A college-aged Chinese woman runs from the tour bus holding out her stone cross necklace for all to see. She stops breathless in front of two young Tennessee women, pointing excitedly to the cross and then to herself.
As she conveys to the Southern Cross volunteers from Tennessee that she shares a special bond with them – a faith in Jesus Christ, more young Chinese girls crowd into the huddle.
“Jesus loves me! Jesus loves me!” all of the Chinese women repeat as tears fill their eyes.
Deborah Stiles* and Laura Yates* look shocked at the outburst. They can’t believe their ears. It’s their first time on a Southern Cross Project trip and these women are the first to want Bibles from them.
Quickly recovering, the Tennessee women smile and give their Chinese “sisters in Christ” a hug before handing them a Mandarin Bible packet, their own eyes welling with tears. Never in their wildest dreams did they expect distributing Bibles to be so exciting and emotional.
The Chinese woman explains that the excitement started when she saw the sign from the bus window. Her heart jumped with joy. All she could think about was getting to those Bibles and talking to her fellow Christians.
“Seeing you standing here giving out Bibles was the most wonderful feeling,” the Chinese woman shares through a Taiwanese volunteer. “We are so happy to see you giving Bibles to people who need them. Chinese people need Bibles. [The local] people need Bibles. All people need Bibles.”
*names changed
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Janette Hames, mReport. mReport said: The sisterhood in Christ meets all over the world, encouraging each other in unlikely places. http://ow.ly/3O6g8 [...]
Posting this for a fellow worker in Asia: We were in a restaurant and we noticed a Chinese man having lunch with his young son. He spoke English, so we started up a conversation with him. We found out that he was here on holiday and would be leaving the next day (today). We wished him a Happy New Year and he just beamed. My husband started talking to him about the Bible and he told us he had a friend who had a Bible but it was very old, so old that some American’s wanted to buy it from him. When we were finished with our meal we ran back to the apartment, picked up 2 Bibles and packets and rushed back to the restaurant. He was so happy to receive the Bibles and packets, he was very touched that we had one for his friend too. Please add those two to the count if you can! Every one counts!
How exciting! My husband and I have been there doing exactly what you are doing and we had a large group of chinese women help us pass out Bibles an entire evening. What an exciting time for us. God is so faithful! Thank you for sharing your days with us…like someone said previously..it makes us feel like we’re right there with you. God bless and remember there are people all over the world praying for you right now!