Welcome To The Experience!

Team China (from L to R):  Mitchell Roush, Jake Owens, Elise Hart, Tammy Phan, and Tim Lewis.

Every summer LST sends out mission teams from colleges all over America.  York College had to opportunity to send 3 teams out to foreign countries this summer.  You will learn about my team that went to Jimei, China.

We were there for 3 weeks.  We showed up and taught English using the Gospel of Luke to about 76 readers most of which were college students in the city of Jimei.  The average amount of readers for most LST teams are around 30 - 45.  We read for a combined 387 hours throughout this trip.  As you can tell we were very busy with having an overload of readers.

This blog is about my (Mitch's) readers.  This information for anyone that wants to know more detail about what it was like to work with these wonderful and kind people in China.  I read with about 20 different readers throughout this amazing mission.  I am only updating on a few that I had multiple times.  For time and space I couldn't report on them all.  Rest assured that nearly every reader was an amazing success story and everyone on this team has wonderful life-changing testimonies in regards to these people God allowed us to reach.  I hope mine are enjoyable, thought-provoking, and encouraging for your faith.  These brothers and sisters mean the world to me.

God was so good on this trip.  It was incredible to witness how active and powerful His spirit was in this area and in the hearts of these readers.  Most the of students we worked with didn't believe in anything at all--some were even atheist.  But that didn't stop the work of the Spirit.  Lives were changed, hearts were opened, Jesus was discovered.  I can't emphasize enough how much of an honor it was to be used as a vessel for the Spirit on this trip and to experience these searching students discover our Christ for the first time.

"What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ"

~ Philippians 3:8

Unforgettable God Moments With Susan

There are people that God puts into your life for multiple different reasons.  There are rare moments that God gives you throughout your life that you will never forget.  And sometimes, just sometimes God will overwhelm you with passionate grace by using somebody in your life to give you such a moment.  

Susan is a shop-a-holic, boba tea lover, addicted to pop-culture, fashion savvy girl.  But underneath all of that popular exterior lies one of the sweetest, thoughtful, and understanding person I have ever met.

Susan came to her first reading session with me already equipped with solid english speaking abilities.  She had heard a lot about God and Jesus but no one had taken the time to try to explain to her why God is real.  She came to me with a mixture of skeptical feelings while still yearning to learn more.  The first lesson was very interesting and hard to read whether or not it was positively productive or not.

A week passed by before she showed up again for her next session.  Throughout that time I just assumed she didn't want to come back.  Apparently there was just a large gap in between her scheduled times.  The second session we worked a little bit faster through some of the lessons.  She was understanding the messages and eager to learn more about the complexities of Jesus.  She knew he was a very important man and very mysterious.  Susan wanted to know as much about Him as she could.  During this lesson it became clear to me that the Spirit was finally touching her heart deeply.

Third session she came to me with the Luke book finished!  She couldn't wait to read so she figured she would do it all and then talk to me about it afterwards.  This girl was driven and she was ready to dive deeply into why living for Christ is so important.  She was touched by the story of Jesus and knew she wanted to be a part of His mission.  Direction was all she needed.  We chatted more about the depth of the messages in Luke and proceeded to delve into Acts.

Throughout the next three lessons we completed the entire book of Acts workbook!  She was a machine and devouring every ounce of the Holy Spirit she could chew.  When we came to some of the more difficult stories I began to get a window into her heart and witnessed just how thoughtful this girl really was.   Not only did she make me homemade dumplings (they were out-of-this-world I might add) but she had a raw passion for the Word of God. 

This girl is a classic case of most college students in China:  hates what she is studying, wants to go to Europe to study but can't, wants to work for a magazine but can't, wants a better relationship with her family but doesn't.  The list goes on like this for her and a majority of others.  Much more difficult than I could imagine.  And yet when she read the story of Stephen in Acts 7 her response spoke of amazement and humility.  She said, "I thought I had struggles.  It doesn't even compare to Stephen's situation."  I couldn't believe she said that!  Susan struggles more than any college student should and she was still humble enough to understand just how powerful the story of Stephen was.

