Hey peeps,here's my testimony!
Thanks for all who prayed!
:D

I went with a team of 12 people including myself to Chengdu for 8 days. It was an awesome trip! The experiences I encountered were really different from the Thailand trips which I went for the past 3 years!Firstly, really want to thank God for the accommodation; Brother Joshua’s house was really good, well-furnished, comfortable environment! He was really generous to lend it to us! Secondly, thank God for the team! This team was really united and fun to be with! The culture we built was one that encouraged each other, one that was really fun! And the guys really took care of us girls!

Through this trip, God really taught me a lot! Basically what we had to do was to go into the universities, Dian Zhi Ke Ji and Hua Xi respectively. Our identity there were as students on exchange program, that we wanted to get to know more about the school and the culture over in Cheng Du. We prayer walk around the campus and tried to make friends by getting them to take us around the school or by inviting them to lunch/dinner after getting to know them. At first it was hard, as we were unfamiliar with the school, and we were actually scared to approach! But prayer walk really soften the ground! The boys started to know people through playing basketball! And one girl that I approached was actually the girlfriend of the guy that the boys were trying to get to know! We started building relationships by talking to them, sharing about Singapore, asking more about them.

Edward, Wee Huat and me was in one team. We got to know this guy called Yang Jian, after which through him, we got to know Da Ming and Chen Wei! Yang Jian and Da Ming were quite open! They brought us around, and on a Sunday evangelistic gathering, we got to talk to them about religion! BRX sharing about purpose of life and our testimonies actually made them see the need for God in their society. They recognized the trend of increasing suicide and they mentioned that some of their friends around them actually have psychological needs/problems. They said that Buddhism is not a solution to what they need. They felt that Christianity can provide emotional support. It was awesome! We gave them the Chinese version of four spiritual laws and a bible each to read. Though they didn’t accept Christ, but at least we planted seeds in them! This trip is mainly relationship based sharing. It is like an application of our daily life in another country! This trip helped me to open up a lot, to talk to strangers, to start conversations! The people over there were generally really friendly! They were sincere in the way they treated us, and we should be too! There was this girl that accepted Christ after I shared to her in the park! She’s a student who’s learning French and English. Her teacher told her and the rest of the class to read the bible to improve their English. Thus, she had read the bible before and also some books which talks about Christianity. She was very open! However due to not able to get her contact number, we lost contact. I got to be more careful the next time, to get the full details!

Throughout the trip, God dealt with me from inside out. There was only two girls, me and Georgiana in the team. Thus, we were rather sensitive with one another. We sensed that Satan would use the relationship between us to distract the team. And indeed, sometimes I struggled. I struggled with thoughts like everyone doted on her and not me or that she’s so outspoken, why I can’t be too. I recognized that it is from Satan, thus we sat down and talked. We talked about the different ways we handles things or people, we talked about our perspective of dealing with people. God made me realized that people handles things differently, it is unrealistic to expect people to respond in the way you do etc. God taught me to be patient, to not be self-centered. When we start to look people through God’s lens, we start on focus on others’ needs instead on ours! Another encounter was at Holy Love Special School. It really took a lot of love and patience to deal with the children there. It was tiring to push the wheelchair around, and while pushing, I constantly had to adjust the boy’s legs for him. But God reminded me of love, and every time I adjusted his legs for him, I prayed for him！And there was this girl who took my hand and scratched really hard on it, till it hurt badly. I was irritated, but again reminded of love and patience!

Another aspect God dealt with was with my weakness of infatuation. I easily feel attracted to guys. I got a breakthrough when we were climbing the mountains on a day where we were unexpectedly given time to rest and appreciate God’s creation! It was awesome that God planned it, that day happened to be Sabbath! I always felt nature to be relaxing and it always seems to overwhelm me that God created things so beautiful! God redirected my focus to Him on that day. He took away the feelings I had for any guy! The desire of focusing on Him alone grew stronger! It was awesome! His presence was so strong! After which, in the later part of the mission trip, I was tested. It made me realized that I have to be careful of the way I behave towards guys, the signals that I might have wrongly sent. Even though my intention might be pure, but it might have stumbled others who do not know. I learnt to really depend on God. It is impossible and tiring to be always checking on your motives. It is hard to love with patience. It is hard to draw a line in friendship with the opposite sex. But relying and communicating with God throughout your day, throughout your life makes it possible!

God worked powerfully through this trip! Despite not being prepared properly, God planned out everything for us! God provided us with the people to reach out to! Now Da Ming and Yang Jian is getting more interested in knowing about God! Da Ming read the four spiritual laws and thought about some questions! About love, about prayer, about reaching out to people about the gospel! Can really see God working in him! It is awesome! Praise the Lord for whatever He done!

:D
signed off with love,
Theresa :D