Prayer: Prayers of Joy: Looking for Chinese faces

posted by field worker, on November 3rd, 2011
tagged in: Africa, diaspora, prayer

Looking for Chinese faces

By Joy Tiller

This past month my husband and I traveled to Southern Africa, specifically to connect with Chinese people. We were based in Johannesburg for more than five weeks, always on the alert for Chinese faces that might be peeking out from amidst all the Africans.

Each morning we prayed to be directed to Chinese people who needed to hear the Gospel, or who were already believers and just needed a word of encouragement. We carried Chinese Gospel tracts and Bibles to be given out. We were traveling that day to Botswana, a country north of South Africa.

About four hours from Johannesburg, we came to a small Afrikaner town. As we drove down the main street, we saw a shop entitled, “Q. I. Fong”, and I said, “Stop! Stop! That has to be a Chinese shop!” As my husband slowed the car, we saw several more shops, one after the other, with Chinese names. He pulled the car over to the curb, and we jumped out.

We went into the first shop, and after we greeted them in Chinese, they hesitantly began to talk with us. One of them said he is a believer. We gave them some Gospel tracts and Chinese Bibles. The owner and his relative welcomed the materials. They walked us to the front door, happy to have met someone from ‘home’ who spoke their heart language!

In another Chinese shop further down, we met the owner, who had been living in the town for two years. His relative, standing quietly beside him, had arrived less than a month ago. After greetings and initial conversation, my husband asked the shop owner if he is a Christian. He stated that he is, so my husband shared some of the Gospel tracts and a couple of Chinese Bibles with him. Asked if there is a Chinese church in town, the shop owner said, “No”, with a downcast face. He explained that in China he had attended a house church, but in Africa, he only reads his Bible by himself.

We returned to the car, praising and thanking God for directing our steps to those particular shops. We also prayed that the material we left would be read many times by many people. We went on our way rejoicing!

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