Another moment came when we were discussing the topic of prayer and God's Spirit always being present and listening and active and helping us.  I asked her if she had prayed before and she said yes.  I asked her what she thought of prayer and she had this to say:  "I love it.  It helps me relax and feel better about life.  I am glad I can talk to God.  I just feel bad sometimes because I know He and Jesus are very busy and I don't want to bother them with all of my small problems when I know they are helping people with more difficult and important things at that moment."  This girl was concerned about the work load of Jesus!  Imagine how excited she got when I told her that God can handle anything at anytime no matter what.  She could barely contain herself.

Still, the most ground-breaking moment came during her last session which just happened to be on the last day of our team's mission.  We got to the story about Philip and the Ethiopian Eunuch and read through it and discussed how important it was.  I asked her what she thought was the best part of the story.  She pointed at the name Philip and looked at me and said:  "I am just so happy that God has done this for me.  He sent you here to China for a reason.  You are my Philip sent from God."  You want to talk about a moment that shakes your faith in an awesome way--this is a moment that is truly of God.  We went on to talk about baptism.  She said she wants it more than anything else in the world.  She isn't 100% that she is ready.  

But I know through prayer and her zeal that it will happen soon.  I am so excited thinking about it because I know how far she has come.  Susan will very soon be added to our family and will do great things for our Christ--I just know it. 

Lessons On Sacrifice From Sunny

Have you ever known that something was absolutely true but had trouble expressing all the reasons why?  Sunny has.

Have you ever had to worry about possibly being dis-honored out of your family because of what you believe?  Sunny has.

Do you think you would be able to remain joyful and positive throughout a whole mess of worldly distractions you can't control?  Sunny can.

Sunny came to me already a believer.  She was converted one year ago.  She was one of the most cheery people I met in China.  How was I supposed to know that underneath the surface that she had a pile of heartache built up?  

Sunny was very interested in learning about American Universities.  There wasn't a class time that passed by with us that she didn't want to learn more about being a college student in America.  It had always been her dream to study abroad in the states.  Of course that didn't happen.  In Jimei she struggled to succeed in school because she just didn't understand the content of the major her parents chose for her.  However, she was still grateful that she in college and away from her family because than her mother wouldn't be a problem any more.  Her and her mother apparently have a regular problem of arguing over faith.  Sunny is Christian and her mother is Buddhist.

Sunny's major problem was that she knew God was real and that Jesus died for her sins but she couldn't answer everyone's questions about how it all works in every aspect of life.  She had so many questions for me about how to search for God deeper in Scripture you've read already, and how to pray when you don't know what God wants, and how to tell other people you know He speaks to you when you can't hear His voice.  All of these kinds of questions had haunted her for months and she was now able to ask them.

Watching her face while she read the Bible was one of the most joyous moments for me.  She loved reading it so much and could identify with no help and with ease how the story would apply to her and could change her.  Even with her English being poor she could discuss Jesus at length.

Sunny felt so much more confident about sharing her faith comfortably after our time together.  She felt on fire and was excited to go to church more for the first time she said.  I am more than grateful to God for allowing me to be used in this fashion.  Watching Sunny's faith grow in front of me was a powerful experience and a humble honor to help be a part of molding that.  I also learned so much from her.  Sunny knows what's it's like to truly take up your cross and follow Jesus.  Sunny struck me with this statement:  "God always made me happy.  But now my heart is full of His happiness.  So many things I can understand better.  It feels good."

Bright Future Ahead For Beverly

The more and more I interact with children, the more I am reminded that they literally can accomplish a vast majority of things.  Beverly was certainly a testament for that statement.

This 10 year old girl was brilliant and eager to be filled with the Word of God.  Beverly's english was better than nearly all of my older readers.  Her mother (who came with her for every lesson) is also a school teacher and has really high hopes for her little girl.

They are members of the only government sanctioned church in Jimei.  Meaning that Beverly had already been exposed to Jesus at some level.  I still wasn't anticipating the depth of understanding to come out of this girl.  She was great at reading the english and understanding the new words.  Not only that, she was easy to teach and quick to pick up on why all these "stories" are so important to her.

Beverly is one of those girls that is very talented but is also pushed a lot to succeed.  It's not unhealthy--but she works harder than most students her age.  The great thing about her is she's not afraid to ask deep questions and even try to move up to more difficult subject matter.  After a few lessons with me and some of the other teammates she came to me with the entire Luke book finished.  She had done it on her own at home.  She said that she wanted to go to a different book because she wanted to learn deeper things.

