Today was Sunday and we finally found a church to go to after talking with one of the interns at Compassion for Migrant Children. It was an International church in Beijing and people from all over the world were there. When I looked into the audience, I saw Asians, Africans, Middle Eastern, Whites, all worshipping together. I think this was what I wanted to see and what John Perkins and many other Christians want to see happen in America. There was only thing that really bothered me about the experience and that was you had to show your passport to verify that you were actually a foreigner. This was to insure that only foreigners were going to church and not Chinese citizens. Basically, foreigners can worship God and Chinese citizens can only worship in government run churches. Now, it’s not the church’s fault because it is forced upon them by the government but it bothers me that the Devil can work in such evil ways. Why aren’t we as Christians sending lawyers or politicians to fight this act? What exactly can we do to fight this atrocity? I don’t really know at this point but it is something that I was thinking that towards the end of church today. The bigger theme here is how can we reach the people of China without interfering with government policies? There are definitely avenues for that as our translator is Chinese and she is a Christian. Besides that, the service was really contemporary and nice. The people that I talked to after church were very fun to talk to and it was comforting to hear how God was shaping their lives and how He was using them in China. I am convinced that God is trying to show me something right now and whatever it is, it is big!
Anyways, after that amazing morning we went to lunch with the intern, Esther, and went to this foreigner mall that had a Starbucks and Coldstone. I refrained from eating or drinking those delicacies as I am trying only to eat and drink Chinese/Asian food while I am here. After lunch we went to the Pearl Market where they have fake everything from Rolexes to Coach bags and etc. I think every salesperson in the place either yelled at me or held my arm to being me to their station so they could sell me something. I actually had to walk outside to take a deep breath, and then I stepped inside and was a whole different beast. My first buy was alright but then I became a bargaining machine. I got a ton a stuff (gifts for my friends) all for under 25 US dollars. After all my purchases, I felt almost felt dirty with all the tactics I used to bargain. I lied, cheated, yelled, called them bad names in Chinese and all after this amazing morning of God showing me reconciliation between races. I guess that is the world of Chinese shopping but maybe next time I won’t lie as much… hopefully. Tomorrow is the first day of camps so I will be getting a good night’s rest.
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