unity with a local congregation.

The diverse culture welcomes us with open arms. All of our students, many Korean by
heritage but Chinese by birth, have demonstrated abundant generosity toward each of
us. It is not uncommon to be treated to dinner, a night at the pool hall with the guys, or
popsicles at the market from a chance run-in with a student. Today we were escorted by
a large group of our students from each of the six classes. As we walked around the local
museum that showed the history of the Korean and Chinese cultures I continued to be in
prayer for the evening that was to follow.

Tonight we met with a group of people we have come to know during our month here.
Most of them were not Christians but knew something about the faith. Our goal was to
connect those who were already followers of Christ with those who were on a journey
to meet Jesus. One of my students who had told me she was a Christian brought a
couple friends with her; they then blessed us singing to the Lord a Korean worship song.
(We later discovered they are on the praise team at their small church!) In English we
sang ‘Lord I Lift Your Name on High’ together. After teaching the lyrics to everyone we
explained the message—salvation through Jesus Christ. None of this had been planned,
but God’s Spirit was moving in everyone at the meeting.

One of the girls asked if Santa Claus was Jesus when he got old. Another asked why
when she went to church she couldn’t bring her lunch inside, but then when she went
in, everyone ate some crackers and drank juice during the service. A guy who has been
studying the four gospels heard the truth of Romans 5:1-10 for the first time tonight and
wrote down the passage so he could read it over. In each of the people who came tonight
we saw God working to bring them one step closer to Him, out of darkness and into His
marvelous light.

After meeting together, a girl continued to process. “God just wants a relationship with
me?” she said, “Then I have to tell people about Jesus; it’s my job.” While this was
simply a cognitive recognition, her child-like understanding is beautiful and we have
hope she will intimately know Christ soon. Many like her, who have some understanding
of what it means to be a part of the Body, still have a great deal of confusion due to
twisted and legalistic teaching. The issue of being a ‘pure Christian’ has arisen many
times due to people thinking they cannot follow God if they do not go to church at certain
times or so many days of each week. With the hope to break down false teaching the
devil has used to mask their spiritual eyes, we studied the Bible together. Many of them
do not have their own copy so we read from Chinese, Korean, and English texts. The
response from this was great. All of them asked to read it for themselves and expressed
a desire to have their own copy. We will be working with the Korean worship team to
provide the Word to all of them by the time we meet again next week.

Next Sunday will be our last weekend in this city. A handful of students who did not
come tonight had planned to but were unable. I do not know the time that God has set for
them, but we are in prayer that it is soon; may they come next week to worship and learn
together. We are so thankful for the Kingdom work that was done tonight. Everyone
was encouraged, seeds were watered, and hearts are being awakened. May the spiritual
water never stop but continue to flow, awakening their souls so they may never thirst
again!!

Nate, for the team

Melanie Ferrer reporting!

Ni Hao! We're here! We've finally made it to Yanji and we're all settled in. Sorry this blog is way over due, so it might be a little long. Our time here in Yanji has been amazing already! Yanji is a very unique city in China because of the biracial influence of the Chinese and Korean. Our hosts are very kind and extremely hospitable, the ladies that serve us in the cafeteria are sweet and cater to us, and our students are AMAZING! We just finished our first week teaching. WE LOVE IT! We've fallen in love with our students already! We teach 4 days a week and we each have about 25 students. The first couple days we spent a lot of time in our office brainstorming and preparing games and lesson plans. We were all excited and a little nervous for our first class but once we all reunited after class was over... we couldn't stop talking about how much we enjoyed our classes! The students are eager and enthusiastic about learning and improving their English. We've finally gotten the hang of things with juggling classes, making lesson plans, correcting papers, meeting up with students, eating bommb Chinese and Korean food (haha, all my pictures are of food!), resting and of course having Devo time!

We had the opportunity to hang out with our students on Saturday night! It was hecka (super) fun! Students came out to meet with their teachers and have a fun outside of the classroom. Amara and Justin headed off to coffeshops and spent some chill time with their students. They we're able to dialogue and build relationships them. Brandon, Nate and I went to a fair that comes every summer here in Yanji. SO MUCH FUN! They made us get on some crazzzy rides with them. After walking around, Nate joined the students in playing Chinese hackysack. I decided to hang out with some of my girls and chat. It was awesome being able to sit down with my girls outside of the classroom and talk.

