Friday, August 8, 2008

Grant's Trip to China



We have several singles in our church who have taken various trips around the globe. Here's an email I got from Grant Ailie on his recent trip to China. I thought it more than appropriate to share on the night we gather for our Olympic event which will be in China--and since Aaron Mayfield will be heading there soon for his company.

He writes...

Here are a few interesting facts about China that I learned as a result of my trip.

- China has more people than any nation on earth.
- One sixth of the world's people live in China.
- There are more English speakers in China than in the United States.

Thank you all for your invaluable financial and prayer support. I appreciate it more than you know. Seeing God provide the money for my trip to China boosted my faith. During my first day in China I realized how incredibly different China is from the U.S. China while eating at a local Latin Steakhouse. My group, and some local English teachers and missionaries were meeting together to kick off our time in China and in order to brief us on what we would be doing during our stay. After we finished eating, a local English teacher closed in prayer. Before praying he told us that we should keep our eyes open while he prayed so that we did not attract the attention of anyone in the restaurant and appear to be doing something religious. (China is communistic and Christianity is closely regulated)Trip summary and highlights.My first activity after getting settled in at my living quarters at Southern China University of Agriculture (SCUA) was to teach at Busy Bee Preschool. Busy Bee is a school, slash day care center run by a Christian lady, for children ages four to six. I noticed that in spite of the under eighteen rule(which makes it illegal for a Chinese person under the age of 18 to be a member of a church or be baptized), children are being reached.

Upon arriving I was informed that they start the day with Bible time. I was asked to lead it, which I was not expecting. Thankfully I brought my Evangicube. An Evangicube looks like a Rubex cube and opens up and turns to different pictures which illustrate the gospel. I took it out and explained the gospel to the children using the Evangicube's pictures to visually illustrate. The children were fascinated as they observed the small square magically open up and change to different pictures. I went through it twice, making sure that all the children gathered around me could see the pictures. One of the teachers at the preschool observed me and showed interest in presenting it to them in Chinese. I showed her how it worked and she proceeded to use the Evangicube to present the gospel to the children in Chinese. I watched in wonder as she flipped through the pictures on the Evangicube, all the while explaining the meaning in their native language.

As I watched her I realized how faithful God is to spreading His fame and truth to the different people groups of the world.

We can't wait to hear how the trip to Africa went with Courtney and Alyssa...

Looking forward to tonight!