During our eight years in China, there were so many rapid changes in
our area. The number of metro lines tripled, so did the number of cars, the
number of tall buildings, and the attendance in the churches! During the same time, our housing situation
often changed as well; in eight years we moved five times! When we started out
during the first few months, we only had a small apartment with one bedroom. In
this humble dwelling we started out with Sunday night Bible studies, first with
four people; later with six or seven.
Half a year later, we were able to rent a 3-bedroom apartment. Then, for
several years we actually had two apartments: one in the community where we
started out (which we used as weekend cottage and for Sunday services), the
other was a new luxury apartment, provided by our new employer (a Canadian
international school.) During the last
three years we had the privilege to live in a townhouse. In this house we had
the luxury of a third floor with two bedrooms and a washroom that was essentially
available for any guests.
Across the narrow street lived an older couple that was involved in the
‘recycling business’. It was interesting to see them always busy with
organizing cardboard and Styrofoam, with drying seeds or meat, with bottles and
cans and the occasional piece of discarded furniture. The first year they also used an empty house
right beside ours. It looked kind of messy, but at least it was quiet next
door. After about a year, however, the place was cleaned a bit, and people started
to stop and take a look at it. Apparently it was on the market for purchase or
to rent.
After several weeks and about a dozen
visitors, a young woman came to check it out. When she stood in front of our
place, she seemed to be fascinated looking through our window. Soon we
discovered that she signed a lease to rent the place. She was a Christian
woman, who had noticed a picture of a cross in our living room. This led her to
the conviction that God wanted her to choose this place to live.
Ms. L had quite a job ahead of her; the
house was dirty and run down. She had a 7-year old son, and another young woman
often came over to help her. We discovered that L was in the ‘Christian
home-schooling business’, promoting the use of a certain brand of American
curriculum. Since we had quite a bit of
home-schooling experience, we were first quite excited having her as
neighbor. Also, I felt sorry for her;
fixing up the house seemed such a big task. So, for the first two weeks or so I
tried to be of some assistance. First I helped with some plastering, filling
holes and cracks in the walls before she would paint them. Then, I helped her
to install most of the ceiling lights that she had ordered through Taobao. (Taobao is a
Chinese online market place, which has the reputation of being cheap (through
stiff competition and tax avoidance) and cheapish. (It is not uncommon to see
brand-name articles advertised; when you order the product you find out they’re
fake or of an inferior brand.)
Over time, it became a challenge for us to
love our neighbor, Sister L. After a few
weeks, already, we noticed how hard it was to have a rational discussion with
her on almost any topic. She insisted that she, as well as her young boy were
evangelists or pastors, yet she seemed to be quite lonely. When I suggested she
use or include some other materials in her teaching, her face would harden.
Invariably, she would inform us that she was following God’s specific
directions, so many or most things she did were non-negotiable. Whenever she
had another idea about what she would do or what the future would bring, she
would have a specific instruction from God. I never discovered her actual
method of receiving such ‘revelations’, but I kept challenging her about these
things, which at times would result in alienation. As her English communication
skills were not so great, we sometimes used church friends to communicate to
her. Yet, when they would lose their patience, L would invariably blame our
friends for their ‘hostile communication’.
After such an event, she would ignore us for some weeks, and her son
would refuse to acknowledge our greetings. She had attended our worship
services a couple of times, but she found it hard to fit in with our Chinese
friends, and her junior associate-evangelist found it impossible to sit quietly
through the worship meeting. She was a lonely woman, who would maintain her
role as ‘pastor’ by referring to her virtual flock that would read or reply to
her website on Christian homeschooling.
Yet, L was desperately in need of support
and companionship. During times of good relationships, she would –almost
desperately- seek our attention, and Marioka would get quite irritated by her
demanding attitude. L, however, insisted, for God had told her that eventually
we would cooperate with her in her Good Work. At one time, she had started to
videotape lessons for the home-schooling, and she expected us to spend hundreds
of hours to speak in the lessons that she had selected.
During the second year, God had told her
that He would give her a good Christian husband, so that her son would have a
father. When she informed us about this, I gave her a copy of “The Marriage
Preparation Course” in the hope that she might learn some skills in
communication and cooperation. The
course made her even more enthusiastic, and she started working on an extensive
website on how she envisioned what her future husband would look like, and all
the commitments that she had with God. Until they would be engaged, she would
only meet him in the presence of a chaperone, until ‘pastor Aize’ could marry
them. I did agree to edit her English manuscript, but we grew quite concerned
about our potential roll as chaperones. She expected that I would provide a
glowing reference about her, so I tried to explain again our concerns about her
communication / cooperation skills. Also, I suggested she should not call me
‘pastor Aize’ if she continued to refuse to join the flock. Unfortunately, however, she could or would
not understand our concerns. After I had another Sister translate our written
concerns, L was once more embittered about the callous attitude of our
translator. Nevertheless, for a while there was peace again (or cold war?), and
no further demands were made on our services.
Although, at times it was hard for us to
really love our neighbor, we never doubted her faith in Christ. I also admired her great boldness in how she
shared the Gospel as she advertised her ‘business’. Several times she
distributed colorful flyers through the community, probably evangelistic and
especially encouraging Christian parents to consider homeschooling (with the
curriculum she marketed) as ‘the best alternative’ to secular education.
It was a week before Pentecost. I was at
home for lunch, so I could get a quick bite to eat and a power nap. After I got up from the table I noticed two
men and a young woman standing in front of our house. They seemed to be waiting
for somebody. Immediately, I sensed that they were government representatives.
About an hour later I was back at school, in the middle of my remedial Math
class with a small group of students. My cell phone rang; it was our neighbor.
She sounded quite upset. The government officers had been waiting for her.
First they criticized her about the small wooden cross that was attached to her
garden gate. Then they called the police station. Soon, another ten officers
arrived, who walked through her house, commenting on everything that referred
to Christ and Christianity. They took her to the police station, where she was
told to leave the house within a week. After school, we met with her and prayed
with her.
Every day a police officer came to her
house to make sure she was getting ready to move out. We helped her with some
empty boxes and packing tape, and after two days she had found another
apartment in another district. Five days after the confrontation she hired some
guys to help her move. It had not always been easy, but we were sad to see her
leave, especially in this way. But L was full of courage, and she was ready to
continue her work in her new community.
PtL!
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