There is something sacred about waking up to His Presence in a Chinese village.
This past weekend, I was blessed to do just that. In honor of the Mid-Autumn festival, China had a three-day weekend this past weekend. (The Mid-Autumn festival is a traditional Chinese holiday to celebrate the moon and harvest time, I guess). A group of friends and I decided to take advantage of the extra time off of work and to go hiking in the mountains. We hired a driver to take us and left early in the morning on Saturday.
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| our driver - doesn't he just look like a great guy?! :) he was seriously the best! |
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| packed and ready to go! |
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| made it in one piece! |
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| the outside of our living quarters (hostel? home? - not sure what to call it) |
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| one of our rooms...we might've fit 5 girls in here :) |
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| Jennifer trying to teach all of us (and our bus driver) how to play mafia |
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| playing mafia (bilingually :) and eating lunch together |
After arriving and eating lunch, we all (including our driver) went hiking at Miao Feng Shan (Mountain). It took us a few hours to reach the summit and then we had to pay a little to enter this village/temple area. We continued on through the village area to the top of the peak. It was challenging, but we made it! The view at the top was pretty, but not exactly breathtaking because of the dense fog/pollution.
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| hiking! |
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| attempted to take a roomie picture, but then we were interrupted by a bee :S |
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| found a field of wild daisies! |
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| goofy pictures with these girls, haha |
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| so thankful to have this girl as both a coworker and friend! |
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| made it to the top! |
After reaching the top of the mountain, we went back down and explored the temple area. There was a HUGE golden snake/dragon outside the temple. Inside the temple were 7-8 gods/goddesses - each representing a different characteristic/aspect of life (i.e., health, money, love, etc.). There were monks both inside and outside the temple attempting to sell things.
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| the temple |
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| inside the temple |
To be honest, it all seemed very bogus to me. And yet, people were bowing down and worshipping and praying to these statues. It was unreal.
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| There were about 8 gods one could worship at this particular temple |
As I exited the temple, a phrase from a missionary came back to my mind. "There is a place where He is not worshipped. There is a place where He is not worshipped..." The fact that there are places in the world where our Savior is not worshipped should keep us up at night. Yesterday, this temple stood as a stark reminder to this truth. This temple is a place where He is not worshipped. As I gazed up into the gigantic golden dragon outside the temple, I prayed that this fortress of the enemy would be destroyed and that the cross of Jesus would be lifted high.
While making my way back down the mountain, I realized that we all are worshipping something. Money, health, fame, gods, even Mao Zedong (his picture is in every room in our hostel).... we are all putting value in something. The world is chasing after all of these false gods - when what they really need is the one TRUE God.
Jesus, make your name great in this Chinese village and in this world. May your cross of victory be lifted high in this world. May all the world see and know that You are God.
The next day, we hiked another mountain and once again reached another temple. Joanna and I went inside and ended up striking up a conversation with one of the lady monks who worked there. She spoke a little English. She invited us to worship the gods. Of course, we refused and explained to her that we worship Jesus. "Dou keyi, mei you guan xi," She replied.
You can worship both. It doesn't matter. We were blessed to share with her a little bit about Jesus and how
it does matter to Him. He alone is God and He alone is worthy of worship. Thankful for these little opportunities to utter His name.
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| second temple we visited....there is seriously a temple at the top of every mountain here |
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| sweet ladies who sold me fresh pears |
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| their bright sweatshirts kinda made a rainbow :) |
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| fresh honey and rose jam from a sweet elderly lady's roadside stand |
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| late night card game |
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| on our second day, we randomly ran into the WWII museum-like place.... |
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| a wooden bridge we found that was a little precarious.....i was a little scared - only because construction workers were still working on the opposite side. :S |
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| and we finally made it back! :) |
Thankful for this fun weekend and for the opportunity to experience more of this country and culture He's placed me in for this season. :)
