HOMELESS IN BEIJING

 While Sharon and I served the women in China, Global Partners in Hope and our guests served and taught too!  One evening, we divided into teams, chose locations and went off in search of some of Beijing's many homeless, migrants.

The leaders who went with us were impacted greatly - so many saying things like, "I didn't think about them as people with stories" and "Now I understand I need to reach out to them in Jesus Name!".

Pictured here is our team of Nate, Yolanda, Sarah and I with 3 or our 4 new friends at dinner.  The gentleman on the right has a son-in-law in seminary and is trying to support himself and send money to his family in the village.

They were reached for Christ by westerners in their village and wanted to be Christians because of the way believers treat them; now our team members are taking them to church and giving blankets to them.  This is a great admonition for us all!!

GOD PLANNED OUR DAY!

Today we had planned to go to the Great Wall but the cold is severe and usually much worse at the Wall so we decided to meet with Stella to get a few more of the Chinese hand-made journals.  We met Stella at the Silk Market because of needing to pick up the Story Bracelets there and had such a wonderful time.

We bought the journals and then Stella just opened up to share with us.  Those who knew her thought Stella had accepted Christ but she was convinced that she was "bad" and couldn't go to Heaven! Sharon had on her story bracelet so I shared the story with her again and both of us explained God's love to her until she understood that she was loved and forgiven.  She prayed with me and received Christ today!

We rejoice today that God changed our plans and we were there to meet with precious Stella.  Can you hear the angel choir singing praises??

GIFTS FROM HOME & SPECIAL MOMENTS

 How do we capture these moments for you?  Sharon and I have struggled with finding a way to share the passion and deep love for God expressed by the Chinese believers.  We hope to make an attempt as we share some special photos:
                                                                                                                                              


Here is Sharon with JiLi who received one of the beautiful Story Quilts made with love by Peggy Banner.  JiLi was so touched by this gift and so excited to share the message of the quilt.
One day we will see the eternal dividends from Peggy's labor of love!

Heidi received one of the beautiful shawls made by the wonderful "KnitWits" in Texas.  With tears in her eyes, Heidi said she felt wrapped in love an prayer by these women from far away.  She is a Kingdom worker from Hong Kong and needed the support and encouragement expressed by the skillful hands of dear ladies.  Heidi loved knowing she will be continually prayed for!

For some of you who've followed the progress of the Women's Connections in China, here are familiar faces and a new one!  Josh and Sabina send their love to you and would like to introduce you to "Promise MA"!  He's adorable!!

Here is a shot of our group that met in a sewing room (shared about by Sharon earlier in the blog).  There were 15 of us in a tiny space filled with God's love and presence!  Better than a cathedral as far as we were concerned!!

A CHRISTMAS CELEBRATION

 Dec 12, 2010

From Sharon -
I was very disappointed today that we would not be able to attend a home church like we did the last time we were here. I think that was one of my highlights from the last trip. We decided to have a service in our room – and then we thought we were attending a “Christmas party” this afternoon. Little did we know that God had something wonderful in store for us.

We went to a restaurant to meet with the group of believers that Hope started. There were 35 people there for the “party”. It was a celebration of Jesus. They had a whole program in place. They sang songs – and tears welled up in our eyes. The spirit is so strong in the room when then sing. Peggy was able to video them singing Silent Night – it will be a treat for all of you to hear. Some of the songs they danced to. They did a couple of skits – and the last skit was very powerful!

After the skit – they had everyone divide into groups of 3 to discuss what they thought the skit meant.


Hope put us with a girl named Wang Hui who she works with. Peggy asked her how long she had been a believer. She told us that this was her first time to visit and that she was not a believer. We were able to share the gospel with her. She told us she was not ready to believe yet because she did not see how she could believe in Buddha and believe in God at the same time.

Then they had a guest speaker who gave a very clear presentation of John 3:16-18. There were other unbelievers in the room besides Wang Hui, and at the end of his talk each of them were asked directly if they were ready to trust Christ. Wang Hui said no – but that she wanted to talk to Hope to get some of her questions answered. Please pray for her and that God will open her eyes to the truth. There were people who made a decision today and they prayed with them in the front of the room out loud for everyone to be a part of their becoming part of their becoming a part of the family of God and to welcome them into their fellowship. This was the “party” - to celebrate unbelievers becoming believers. Our hearts were so full from the whole afternoon. God is so good!

