I’m still in Chengdu tonight. Everyday, there are some changes of our plan, but the team leaders are really following the lead of the HS. Originally, these few days, I am supposed to attend an academic conference in Beijing. But a few months ago, Dad defeated that plan, and He gave me wonderful training and blessings, and filled my heart with joy, hope, and burden.

Two other co-workers and I received a whole day training today led by a X-ian counseling org. http://muzhexinli.cn/. There were more than 200 volunteers came from Family members everywhere, esp. Wenzhou, Zhejiang Province. The training leaders today were a couple in the Family from Taiwan who moved here 6 months ago. They developed a rebuilding (body-mind-soul) counseling system based on the long term rebuilding work after the 9.21 earthquake happened in Taiwan in 1999. Their rebuilding and relationship with the suffering people lasts for 8 years. Their training materials will be available for online download after this first month’s rotate trainings. They shared more Message on-site, but not online. Towards the end of our training, several policemen visited our site. It turned out that they also need some counseling materials as they feel that they are handicapped with that after providing temporal food to the needy people. Every province sent lots of police to help in this region. And I sat with one on my flight here the other day.

The main force of our team arrived this afternoon. Two more will be joining us tomorrow. Most of these Bs & Ss came from Wenzhou, where there were huge spiritual revival during the past couple of decades. And we all know that Wenzhou people are famous for doing business in every corner of this planet. Dad uses that to share the good news. These are leaders from various Families in Wenzhou. They are here as the spies into “Cannan”, to bring more from their Families to have long term rebuild and planting. The true life in them and their fervent plead and discernment made me feel the same spirit. I wish you all can come and meet them. We will certainly team up with more local “workers/fishermen”.

In the mean time, tomorrow will be this team’s first time visiting a few heavily-hit cities in the area to the west and south of Chengdu. We are prepared to see and experience with our own eyes. On Saturday early morning, we will head north and start working immediately, visiting families who live in the camps. We will live in camps as well. We were told that the actual death toll is at least twice as much as the gov. official numbers. For example, the city Beichuan was a city with more than 160,000 people. But less than 20% people survived, who were displaced in the neighboring city where we will be working and planting. The city Beichuan is a dead city now, and no one is allowed to go in there since 10 days ago due to the outburst of plague. Gov. does not plan to rebuild this city, but will build a monument or wailing wall in the future.

Please forgive me if I can’t send quick updates. I have to maintain enough sleep and abide in Him to battle well. One of the aspects mentioned in the training today is for each of us, who were sent out. We need to be covered with watchful prayers (守望禱告). They also encouraged the core support group to take turns to give us a call daily for about 5~10-min to check if we are OK. I need some of the prayer warriors to be watchful for me. And I am truly grateful many of you have been doing that. Please also pray and see how your big Families can participate and establish long term rebuild work here. The Chinese word for crisis has two characters/ components: 危機 (wēijī), with the first one meaning “danger, crisis” and the second one meaning “opportunity.”

This morning’s Word that speaks: Deut. 2:4-7, 36; Ps. 84: 5-9, 11-12; Isa. 30: 15-16, 18, 20-21, 25-30a; Jude 20-25!