It was so hot you could boil noodles in the puddles.
The afternoon shower had just added to the humidity and even along the Pearl River, there was no cooling breeze. Our team of six short-termers and two full-timers had found a place to get a Coke with ice. Reveling in a day well spent, we estimated that we had brought several hundred much-needed Bibles into China through the very porous southern gateway. With only a change of clothes in our bags and boat tickets in hand, we took time to rejoice over serving the Lord.
These were the days thirty years ago before China started printing and selling Bibles. Change would come, but on that day, it seemed very far away.
Gathered around a rough-hewn wooden table and perched on oversized chairs, we began to sing praise to the Lord. Perhaps it was the relief of not carrying anything or the joy of thinking of Hong Kong and the Golden Arches, but we grew louder as the songs progressed. Praising Jesus among the nations had become a core value of our lives in those days.
We never really noticed the group of laborers sitting next to us. They had been drinking for much of the afternoon as evidenced by the rounds of giant beer bottles on their table. They were quite curious about this group of westerners. Our teams had been thoroughly briefed on social interaction. We had declined the beer and with Cokes in hand had started the rejoicing.
The leader spoke to our full-timer but was not understood. The men had put down their beers. They had extinguished their cigarettes and some had begun to weep.
Our leader answered in Mandarin explaining that he did not understand the man’s dialect.
“How can that be?” the man exclaimed in Mandarin, “You are all singing about Jesus in our dialect. You are telling us about His love that He died for us. You just all sang that if we are sorry for our sins and invite Him in, He will forgive us and receive us. Please pray with us now.”
We had been rejoicing in tongues, but they heard us in their mother dialect. We as well as they were amazed and as they repented of their sins, our leader prayed with them. Each of them gave their life to Jesus. Then the rejoicing began.
