The man in the center, now a brother, described how he escaped. He was from WCh, working in DJY. He was under a mine on the other side of Longmen Mountain Range when the earth quaked. There were loud noises. They quickly elevated and noticed that the mine entrance was closing (getting smaller). They did their very best to get out of the mine, only to find that the situation outside was not any better. Huge rocks were rolling down from the mountain due to landsliding, making huge noises, and creating thick smog. People were running for their lives. Some who ran before him were hit by big rocks and died instantly. As he was running, a big stone (small rock) hit him right by his heart. He was struck to the ground, started to cough blood and couldn’t run. Someone that he doesn’t know gave him a hand and dragged him to run for a while. They managed to escape big rolling rocks, but small stones still keep hitting them. Soon, he fell behind, and couldn’t run any longer and fell unconscious. He must have slept for a few hours, as he woke up, it got dark. He picked up himself and kept running, still coughing blood. After a little while, he ran into another survivor who gave him some 云南白药 (special Chinese medicine). He took it and the blood coughing stopped. He waited for five days, gathering cookies or whatever edible from the dead, then walked for another 5 days until he met rescuers. With these few people miraculous saved his life, he understood that it must be the angels that God sent on his way. And he believes wholeheartedly and gives glory to the Most High. He also lost a daughter to the earthquake.

Rengui Zhou, 15 year old, 9th grader, attending Juyuan Middle School in DJY, where more than 1,800 students died during the quake. His class was the best among the classes ready for the High School Entrance Exams, originally scheduled in early June. On that day, this class was supposed to have PE class at 2:30pm. But in order to let them study more and be more competitive, the teacher-in-charge asked them to stay in the classroom to study. Their class has 60 students, 43 died, the rest become amputees; no one came out with one piece. Their classroom was on the 4th floor. As they were making their way out, a ceiling beam fell and chopped off the head of a classmate next to him, and blocked his way. He crouched with his legs stuck between cement blocks and his arms covering his head. In the beginning, he could still hear from students to his left and right. And they were encouraging each other to keep on going. By 8pm, those classmates breathed their last and it became silent. Renhui has the strong faith that his dad would surely come to rescue him. By 11pm, his dad and an uncle found him, and they started to clear the way to reach to him. By 3am the following morning, he was dug out, but lost his left foreleg as it was stuck. By 7pm, he was sent to the hospital and his left leg was amputated by half thigh the same day. Three days later, he felt severe pain on his right leg. After a series of test, it was diagnosed that the tissue of his entire right leg was completely dead. On May 27th, his entire right leg, including part of his hip, was amputated. When we saw him on June 5th, he was having fever and inflammation due to the unusual hot weather. Yet he finally could urinate since the last amputation surgery. When our coworker went to see him again on the 15th (the above left picture), he lost lots of weight. We heard that he was a little upset (quite understandable) when he learned that given his condition, he cannot have artificial legs. Yet he has been doing great in comforting the visitors and being very considerate to his grieving parents, who sleep on the bench of the hallway in the hospital for more than one month now. He is the only child of his parents. As I am writing this on the morning of June 23rd, he received the 6th surgery, cleaning the discharge in a big hole on his wound. Please continue to lift him up.

June 10th

Peace to you all,

Thank you all for sending a note of encouragement to me via email or blog comments and your sweet word to Dad on my behalf. I feel bad for the poor one way communication, as my time for internet access is very limited, if there’s any.

I’m back to the capital of the province this afternoon to meet PI (Partners International) regional director and my “boss” to give them a briefing. I will be back to the north again tomorrow if I can find a ride. All coworkers that I first met went back to their Home in other provinces one after another to share the need and vision. Some of them will be back again in a couple of weeks with their teams. Meanwhile, new workers (even baby believers) keep coming and some are still in the mountain. I was asked to give them some basic training and co-lead with their original team leaders. The condition in the north is pretty tough. No tap water and electricity supply during day time. Definitely no place to take shower. However, refugees do receive milk, food, and drinking water, and ￥10 ($1.5) per unemployed person per day from the gov., which is a lot better than their regular earning for rural people. We also experienced 2~4 major aftershocks day and night up there. We are used to it now, as we have the unshakeable kingdom within. Plus, it’s fun.

We are stuck for the good work in that area for the time being. For now the gov. is more strict towards X-ian groups along with other groups at check points. We discerned that Dad also closed some doors in places we visited earlier, but we are continuing to wait upon Him as we are seeking. Sometimes, our eyes are on the ministry and its fruit, but His eyes are on the molding of His instrument during the process.

I’m getting 5 mp3 players when I am down here in big city today to share with coworkers and hospitalized patients. These mp3 players are now filled with Songs to Him and Messages from Him, so that the weak can be strengthened. Some coworkers are entering the phrase of anxiety (which is common in the field). Please intercede for the vision to be clearer and the veil to be lifted up.

I am doing fine, by His grace and thru your uplifting hands. I learned to have refills of love and grace from above all the time, even when I’m walking between tents. Otherwise, this little instrument does not have much capacity to contain the oil to share ongoingly to meet the need. Thank you for your care for me and asking me to eat well. We had a wonderful brother who is gifted not only in building the House in the Family and the temporal tents, but also in cooking. He has spoiled us by cooking for us the best food using the limited supply. Amazing! He will return to his Home in FJ tomorrow. And the rest of us will take turns to cook. We certainly need His grace in this aspect. Haha! We know we need to have the strength for the work. So, we are doing good to take care of ourselves as much as the condition allows it.

The earthquake-induced lakes are still at risk of bursting and threatening thousands of people downstream in southwest China. Experts and rescuers are draining and channeling water by
dynamiting the barrier of a big swelling lake. Yet the water level is still rising. People downstream were evacuating. Bless with Ps. 29:10-11. Also pray for less/no rain.

