Written by Jana
On route to our final Chinese town the man we met on the bus insisted we have to come meet his son. The son could apparently speak good English – if good English means being able to say “yes”, “no”, “thank you” and “no understand” this statement was very true. As we enter the town – the man commands us to get off at the first robot.
Us geared with our backpacks and a food bag weighing more than our backpacks combined (or so it felt on poor Wesley’s shoulder) start the “50m” walk to the man’s house. 500m later we realise that he might have meant 5km... We turn up the street, walk through the market, up the ally and into what I would call a typical Chinese village.
Followed by about 2 dozen little faces and again giggles all around, we are led into a small bedroom / study/ lounge area. The man explains that his son is playing basketball – “My son, big one, speaks English. I think you speak good with
him, aaa he plays basketball now.” The disappointment on his face, together with the broken English and despair in his voice proofs that he so, so badly wanted to surprise his son! This dad really cares and wants to spoil! Before we can even think of moving anywhere we’re each presented with a cup of green tea and instructed to sit down. “Wife make food. Lot of vegetables. You eat! So we wait. At some point I explain to him that I would like to help his wife, he takes me to the kitchen – which is in a total other building. Helping is not an option! I have to sit, watch and drink some more green tea. So this I do. His wife is beautiful and kind. She keeps on smiling and I wish I could speak to her. Tell her that she’s special and loved and divine in God’s eyes.We are presented with the best meal we’ve had. Meat, veggies,
bread, dumplings, more veggies and even more green tea. They sit in the couch next to us, watching our every move, every minute handing us another piece of bread and filling our cups with some more tea. “You not eat?” we ask. “No, no wait for son. Speaks English. I think you speak good with him, aaa he plays basketball now. You eat, you eat” So we eat!After we wrote a letter explaining to the boy that our guys would love to play basketball with him and we’ll come for a visit again tomorrow we say good bye. The lovely wife – which we gathered met her husband in middle school, greets us with a warm handshake and loving smile.As we’re about to leave to boy shows up. He accompanies us to our hotel and a time for basketball is set. After the basketball
game – which I missed due to an appointment with my bed we’re thinking we won’t see them again. This was a wrong assumption. That night we first receive a letter, sent by a messenger (the boy’s brother’s friend) thereafter, while we’re trying to prepare supper on our faulty cooker a whole welcoming party shows up! The father brought his sister and her son to come and meet the foreigners... Wesley ran down to buy some tea which we either prepared wrong or they just did not feel like having, because we had left over for about 2days... So while we’re cooking we have this crowd watching. I kept on thinking they might feel sorry for us and invite us for dinner again. So the singers in the group entertained them with a praise and worship session while I made sure we got fed that night.The next day had much excitement in the form of teachers and school visits and more meals, so it wasn’t long
and our village friends were almost forgotten. This was until I realised my camera was missing and thought I might have left in their house. Zylna and I went on a camera search and ended up in the all in one room with the kind wife. This was probably one of the weirdest situations of my life. We sat there smiling, trying to talk and giggling more than anything else. I felt so sorry for her and so bad. No matter what we did our communication did not go further than a few laughs. When we got up to leave, she signalled to us to sit back down. We obliged – this was rewarded by a big bowl of noodles 5minutes later. I had the biggest desire to hug her and hold her and tell her that Jesus loves her! So was so kind – the thought that I won’t see her again – not even in heaven breaks my heart! We greeted her with hugs and laughter and promises of a last visit the following day.On our last day in town we went to say good-
bye. Her whole face lit up when she saw us and she was sitting carefully listening to every word we spoke to her son. She shines with love, kindness and care only a mother could give! I so, so wished I could’ve spoken to her. I wanted to thank her for how she blessed us, for how she lit up my life for that week! When we said goodbye she hugged me and held me tight, without either one of us being able to understand one another words of love and appreciation was spoken and I truly hope that somehow, someday I’ll meet her in heaven.