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!"