Once I took part in overseas mission training. I was very late in starting prayer and preparation. I was counting on the fact that many missionaries had been sent by the church and so arranging one to be my supervisor on the field should not be a problem. But it so happened that many missionaries were back to Hong Kong that year to attend a large-scale mission celebration. I was ashamed of my arrogance and negligence, and I confessed my sin to God. Mission has nothing to do with satisfying our own enthusiasm and preferences, not to mention making our own decision on the way to go. It is about full reliance on the Lord of mission to send and to guide.

Finally, via a former colleague, I received an invitation to teach Putonghua in an orphanage in South-east Asia as learning Putonghua was a trend there then. One missionary even created a set of four gospel readers: Creation, Redemption, Resurrection, and Eternal Life. Each lesson was devoted to teaching seven Chinese characters. For example, Lesson One would teach the seven Chinese characters for “I, you, man, God, are, make, not.” Then, the missionary put the words together to form a gospel message: “I am not you. You are not me. God made me. God made you. I did not make you. You did not make me. God made you. God made me.” The message was complete with its translation in the local language by its side. The aim of the materials was to let students read God’s truth into their lives as they were reading. It was only then that I understood that God sent me there because there was such a need, and there was such love! 

Prayer was the most impressive experience in my two-month ministry. I was working among an ethnic minority. Missionaries from different countries had prayer meetings regularly. We sang the hymn “How Great Thou Art” in different languages and praised God for His work on the land. Every morning, I and the missionaries prayed for the children and adults who joined the Chinese class by name. We prayed that they would come to know Jesus. When I heard them say to us in standard Putonghua “God loves you. God loves me. God loves us,” I was really touched by God’s love. The glory of God was magnified in that community of the orphaned.

The last day of our service, a full rainbow appeared in front of me. It was so close that I felt I could touch it. It reminded me of God’s promise according to Paul: “So keep up your courage, men, for I have faith in God that it will happen just as he told me” (Acts 27:25). At that moment, a missionary took out a year-old prayer letter. For God to send a Chinese teacher to teach Putonghua using the gospel readers, those on the field and those back home had prayed fervently for a whole year. The letter was proof of God’s faithfulness! We could see that God had allowed those sent out as well as the intercessors back home to participate in His plan so His lovingkindness and faithfulness could be magnified and that His saving grace would be spread among those being served!

At the time of writing, I am serving in various parts of Europe during my sabbatical year. Thanks be to God for sending me and for your prayers. May you also obey the Lord Jesus’ sending: “The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field” (Luke 10:2).