After discussing all of her questions about Luke and discovering that she really did have a good grasp on the understanding of Jesus I decided to let her move on to the Acts book.  Of course, this was more difficult for her but it didn't hold her back.  This girl devoured the Word and was ready to learn more.

To give you some background, Beverly's determination and accomplishments go much further than reading the Bible.  She took a test at her school that was over the English language and it had three segments:  oral, reading, and writing.  She went up against over 50 other students her age.  The top 7 scores get to go on to the top middle school of the area.  Beverly ranked 3rd out of the whole group, thus sending her next year to the high honor middle school.

Not only is this girl educated, driven, and confident but she allowed her heart to attach to me and the rest of the team.  If there was a day she didn't have a class with one of us she would come over anyway and bring us fruit and tell us how much she missed us.  Beverly became the jewel of Team China's mission.  She snuck her way into each of our hearts and showed us that children are capable of much and mostly it's fierce love that can only be fueled by the Divine Source.

I look forward to seeing how much she learns, works, and matures in life and in her faith the next time I visit Jimei.  Beverly is very excited to live for Christ:  "I am so grateful for how much He has given me.  I cannot wait to see what He will let me do for Him in the future."

Lin = A Life Saved

If you choose to read about one story on this blog please pick this one.  God putting Lin into my life was so much more than adding a good friend to my list.  Lin is a living testament that through Christ all things are possible.

Like all the other readers we experienced, Lin didn't enjoy the life that his parents chose for hm.  He really enjoyed learning about Chinese history, but of course that's not the direction he was ordered to go.  To top that all off, his parents thought that he was mildly retarded.  In a nut-shell:  Lin had  just about the lowest self-esteem of anyone I've known.

Here is where the inspiring God moments began.  I discovered quickly that Lin didn't have a brain problem at all.  In fact, it was quite the opposite.  This student was incredibly intelligent and was flying through the lessons in the book like it was nothing for him.  We were working through 5 and 6 lessons a session as well as having deep faith discussions all at an hour at a time!

Lin hadn't heard much about Jesus.  Like most people he knew that Christianity was considered the "American faith" but he didn't know who Jesus was or how God operated.

He had such interesting questions.  He was one reader that understood early that the lessons we were working through were more than just stories--they were to be applicable to our lives.  He was not shy about challenging me to help him understand deep facets of the Holy Spirit--he was fascinated with the H.S.  

By the time we got through the baptism of Jesus story he started talking about how amazing he thought Jesus was and wanted to learn about Him as much as he could.  By the time our sessions were done he was discovering the seed thoughts (main messages) from the lessons all on his own without me prompting him.  And his vocabulary increased quite substantially.

But the greatest aspect of God bringing me to Lin was the depth of passion and search in Lin's heart.  From the early going he wanted to fill his empty heart with something and he discovered that Christ could do that for him.  He asked me if we could pray together.  So, we began praying together.  He loved learning this part of communication so much--it was intriguing and enjoyable for him.  He was so excited when he learned that he could pray to God anytime he wanted!  Now, it's not the "norm" to pray with readers on an LST trip because most of them aren't on that stage yet.  To have this rare experience especially with someone that was pretty much an outcast in his culture because of disability he didn't have was truly of God and life-changing for both of us.

The last time we prayed together all Lin could seem to say was:  "God, thank you for making me so happy.  I am just so glad that you want me to talk to you.  Thank you for letting me learn how.  I am just so happy now, God."

Persevering With Bruce

After Bruce's first session I remember praying to God:  "Lord, what on earth did you get us into?  How am I going to reach someone who is struggling so much to learn?  Please take control of this situation."

Bruce was one of the funniest and nicest guys we met in China.  The problem is that he had very limited English capabilities and struggled to learn in Chinese to begin with.  He is a very mediocre student at his university.  To be blunt, the first lesson with Bruce was a chore.

The great news is that when we let God control the situations at all times then the payoff and fulfillment comes out of nowhere and it never fails.