The team is doing well! Amazing actually! We're closer than ever. We've definitely all opened up and we've become brothers and sisters, literally. God has truly made us of one accord! The memories are already stacking up for us! We're having great devotion time, prayer time over our students/our team/our walks/everyone back home, prayer walking and singing praises to God as we walk down the streets of Yanji, yelling Jesus loves in you Chinese, making time for our students, and always basking in His amazing grace! Something that I've noticed and I really admire about our team is how we are using our God given passions and talents to lead us and create opportunities to share Christ's love and truth. Nate (Nathan) is amazing at learning and teaching languages so he invest so much time in bettering his students and anyone else who wants to practice, and of course allowing time to minister. Amara (AJ/Sleeping Beauty) is looking into stirring up their minds and creating discussions about disabled/special education children, and hopes to lead discussion about how Christ loves everyone. In Chinese culture many children/people who are disabled/crippled/special are frowned upon or abandoned and unloved. Brandon (B Lee) is loving on the students with his "great" singing in class and meeting up outside of class to play basketball, tennis and volleyball with students, and through this he is being relational and loving on them. Justin (Justina) is being successful at using his experience as an Chinese ESL student to benefit his own students. Claire (Cassssh) is using her love for history to get their minds thinking about the past, famous people, religion, and is gearing toward sharing His truth through the interests God has given her. I (Monnayy!) am picking at their brains and challenging them with questions to think about the injustices that are going on in this world and how we as people in this world can better it, but through this I hope to share that the root of it all the injustices in this world is sin and the only solution is Jesus Christ. It's beautiful to see all my team members use what God has given them to be used for His glory and for opportunities to minister! We are all spending a lot of time with our students and loving every minute of it. But we are not just here to teach English we are here to share the truth and redemption of Jesus. Justin told me last night that many people here just know of Jesus as a famous man but many people don't know who He really is and what He has done. We pray and ask you to pray that He would be made known as a famous man because of the work He did on the cross for all of us sinners and how He gives eternal life to those who believe and follow after Him!

Sunday we were able to attend a Foreigner's Church service. It was succch a blessing to worship with so many different races! Chinese, Korean, Caucasian, German, Filipino, Russian... the list goes on. It's so beautiful to see tribes, nations and tongues come together and worship the true and living God! Like our Brother said, we're related through the blood of Jesus Christ! Can I get Ammmmen?! We were encouraged to see how much God is working in our brothers and sisters here in China! We've also found a restaurant and coffee shop that are owned by Christians! I turned to Claire the other day crying and overwhelmed about how powerful His hand is. Amara shared to Casssh and I that she is in awe of the work He is already started and she is encouraged to further His kingdom even more!

Overall, we are blessed beyond measure. Because one...like I shared before we have been saved and we are captivated by God's love and grace. Two, we are able to testify of His goodness through first hand experience. And three, we are honored that He entrusts us to expand His kingdom!

WE ALL SEND OUR LOVE AND MISS YOU ALL! You are all in our prayers just as much as we are in yours! Zai Jian (Bye!)!

Our first (very long) day.

Tuesday began very different from most-- after Sunday. It was strange for us to board a flight late Sunday night to arrive Tuesday morning ten hours later in Beijing. The airport was stuffy and humid, which was fitting as it reflected the hazy gray skies outside. As we killed time in the muggy terminal we began playing a game in which one player hits the hands of another before he can pull away but quickly stopped as we all broke a sweat from doing so. I ran around the airport a bit in search of water and managed to ask a woman cleaning in my extremely broken ramblings of Mandarin; finally we went through the most aggressive and fastest security check we've ever seen before were off to Justin's home city. In Jinan we had an abundant feast with his parents, sister, uncle, and grandparents. The twelve of us each sat shoulder to shoulder on our own individual wooden bench around the circular table with a rotating center as we ate a variety of local dishes of whole fish, a rooster, pork, shrimp skewers, and various vegetables before moving on to dumplings, lots of watermelon, and a local jasmine hot tea. After the meal we spent time together and asked for the Father's blessing on them. We each got to spend some time individually with one of the family members and then asked the Spirit to move in them, continuing and multiplying the good work.

Today we are now all awake after a good night's rest and anxious for breakfast. Submit requests for blessings of health for all of us as the forces of the dark world are pressing on us to take us out of the race.

