China Connection

I'm thinking about one of my travels to China and how people come into our lives for five minutes but  remain forever in our memories. The person in the photo with me is not among those of whom I write, because the people of whom I write would be endangered if their names or photos were found in my blog.
It was 2006 and my second trip to China. This time I determined that I would be able to meet the leaders of the underground church. The first trip I had made in 1995 didn't allow such because our guide was very fearful---not for himself--but for the safety of the Chinese Church. Contrary to what the news may say beatings and imprisonments are punishment in China for professing Christ unless it is done in the 'approved' format. Approved means that the time of the service, the place of the service, the pastor of the service and the number of people attending meets the requirements of the government. In 2006 we hired a Christian (we thought) guide who was bilingual and who would be wiling (we thought) to make our connections. It turned out that our guide was indeed a member of the 'party' and very loyal to the Communist government and did much to keep the meetings from coming to pass. However we did meet incredible people who had suffered. We were able to worship in secret places through winding streets--locations of which change weekly. We met with a female leader who was constantly watched, whose locations had to change often, whose family was endangered. We met with a man who had left his hometown to do the work of the Lord but was so so so homesick that he finally returned home for a short visit. During that short visit his entire family was arrested and imprisoned. We met an American couple who is working underground in a profession but is ministering to the poor, disabled, illiterate and bringing the response, "You care this much about ME?"
What memories. This is a process as I prepare to write a book about my travels called Traveling Through Time. I have stacks of notebooks, each with precious memories. It is so time consuming to go through, extract the stories and type them up. It takes so much longer because each memory is a jewel that I stop to polish until it  shines.  The young lady in the photo? God blessed me indeed with a Chinese daughter in law.