Bruce and I ended up connection via action movies.  He was an expert on the Chinese movies and told me which titles to get into.  And I, of course, shared with him the glory that is Terminator and Rambo.  We enjoyed each other's company and loved chatting even through the difficult communication.

I was hard-pressed to find a reader that worked harder to learn than Bruce.  The poor guys was so thirsty for knowledge of Christ and to improve English but he was just a struggling student.  Ironically enough, he was the only reader I had that actually enjoyed what he was studying.

He knew that Jesus was an important person to "American faith" but didn't know much else starting out.  He loved reading the stories and became more and more interested when he read more stories about the miracles.  He enjoyed seeing God using His powers.  I'm pretty sure his brain about imploded when I started explaining to Him that this powerful God and super hero Jesus loved Him.  

Bruce and I got a lot out of our time together.  He is still reading the book on his own in fact--he is emailing me questions he has.  When we were done reading together Bruce was so real when he said this:  "God is so cool.  He can do anything!  I can't wait to learn more!"

Deep Discussions With Chen

What a challenging, enjoyable, and fulfilling connection the Holy Spirit created for me with Chen.

This was Chen's second summer to read with LST.  He had completed the Luke book which meant he was going through the Acts books this summer.  His English was surprisingly very top-notch.

I found out that Chen was a musical prodigy.  He is an expert in the talent of playing piano and piano as well as writing his own music.  However, he was not allowed to pursue music because his parents wanted him to study computer technology at college--so thats' what he did.  (This is the norm in China.  Parents make all the decisions throughout the lifetime for their children.)

After we worked through a few lessons in Acts I could tell that Chen was brilliant and was understanding all the messages the book was sharing him.  But there was something deeper he wouldn't share with me.  Finally, during the end of our second session he dropped the bomb.  He closed the book and said:  "I can't believe in this fairy tale."

Throughout the rest of my time there I had 5 more sessions with Chen.  All we did was talk about evolution and whether God existed or not.  I have never been more challenged about my faith; I have never had deeper conversations; I have never felt the presence of the Holy Spirit like that before; and I have gained a strong friend because of it.

It got to the point where I looked forward to sharing my fierce passion for Christ with Chen and I looked forward to him challenging me.  He enjoyed talking to me he said and was sad that I couldn't stay longer.  I had him eat dinner with us one night and he had a blast hanging out with me and the team.  

By the time my time was done with Chen I not only found a fellow friend filled with passion--but Chen was allowing himself to finally learn about God with an open heart.  He has a long way to go before he'll be baptized.  He did pledge to me, however, that he would read the Bible and search for God without being skeptical.  He said:  "I want God to be real.  Thank you for sharing with me and telling me how I can find Him.  I need faith in my life."

Champion, My New Brother

One of the best things about this mission was the amazing help God provided us with.  Champion was our right-hand-man throughout the entire project.  There is an organization in Jimei called "Solomon's Courtyard".  They do a lot of educational and spiritual outreach in the community.  Champion is one of their employees who was responsible for coordinating all of our classes and guiding us around.

Champion is only one year older than me and we very quickly became the best of friends.  

He discovered that I was an actor at my college, which he thought was really cool.  He gave me the nickname of "King Mitch".  The name stuck so much that literally everyone whom we interacted with in Jimei called me "King Mitch".  This nickname was given to me so that when I become a famous actor I can use the name "King Mitch" so everyone in China will know who I am.

Champion had one of the most amazing conversion stories I've encountered.  He has been a believer for almost two years.  Long story short:  His parents has a very nasty divorce when he was young.  He couldn't bring himself to feel anything for his father but hate.  Fast forward to his college years, he found out about Solomon's Courtyard by jumping into their van after meeting one of the employees.  He wanted to learn more so he just jumped into a van that was going there.  He found Jesus after a while of visiting there.  He now works there and is working hard to share the message of Jesus in the community of Jimei.

I asked Champion what he enjoyed most about Christ, and this was what he had to say:  "Knowing that I can love other people.  I was never happy in life until I had the love of God.  Now all I want to do with my life is share love with other people.  I have a chance to love now and it feels so very happy.  I want that for everyone."

Between the spiritual connections, multitudes of inside jokes, and his interesting cooking Champion and I became solid and deep brothers for life.