In “Home of Christ”, Betty Chou often shared her works at Go and Love Foundation with us, and I’ve always been attracted by their ministry in Yunnan as English summer camps for poor children, leprosy rehabilitation villages, water cellar projects, and so on. This year, I decided to leverage the opportunity visiting relatives in China as well as taking one week off to Yunnan.

It was already 10 PM when the airplane landed at Kunming airport. Betty picked me up at the airport and told me that we would get up at 6am the next morning flying to Lincang. In Kunming we stayed in the home of a couple working for the Foundation, who left behind their comfortable life in the U.S. and came to serve in China after their son went to college. After greeting, they gave me a brief introduction of their services in Yunnan, which allowed me to better understand the local situation.

“The water there, I won’t take a sip of it even if someone pays me 50,000 bucks.”
Lincang is half an hour flight away from Kunming. Majority of the local residents are minorities, primarily Dai and Wa ethnic minorities. Mengding City in Gengma County is another 5 to 6 hours drive from Lincang located at the border between China and Myanmar. Go and Love Foundation’s water cellar project is in the vicinity of Mengding. Once leaving the plane, we noticed four or five cars sent by the local government for pickups. Not only us, but also several overseas poverty relief groups including those from Hong Kong and Macao. In China, most of the overseas donations are under the management of local Overseas Affair offices, so foreign charity agencies must coordinate with local government offices in order to carry out work. There are many poverty alleviation projects, but the effects of some are not so good. This is caused by a number of factors, which sometimes limit practical and long-term help to the local people. It’s reported that a Hong Kong institution helped build a Hope Elementary School for a poor area in mainland China, only to find out a few years later that there are no longer any students or teachers in the school. It’s because the donation was just for the school building, while people ignored education as a long-term project.

However, I truly realized that there are so many people here who need to be cared for. A young official who came to pick us up said, “Thank you for your support of the water cellar project, and the villagers are blessed, because the water is so bad there, I won’t take a sip even if someone pays me 50,000 Yuan.”

“You…like sheep among wolves…be as shrewd as snakes…”
The village we headed for was six hours drive from Lincang. We left in the morning and arrived around 5 PM. Along the way some local officials joined us, but it seemed to me, by observing these officials, that the living standards of this area was not so low. Out of curiosity, I asked Betty why the local government couldn’t spend some money to help resolve basic living problems like drinking water for the villagers, especially since the water cellar project didn’t seem like a big project. Betty said, “Although the government wants to help with the people’s hardships, what they can do is limited and can not meet people’s needs. This is why Go and Love Foundation needs to go to such remote places to help the local villagers.” She also told me, “The gospel can be lived out in daily life. In contact with us, people will experience the different kind of love we bring through the project. If we bear good witness with every word and deed, we then have the direct opportunity to share the life-changing gospel. When the local officials and villagers accept us, people will believe and accept the truth.”

“Whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”

Next morning, the ground-breaking ceremony of water cellar was originally planned to hold in two villages. With given weather and road conditions, the official said it would only be held in one village. Betty said that we should fervently pray for the start, follow-up work progress, as well as quality supervision of the water cellar project. My particular concern was whether the project schedule and quality be guaranteed. Betty said, “The Foundation has taken this into consideration already, so the scheduled payment will proceed according to work progress and our coworkers will visit on a regular basis to supervise its progress and quality. In the future, we look forward to station coworkers who can help the local villagers with hygiene knowledge training and cultivate children with good hygiene habits because GOAL is emphasized on whole-person care.”

After breakfast, we walked for more than an hour on the miry mountain paths and finally arrived at the village where the water cellars were under construction. With the sound of firecrackers, someone put red flowers on the three of us, and I felt very uneasy as this image wasn’t appropriate for the trip purpose.

The mountain area of Mengding City has a karst topography with key feature of not being able to store water underground, so no well could be dug for water. Most villagers obtain water from the local pond as well as some simple water storage containers in their homes. This same water is used for feeding the pigs, drinking, bathing, and washing dishes. After the rainy season, they also need to carry water back from places a few miles away. The water cellars that the Foundation help to construct will greatly improve the water usage situation. A water cellar of 30 cubic meters can store enough water during the rainy season to last seven months or so for a whole family. At the opening ceremony, the villagers looked at us with eyes of hope and my compatriot passion was surged spontaneously. From the bottom of my heart, I thank Lord to let me know Him in a foreign country and have the opportunity to come to this remote village to express the different kind of love. Betty said at the opening ceremony, “I come from the US. I have no money but I love you, and I will raise money for you; because in the US many people love you just as I do.”

Indeed, our offerings and dedication today are all due to this different kind of love for the unsaved people. To build some water cellars is not really something, as it can be done with money, but because of love, everything becomes different. Today, they have water to drink because of this different kind of love, and one day when they know the source of this water supply, they will drink the living water, because whoever drinks this water, will never thirst.

