Mark & Dayna's Blog: New Horizons in the Homeland

Greetings in the Name of the Prince of Peace,

These are days for Christians to rejoice that “the government is on His shoulders.” Our world’s impressive human statues have “feet of clay.” Praise Jesus – King of kings and Lord of lords!

Four years ago an Elder from Nigeria asked me who I was for in the upcoming US presidential vote. I was a bit surprised that he cared, because frankly I didn’t! I was glad to be an ocean away, not thrilled with either choice. He kindly chided me that it did matter as the holder of that office would impact the world, including Nigeria. Just sayin’…

Thanks so much for your prayers and support for us. We are excited for the new doors He is opening. Last month we began our weekly sessions with pastors and preachers from the nearby 3-Self church. (‘Three-Self’ is the large government sanctioned Protestant church in China. Three-Self is from the missionary axiom of Henry Venn and Rufus Anderson in the 1800’s teaching three principles - self-governance, self-support, and self-propagation - i.e. indigenous missionary work, independence from foreigners.)

Dayna the English teacher and Mark the theologian! Usually our first hour is practicing the pronunciation of theological words, the second is studying the meaning of Philippians (the book we will all be preaching through) and learning to pronounce the words correctly! Join us in praying that the Lord of the Harvest will raise up a generation that will ‘sound His trumpet’ clearly and faithfully for many years here in this land.

Several churches have been gathering for the last couple weeks. They are learning ‘new ministries’ like advanced reservation booking, mask checking, people spacing, hand sanitizing, and consoling people stuck ‘outside the gate’ because there is not enough room approved for them to safely enter. Thank God He never will turn away those who call upon His Name!

Serving the Beijing International Christian Fellowship

We really enjoyed going to the outskirts of Beijing with the BICF Support Staff, speaking to them on the theme they chose, “A Better Rest,” from Hebrews 3 & 4 and Psalm 30.

Last week Mark had the privilege of joining the BICF Men’s Retreat as one of their speakers. We had a great time on a beautiful autumn weekend. Borrowing a title from one of my favorite preachers I spoke on “The Whole Christ.” (If you want to fine tune your Gospel understanding as your heart fills with fresh gratitude, read that book by Sinclair Ferguson!)

Travels in the Motherland

For a decade living in China we’ve heard tales about Kunming ‘city of eternal spring’ and its district YunNan. YunNan is home to dozens of minority tribes with a rich mission history (look up James Frazier) with more history waiting to be made. Some regions chart 80% Christian, others remain largely untouched by His great news.

So, with much anticipation we boarded a flight from Beijing. After long months of COVID lockdown, going to the airport was a wondrous new experience - this time with face masks, Health Check apps on phones – from Beijing and Yunnan - and gobs of hand sanitizer.

We traveled with dear friends who know the nation and the language and a new friend with years of experience in YunNan. She gave years climbing the region’s steep mountains reaching remote peoples with the deeds and doctrines of Jesus. She brought faith in Jesus and medical training to dozens of aspiring ‘community health evangelists.’ We unexpectedly dropped in on several of them to find them faithfully serving the people of their communities.

One man we met was the ‘least likely to succeed’ when he showed up for the training over a decade ago. He came from a remote mountain village a day’s walk from any road. He is one of four sons of Christian parents – now in their 80’s still farming a small, steep, patch of rocky ground. Maybe somebody forgot to tell him the course was in Mandarin – which as Lisu he did not read or even speak! When our doctor friend met this young man from the remote mountains she was impressed by his earnest desire to learn how to help his people. She sponsored his private tutor of Mandarin! He squeaked through the training in his newly acquired

language and returned home as a doctor. It took some time for the village that had watched him grow up to trust him as their doctor. At that time there were more popular physicians in residence. But eventually people wearied of their high fees for poor results. Our humble friend was the one who came in the middle of the night, no matter how much people could afford, and often knowing the right remedy. Now the last has become first. Not only is he an exceedingly busy doctor. The village trusts him so much he is their “mayor” and an elder of their church! What a privilege to meet ‘family members’ so very different but forever linked in the things that matter most. We’ll spend eternity in a place with no language barriers.

We drove several hours through majestic steep canyons hosting the Mekong River – it’s called the Lancang in China. We crossed the river several times, even strapped to a cable!

Then we flew from the north to south YunNan. Xishuangbanna is home of the Dai people. If it sounds like Thai, points for your ethnography! They’re form the same people group. When we got out of the plane we thought we were in Thailand. China encourages people who want to see Thailand to come spend their vacation money in the Motherland. But if it is not authentic Thai enough for you there is a highway direct to Thailand – soon there will be a high-speed train!