Eric's Beijing Diary

"And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee." (Genesis 12:3)

There is something both very important and very special about seeking God's blessing and annointing on what you are doing. My prayer to God is always, "If you cannot bless what I am doing, or the way I am doing it, please show me how to do things in the way that pleases you." Hudson Taylor said, "God's work done God's way will never lack God's supply." This is true. The trick is not in somehow persuading God to support us, it is in seeking God with our whole hearts, to find the way that pleases Him so that he can bless the work we are doing, because it is His work.

Lanzhou. I wasn't sure where I should stay when I got to Lanzhou, becuase this city does not have any youth hostels that I know of. I finally got a brainstorm to call the University (Northwest Normal University) and see if they had a guest house. Lucky me, they did. It isn't luxury, but it is about the same as a nice hotel for a much lower price (120RMB/night). When I first called the guest house, the desk lady, who is sweetness personified, was embarrassed at her difficulty with English. I finally got her to give me her email address, and I sent her an email in Chinese, requesting the address and location. That way, I could show her email to anyone who knew they area, and they would be able to help me.

I boarded the train yesterday evening in Beijing. I had only been able to find a hard sleeper ticket, so I asked the fuwuyan if I could upgrade. She told me to go ahead and get on the train, and she would check it out for me. But you know how it is. The train sits in the station for almost a half-hour before leaving, so by the time she came around and asked me if I still wanted to switch, I had already gotten settled in and was getting acquainted with the neighbors. When my new neighbors heard me talking with the train steward about upgrading to a soft sleeper, they insisted on switching places with me so that I could have the middle bunk. I didn't want to make that big a deal about it, but they were such nice people, that I went along with the deal.

One of my neighbors was a young lady named "Eagle," who was traveling with her family back to the city of Lanzhou. She had just been to Beijing to appy for a visa from the Canadian government. She is planning to go to Canada in the fall to study. She will start out with an English language training program in Toronto, then switch to the University of Alberta. As I was telling her a little of what I am trying to do in China, she said, "Do you believe in Christ?" I told her that I did. She said, "We all believe in Christ." I asked her if she went to church. She said, "No, I'm not a Christian. But I will be a Christian when I go to Canada."

This morning, when the train pulled into Lanzhou, a kid from Lanzhou who had heard me asking folks which bus to take to the University told me that he would take me to the guest house. Saved me a lot of trouble, because he knew the area really well. Before I left the train, Eagle made me promise to call her when I got settled. She wanted to show me some of the city. Handy, because she has lived here all her life, and could probably show me more in a few hours than I could see in a couple days on my own. I didn't really come to Gansu Province to see Lanzhou, but I wouldn't mind taking in a couple things before I leave for the countryside.

Labels: Travel Gansu