Faith In China

Things are still going extremely well with the best Mary girl in the world.  Today 4 additional families with our agency arrived in Guangzhou.  They have spent the last week in their child's province.  Lucky for me, Mary's province is right here in Guangzhou so we have been here already.  As I sat with the new 4 families tonight at supper, I was almost embarrassed at how my girl was acting.  It took about 30 minutes for everyone to get their food and meanwhile their children were everywhere.  Running, screaming, yelling and banging spoons on the table while my girl sat quietly beside me eating her cherrios.  She is amazing.  Still goes to bed around 8 or 9 and I am forced to wake her to go eat breakfast.  Many prayers were answered for this trip.

These two girls are being adopted by families in our group.  I wish that you could see them and feel their excitement about finally having a family.  You're never the same after you witness such joy and hope.

I will say that I did find out that Miss Mary can cry.  Just like our experience with water today I found out she also hates doctors.  We  had our required medical exam today and she let me know that her voice is very strong.  She still has not muttered a work, but crying she can do. Every child is required to have a TB test before leaving.  Please pray that Mary's is negative so we an be on our merry way without further testing and a delayed homecoming.

This is our dear friend Elvin.  He will definitely go down as one of the people who has had the most lasting impression on my life.  He was our guide for our first three adoptions.  This time our agency uses a different guide service, but I have had the pleasure of running into him several times.   I'll devote a whole post to him later.  He is the most humble and compassionate man I have ever met.

I want to tell you a story about last night at supper.  When you are the only family for a week in your province, you have a lot of time to walk and find different places to eat.  Mary and I put on our finest attire and took off for an adventure.  After walking about 40 minutes, we came upon a wonderful Italian restaurant.  Wow, we had some great spaghetti but that was not the cool thing about the night. 

Another noodle lover!

Being in China and talking about your faith and walk with God is not something you do on the streets in a loud voice.  As I stroll the streets and eat in restaurants, I always wonder who is a believer and who is not. 

I had the opportunity to speak with 2 college girls that were sitting next to Mary and I.  They asked me the obvious question that everyone thinks but will very seldom ask, "why do you adopt from China?"  I simply told them that it is something that my God has led my family to do and we do it.  I saw one smile and ask me if this was the Christian God and I said yes.  She told me that she, her mom and sisters were Christians but her dad was not.  Also her friend said that she was a Christian also.  So I sat in a Chinese eating establishment talking to 2 new Christians about their faith!!!!!  How cool was that!!!!  I remember My pastor, Jeremy,  and also my father-in-law talk about how China was exploding with new believers everyday!!!!  And with very, very few church buildings!!!!!  I think America needs to learn how the revival is working in China and start rolling up our sleeves and meeting the lost where they are, not where we want to take them!!!!!