The heart of it all.

melanie ferrer comin at you. :)

I honestly have been sitting on my bed...smiling. We are less than 24 hours away from boarding our flight to China! I'm stuck in awe. I cannot even fathom this opportunity to serve God in China!

I feel like we've been preparing, praying and awaiting this departure and it has finally arrived. I'm not even done packing, but I have such an urge to blog about this and let you all know how things are going. I went to a prayer meeting at Church this morning and just prayed and cried. We all prayed and cried. We were completely humbled by God and His being. How He hears our prayers, answers our prayers, cares for us, and knows us intimately. He is so beyond us. Anyway, as they were praying for my team and I, I felt such peace and encouragement from God. He is going to do so much through this team!

Yes, I am so excited that He is providing and sending this team to China. But what I am soo excited and fascinated with... is the heart of this all and the main reason we get to serve in China. Since I've been back home for the summer, I've been studying Jesus' every move through the Gospels and the fruits of Spirit. And as I study His perfection I see more and more of my imperfection. But you know what covers us in the midst of our sinful nature?! FORGIVENESS AND GRACE! Man.. we fall short on a daily basis but still He loves us, loves us that He died on the cross for us to save us from hell! His grace is amazing! Bask in it! Team China.. Readers.. He saved us, He's changed us, He's formed us and He's now sending us! And... that all this takes place because of what His first did on the cross. So here it is readers, the reason why Team China is heading out in the first place. BECAUSE GOD SO LOVED THE WORLD THAT HE SENT HIS SON JESUS CHRIST TO DIE ON THE CROSS FOR YOU AND YOUR SINS SAVING YOU FROM HELL AND GIVING YOU ETERNAL LIFE. Yes, YOU! This is the heart of it. Now that we know and believe in this profound statement, we go to share the good news in China! We get to do all that we are doing in our lives.. because He first died on the cross and gave us salvation! Receive His Grace!

Please keep us in your prayers as we are breaking down walls of the enemy and building up walls for Christ!

We are one.

We leave from LAX in 72 hours. That number is quickly dropping (I started an hourly countdown at the 96th hour). I am anxious to meet back up with the team as we head off to China together. The unity of the team has always been strong. Even when we first began with eight people and added a ninth we all were excited and it felt like family. Losing two members due to circumstances out of our control was difficult in the sense that we knew we weren't going to be with people we had grown close to on the trip; our little family was dwindling. Once this summer began it seemed as if we were ready. Recently some new developments have made a dramatic shift in our team and we have lost another member. Adrianna's circumstances have her stuck in Texas and without a visa. As sad as this is, I must remind myself that if God wanted her to go He would provide a way. It's been a blessing to have her with us during the past six months and I know that God is working in her; this is not an end-all for her, nor for us. The six of us will continue with our plans to teach English in China and share the work of the one who's burden is light. Why should we worry? He has it all in control and we'll press in to what He has planned. I cannot worry about it; I have no control over life's situations and God asks that I trust His plan. HIs ways are higher and deeper than I know.

Ephesians 3:20

Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to His power that is at work within us.

A Few Days Before Leaving

It's going to be an exciting week leading up to our departure for China. Personally I've been running some errands and getting paperwork in order for our travels while Justin has already arrived and spending some time with his parents where we'll soon meet him Tuesday morning of next week. Hopefully this post will be quite concise as I'd like to go to bed. This busy week started today (as most weeks start on Monday...) and won't stop until we are aboard that 16 hour flight across the Pacific. We are still awaiting one visa to be submitted for approval, arranging hotel lodging for our first days of arrival (a surprise as we recently learned we'd be illegal guests at national's home), and doing a few other preparations. Personally my week is going to be filled with meeting friends each day and a couple last nights at the restaurant. I have a lot of friends who are visiting this week whom I am anxious to see. It seems like this will turn out to be a very encouraging week. Strangely enough, I'm actually already anticipating coming back here. I'm excited to continue being involved with life here; to see everyone, to start an internship, to put my roots in just a little deeper. Breakfast meeting is in five hours.

In brief, here are some items to lift up:

·still working to obtain all team visas

·discernment and clarity in responding to the call

·continued support of financial needs

·team unity would multiply; love would be infectious

Y no olvido la copa mundial. ¡Ojalá gane España!