Then they had a guest speaker who gave a very clear presentation of John 3:16-18. There were other unbelievers in the room besides Wang, and at the end of his talk each of them were asked directly if they were ready to trust Christ. Wang said no – but that she wanted to talk to Hope to get some of her questions answered. Please pray for her and that God will open her eyes to the truth. There were people who made a decision today and they prayed with them in the front of the room out loud for everyone to be a part of their becoming part of their becoming a part of the family of God and to welcome them into their fellowship. This was the “party” - to celebrate unbelievers becoming believers. Our hearts were so full from the whole afternoon. God is so good!

SWEET BABIES & A STUDY GROUP

This is our Tea Room Study Group!  These women want to grow in their faith so that they can lead others.  Yolanda (back row and far right) is one we met back in March on Sharon's first trip along with Hope; she has asked Sharon to do a weekly study with her which she will then teach to a group of women.  She is not confident to do her own at this time but  is passionate about beginning and so excited to have help!
Sharon writes:  "We team taught on how to deal with worry and stress and on the 2 natures. When were finished with the session, a pastor's wife told us that she had been having such a hard time this week dealing with these things and that the teaching on the struggle of the 2 natures really helped her see that God has not left her and that there is not something wrong with her. She felt that because she was struggling with doing the right things, that God was angry with her and she said no matter how hard she tries to obey God – she just keeps messing up. She was so encouraged to know that this happens to all believers and that there is hope. She has been overcome with worry about this struggle and she felt such a release in her spirit by being at this session."

 Our Wednesday night study was a mixed group of about 15 people - once again they traveled long distances to be with us and took notes feverishly!  The talk on purity went well and the men especially loved Sharon's talk on the old and new natures - several were drawing stick figures of her using her arms to represent the battle between our natures as we seek to follow Him.

 This morning we went to New Hope Foster Home and what a privalege to see what Robin and Dr. Joyce Hill have done by the grace of God for these formerly hopeless children. Children who would have had little or no future receive life saving surgeries and new life.  The adoption rate is nearly 100%!

 We fell in love!  These precious little ones are taken care of by their nannies and well loved.  About 40 villagers are employed and each nannie takes care of 2 babies during the day. 

Sharon employed her "Gramma" skills and had one camera shy little one who wouldn't let her go! (Don't tell Ken...)  The facility is not only spotless but darling! These people work closely with Steven Curtis Chapman who has provided much funding for them.  A blessed day!

FORBIDDEN CITY, TRAINING & POWERFUL PRAYERS

 After a breakfast with GPiH staff, volunteers and guests here in Beijing as well as a inspiration from Ian Vickers, CEO, Sharon and I went to Forbidden City and Tiananmen Square - a beautiful day of fun and rest after many training days...

 At Forbidden City, Sharon and I found our new low energy washing machines!!

 Sharon standing outside a beautiful wall at Forbidden City.  God has blessed us so much in allowing us to join the Chinese believers here is this place full of culture and history!

 Shining faces listening to Sharon sharing how to conduct a Bible study and leading a study in Romans 12.  They are traveling for hours to get to where we are and then do not want us to leave.

 Holding Josh and Sabina's baby "Promise"...He is sooo sweet I was tempted to take hime with me, but thought they might notice :)

Sharon with a dear lady who received one of our special gifts.  She was so blessed by the Scripture on the cross, she was crying. There are so many questions and a great need for leadership training in many areas. Our plans include a retreat for leaders in the spring and follow-up training on a ocnsistant basis with Hope Zhang, our assistant.

PRECIOUS LEADERS & A PRIVATE PERFORMANCE!

It is hard to imagine how each trip becomes more impactful and a greater blessing to us and the women here who desire to lead and to impact China and the world! 

