Today, we checked out of our motel room and moved to our friend’s place. His family is currently traveling in the United States so we are grateful that he is opening up his house for us.
Afterwards we had lunch at KFC. I would say that the KFC's over here are better than the ones in America. They give you way more chicken and the batter was on point.
Afterwards we traveled to Home Sweet Home, a facility that equips those with special needs in Shanghai. Home Sweet Home finds homeless, disabled, and migrant workers on the streets and allows them to shower, eat, and change their clothes. Those who want to stay can eventually join their program in which they mentor them and provide them with employment to advance in their lives and keep them off the streets. The program is completely funded through support and donations. I’ve known about this facility for months and it was pretty encouraging to finally see how God was changing the lives of those who are homeless, disabled, and migrant workers. Our friend Matt, who had retired and volunteered his time to help run this facility, took us on a tour of the place. We were able to see our friend Manna again. We were able to hear about how God has been continuing to transform her life. She was once an orphan and non-believer who is now becoming the assistant supervisor in their factory. She has also been attending a local church in Shanghai.
Once again, I saw just how fortunate we are living in America. I really see God working through Home Sweet Home. Many of these people are being saved and are being introduced to house churches. They are also being saved from going into prostitution, drug abuse, and homelessness. They are able to gain skills to cook, live on their own, and earn an income through hard work. I pray that God will continue to give Home Sweet Home the resources and funds to expand and save more people off the streets. These simple acts of kindness show God’s love for everyone.
Afterwards, we met up with Faith, who we met the day before, and she took us to her gym. She was the Caucasian woman originally from Texas who spoke Chinese fluently. She had been living out in Shanghai for the last 5 or so years as an artist doing ministry. Being personal trainers, we aim to use the gym as a tool to meet other young fitness-minded adults and grow friendships among them to eventually tell them about the gospel. Faith introduced us to her trainer, David who she had been wanting to witness to for a while. He spoke Mandarin and a few words in English so it was difficult communicating with him verbally. As Adam and I started lifting, he seemed really amused by our workouts. We were able to do a few workouts with him and get to know him. He eventually met our team leader David, who started giving him body building tips. David eventually started posing and attracted the entire section of the gym haha. It was very encouraging to see how God was using us as a way to reach out to them and to see how intrigued they were from our presence. One of the trainers even gave David a free massage. They told us that we could come back any time. We were very excited to see how God opened up the door to reach out to the people in this gym. I pray that God will continue to use Faith as a way to witness to David and the other trainers at the gym.
Later that night, David, Adam, and I went to our friend Jason’s place who we had also met the day before. Jason has been personal training since 1999 and has been working well within the fitness industry in Shanghai. He is a strong believer in Christ too. He and his wife invited a few woman over who he had been training. They were both non-believers and we really had the opportunity to talk about Christ in front of them. It was a pretty long, tiring day overall but I really got to see how God worked in all different kinds of ways. We hope to continue this throughout the trip and to see what else God has planned for us.
No comments:
Post a Comment