The door creaks open revealing a dirty and dank walkway separating four jail cells. Dozens of men crowd into two on the left while a woman sits by herself on the right.

Mei Zhou,* a volunteer from Taiwan, stands in front of the cell with 20 men sitting on the floor.  Her heart goes out to them. Not only are they squeezed together in one concrete box but they share one open toilet. Some are here for immigration violations while others are held for more serious violations. Zhou, however, doesn’t care why they landed in jail — she only wants to share God’s love. The men listen intently as she shares the story of Jesus.

“Does anyone want to accept Jesus?” she asks at the end of the story.

A young man in the back corner raises his hand and says, “I do.”

As you read today’s prayer requests, take a moment to pray. Type out your prayer and share it with others who read this site – including volunteers – so that all can be encouraged by how many people are praying all over the world.

As the hostess seated the tour group in the restaurant, one young Chinese woman kept looking outside. She knew she couldn’t sit down to enjoy the buffet until she got something off her mind and heart.

“Can I pray for you?” Felicity Wong,* a Chinese Malaysian university student, asked Southern Cross volunteers from First Baptist Church, Thomasville, Ga. “I felt the Spirit leading me to come back.”

Wong introduced herself as a fellow Christ-follower and thanked the volunteers for coming on her way into the restaurant, but that wasn’t enough interaction. She needed to encourage them to continue distributing Bibles to her fellow Chinese on vacation.

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.

Join us in prayer. Post yours by clicking on “read more” and writing it under comments:

Pray that the Word of God will not return void. Pray people will not cast aside this free gift. Pray for Chinese Christians to stay strong in their faith and take steps of obedience. Pray for God to give translators words to share the truth effectively.

The Chinese man leans against the pier railing, pouring over the Bible he just received.

He ignores his wife’s entreaties to hurry. He slowly turns toward the boat, reading and savoring the words as he walks. He’s so engrossed, however, that he misses the departure of his dinner boat cruise.

It’s Chinese New Year and this man is spending his vacation in Southeast Asia with thousands of other Chinese tourists.

Incense and praying to statues filled the afternoon for some Chinese tourists in Southeast Asia as they found time to stop at the Chinese temple to pray.

Southern Cross volunteers watched as Chinese parents taught their children to light incense and pray to the statues. Part of the Southern Cross experience is taking time out from Bible distribution to learn about the Chinese culture, customs and beliefs. To learn more about the spiritual background of Chinese tourists, members of the Big Hatchie Baptist Association, Tenn., prayer walked through a local Chinese temple.

Join us in prayer by posting yours. (Click “read more” and post in the comments section.)

Pray tour guides are people of peace, encouraging tourists to take packets. Pray that tour guides would be leaders in accepting the packets. Pray that the Chinese tourists who are interested in the Bibles will have the courage to accept the gift, even when guides discourage them.

Stacks of books and Christian tracts piled high on the table wobble as Paul Cox leans over to greet a fellow Southern Cross Project volunteer veteran. They lament over how the warehouse is the “boring” job on this trip, but quickly add that it is one of the most important.

Without someone manually stuffing the Bible packets with Mandarin Bibles, the Jesus Film, various Christian tracts and CDs, there would be nothing to hand out at the distribution sites. Everything piled on the table eventually ends up in a small red bag and put in a box. Each box holds 25 packets.

Sible Tharp offers a Bible and packet of discipleship materials to Chinese tourists as they pass. Her husband, William, stands beside her, holding a bright red sign inviting tourists to take the free gift.

William and Sible are long term Southern Cross volunteers from First Baptist Church, Las Cruces, N.M. They arrived in Southeast Asia a week and a half before short term teams came. They will stay a few weeks after the short term teams leave to wrap up the distribution work. It’s their fourth year giving Bibles and they love it — it’s written all over their faces.