Our Common Father
Soon the opening ceremony ended. We visited the cellars under construction, and surrounded by some curious children. Their faces were dirty, and it wasn’t until we asked did we know that in order to save water, they never wash faces in the morning. Most children there lived with mothers because the men went to work in cities to earn money. In rural China, many couples must live apart due to work, and our driver is one of them. His son lived with his wife, and he had to run out of town to earn money. Since we spent quite awhile in the car, Betty did not waste this opportunity to deliver the gospel.

On our way back to Lincang, while chatting, Betty asked driver Mr. Li a question, “Mr. Li, you work so hard away from home. Besides making money for a better family live and be a good father, have you ever thought what your life goal is?” Mr. Li laughed and said that he had no goal. Perhaps no one ever asked him this question.

Originally we would say goodbye to Mr. Li that evening, but his manager asked him to send us to the airport the next day. In the morning during breakfast, Mr. Li told us he slept late last night and kept thinking about the question raised by Betty - What is the goal of life? My heart filled with great thanks. During the 30 minutes drive to the airport, Betty explained the Gospel in the simplest way to Mr. Li. When the car stopped at the airport, she told him our heavenly Father loved us so much and if we came to admit our sins, He would forgive us forever. Then Mr. Li accepted Betty’s invitation and made the profession of faith to become a Christian.
He used not the angels but the lowly ones to deliver this good news.
The night before going back to Kunming, we went to visit GOAL’s office in Lincang. There were a young couple in their thirties serving two leprosy rehabilitation villages. A week before going to China, someone asked me, “Are you going to leprosy rehabilitation villages? Are you sure there are still leprosy patients in China? Chinese government already said that there’s no longer any leprosy disease. “ My wife told me to be careful.

That night brother Kai described to me the leprosy situation in Yunnan. In China, although this disease is under control, it doesn’t disappear. In Yunnan alone, every year there are hundreds of new cases of leprosy. However, nowadays good and effective antibiotics have brought disease under controlled and leprosy skin infection won’t spread. In the past, government always isolated lepers, who basically lived in places abandoned and forgotten by the society. They lived in poverty and mostly in the mountains. The government provided only the simplest medical care, not even mentioned about the societal acceptance and care. The Foundation’s rehabilitation center has established for these patients. The two young warriors provide help in daily life and medical care for these people who are not loved by the world. The couple helps solve the patients’ difficulties in daily life. For example, cleaning ulcers in their limbs, making special shoes that make walking easier, and making special glasses that prevent eye infections. The Foundation’s coworkers not only take care of their livelihood, but also completely accept those who consider as unclean by the world. This brother often embraces the elderly patients who have suffered from leprosy for decades. They have never experienced such love and acceptance before, and they gradually come to know that unusual love in this world for them.

Many leprosy patients were moved by the care and love of this couple. Eight were decided to become Christians. Betty said their acceptance toward the patients were often surprising to people. Once an official saw her shaking hands with the leprosy patients and said he wouldn’t have courage and prompted her to leave quickly. Betty said, “Don’t you know the fact that leprosy on human body is not dreadful, but the leprosy in human hearts is.”

Being six days in Yunnan, I always asked myself whether I would be willing if I were to stay here for a year and what’s the different between GOAL’s coworkers and me? I knew that my love is not enough. Perhaps not strongly realized that these compatriots, though remote, they were my bones and flesh as next of kin. In the Bay Area, despite participated in many services; my vision was narrow without kingdom concept. So when encountering my response of Great Commission as to GOAL coworkers’, it was very little. Through this trip, I gain more understanding to the situation of the coworkers serving far away from their home.

Lovely children, lovable teachers, great heavenly Father
Once returned from Kunming, my dad called whether I’d been well in Kunming these few days. I didn’t tell my trip to Mengding and Lincang lest he worried. Talking about the Foundation’s character-building English summer camp started in two days, unfortunately I only had time to see the first day of the camp. Knowing that I couldn’t be of any help but keeping myself busy with the airport pickups for the teachers. They were came from the US, Canada, Korea, Hong Kong, and Taiwan. Among them, there were a whole family coming together, an uncle bringing his nephew with him, and a young man who hadn’t gone to college but yet came to be teacher here. I was joyful to spend time with them in this two days. Some shared how much their longing for this trip, and some shared their study and work challenges as well as their experience in faith. All these have inspired me with encouragement.

Seeing the kids lined up into the summer camp, I clearly knew that this camp was carried with a special purpose and plan. These children would not only learn English here, but also receive a different kind of love that would change lives In fact, there is so much to share about this Yunnan trip, and my greatest hope is to invite you to go to Yunnan and see by yourself. What are you going to see? I believe you have already understood.