Hopefully tomorrow I will have time to include more pictures but for now I thought you might like to see this precious lady who preformed a lovely Chinese song and dance for us before we taught a class.  The women are so grateful that we have come and so eager to learn that they find such creative ways to share with us!  We are truly blessed~

NEWS FROM SHARON!

We can hardly wait to share with you what God has been doing the past few days while we have been here in Beijing. The internet was down in our hotel for a couple of days – so it put us a little behind in sharing with you – but God has been working none the less.


Yesterday is fresh on my mind so we want to share this day with you.

We were told that it would be necessary for us to meet in small groups this time of 6-8 people so no attention would be brought upon the people attending the sessions. We met at a Tea House with leaders from a local body of believers that were selected to come and learn so they could take back the materials to the rest of the women in their local body. Our group started with 10 and by the time we ended there were 20 women there. They just kept coming anyway. Their desire to learn is so strong.

We taught from 1-5:30 and they did not want us to stop.

Because we are in smaller groups this time – they are able to ask many more questions and there was great interaction. Each church picked from our list of topics what they wanted to be taught. The subject Peggy has taught 3 times already has been on Sexual Purity. We were shocked and amazed at some of the questions they had for us. Let me share some of them with you.

Question: We have been taught by our pastors that because there are so few Christian Chinese men, it is ok for us to marry a non believer and then we can try to lead him to Christ. Is this a right teaching?

Question: We have been taught by pastors that if we have sex outside of marriage we have to marry that man – even if he is a non believer. No other man will want you because you are already damaged -Is that a right teaching?

Question: We bring shame on our family if we do not marry. What do we do if we cannot find a good Christian man to marry – we need to get married so our family is not shamed.

Question: If you have never had sex and you are older and not married – no man wants to marry you because he thinks there is something wrong with you – so they feel they need to have sex so that does not happen.

One question from the day before was if you have sexual relations, and then repent, why do they keep doing it over and over? Why doesn't God help them stop if they have repented. (We taught the Old and New Nature topic to this group to give them a better understanding. They thought God was not working in their lives since they had sinned.)

These women want to do the right thing before God – but the pressure to be married is great. It seems in every culture that there are more Christian women then men – but it is really having an impact here in this country. The need for more men to reached with the gospel and then trained on how to be a godly man is greater than we even knew. Our hearts are breaking for these women.

We have shared with them what God wants for their lives is to not be unequally yoked and to be patient to wait on God to bring the right person for them – but they are so afraid of being alone and being a shame to their family. It is very hard for them to trust and wait.

Please pray for our Christian sisters here that God will raise up more believing men and that Christian couples will be able to grow together the way God intended.

Pray for their purity. Their culture makes it hard to be strong in their faith and making the right choices. You are helping change a country. To God be the glory.

Serving Together,
Sharon

WE'RE HERE!!

News from China‼ (Our news has been delayed because the internet at the hotel has been down until this morning)…


We are here and we are so excited! Sorry I have been unable to write until now – Sharon and I arrived safely on Thursday Dec. 2nd in the afternoon Beijing time (around midnight on Wednesday in the Colorado). We had a great flight – very smooth and wonderful seats with lots of room. Both of us slept well the first night and awoke on Friday fairly rested.

We met with Hope in the morning and had training with our first group from 1pm – 4pm on Friday and the second from 7-9pm. Today (Saturday) we attended the Family conference with Jim and Judy Burrows n the morning – they had a very nice turn-out and it seemed to go along quite well. After a quick lunch near our hotel we conducted training with another group at a Christian Tea House‼ Whew – we had not had time until tonight to go to the grocery store to get our supply of water for the week …

We have seen 35-40 women so far and they are so enthusiastic, have so many questions and we are amazed at how far they drive and the effort they put in to be wherever we are. It is a blessing to serve these open and dear women – the need for leadership training is great. We are excited to plan consistent follow-up for Hope to do when we are not here and to announce an upcoming leadership retreat for the spring!

Much more to come tomorrow and pictures to share. Actually, the internet is down in the hotel so I am writing this in a word document in hopes of pasting it into the blog. Sharon says to tell you all that your Saturday will be wonderful – we checked it out ahead of time for you‼

Love,
Peggy