Our Father is amazing and so are Bs&Ss here. Thank you all for coming here with your spirit. Grace be with you all!

P.S. I came across this yesterday during my devotion: Rev. 11:13

May 30th, 2008, 18 days after Wenchuan earthquake, we visited Pengzhou and Dujiangyan. We saw Militia helped villagers moving out furniture, then tore down the already broken houses. Along the road, you will see miles of houses torn down. Many pets that we saw are still shivering, while people learned to be strong and cope with the loss of their loved one, even with smiles (This grandpa lost his wife and only son. He life was spared only because he was working in the corn field at the time the earthquake happened). Over thousands of years, the word for healing of heart/soul is not in our vocabulary. People simply suppress their true feeling, esp. in front of media or strangers. This is the aspect we will work on. Many still lives in temporary shelter. In the mean time, many local small businesses reopened. We’ll be in the north today. (click to download video clips.)

Pleading for these people with Deut. 4:27-31; Ps. 86; Isa. 32:15-18; Rev. 2.

The earthquake caused a series of landslides and created lakes that are now ready to overflow. Nearby towns within 100 miles could be flooded. So far 200,000 people have been evacuated, but there are 1,000,000 more people to be evacuated from the threatened area.

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!

I am staying in Chengdu tonight with a few other team members from Wenzhou. I have met some great people and heard some amazing and shocking stories. According to our law, people who are 18 yr. or older has the freedom of religion. So, we shared freely at the restaurant even while a couple of waitresses were attending at our table.

Tomorrow afternoon, there will be 9 more Bs&Ss joining us. Tomorrow morning, another brother and I will receive some counseling training and get a certificate. :) We got the permission from local authority to work in that area as X-tian medical team, and we are allowed to share the hope we have in Him. Sichuan has the largest population in China, with more than 0.1 billion people in this province alone. But it was nearly closed to the Good Work and has the smallest percentage of believers. This earthquake and more than 1,800 times of aftershocks (we experienced one during our dinner tonight) really shook what people relied on. People finally realized how fragile they are and they had nothing to hold fast even though their incoming increased a lot in recent years. Job 36:15-16. Please continue to pray for open heart.

We will head north tomorrow. On Friday, we will enter a county where itself is strongly affected and received most of the survivors dispersed from a neighboring most-hit city where the plague burst more than a week ago. But the government is very effective and put it under control. They have systematic way to supply survivors who are affected by the quake. The electricity and shower and restroom in that region are still little, if there’s any. But each day, there are some improvements.

Please also pray for Burma, where the cyclone casualty is about twice as that of the earthquake, but lots of supply cannot yet reach to the hands of the needy people there.

He speaks everyday: Deut. 1:33, 36; Ps. 81:5b-10; Isa. 29:18-19; 3 Jn.

Thank you for being faithful in your intercessory.

Dear friends,

I’ll be in a city 80 miles north-east of Chengdu tomorrow this time. We will have a camp with 40+ Bs&Ss from other cities and locally. We will not involve much of the practical help as we see it from news all day long here, as the government and military are doing excellent job in that aspect this time. And the national and international monetary and rebuild materials assistance is great (now over 4.4 billion USD.)

As of today, the earthquake death toll is 65,080, with another 23,150 still missing. Adding it up, it will be more than the population of Bloomington, Indiana. The aftershocks greater than 4.0 degree were over 182 times, with the one two days ago being the strongest (6.4 degree.) Lk. 13:4-5.

The ROUGH idea I’ve got at this time is: Our team will set up a field training center to train local Bs&Ss to do long term spiritual counseling (thank Dad, we got permission from local leaders yesterday we can have this camp at the playground of an elementary school.) PI is setting up about a dozen posts like this in this region. The areas that I was assigned are: to do documenting and meet some local officials and people using my background/ status as an “outsider”. So, I will be interviewing and writing most of the time, doing lots of field reports (Chn. & Eng.) so that coworkers come later to rebuild (may last for a few years) will be able to familiarize the work in this area shortly. I was also asked to provide spiritual resources (songs, sermons on my PC, which I have over 100 GB, haha!) Thank Dad, most org. release copy right when used in China for spreading the Word. I am very thankful that what I was assigned “happened” to be what I was gifted. But I am sure new tasks that I am not gifted will also come. Please pray Jn. 15:1-17. I will be in this area for about 2-4 weeks. During this time if I don’t have internet access, I may ask my friend from SF, CA to post an update on the blogger from time to time if she reaches me over the phone. I may or may not keep the same cell phone number.

Since I came back from Thailand trip in 2006, several of you have given me a total of $475, which I kept a close record. I will use all of your kind offering to help the people in need for this earthquake relief. May the Lord greatly reward you with Prov. 11: 25; 14:31b; 19:17; 22:9; Is. 58:10-14; 2 Cor. 8:1-10.

Please find hope from these couple of days’ devotion: Isa. 24-26; Ps. 79:8b-11; Ps. 80:17-19; 1 Jn. 5:12-15

Abide in Him,
zc

Dear friends, I'm in an Internet Bar (no beer, only computers) in Fuzhou. Students in the neighboring computers are ALL playing games. I still don't have access to bloggers. But once in awhile I may still ask my best friend to post something there. I don't have any internet access from where I stay. Some of you have received or will receive a copy of "Come Away, My Belovd (我灵深处)" from me. This has been leading me along with the Word daily. I am reading the second half of this devotion now. Everyday's message is very powerful drawing me closer to Him. Thank you all for your intercessory! I have met some wonderful people while in Beijing, people with the true life in them, scholars, students, farmers, orphans, former military personnel. I have to say that their X-ian life is very, very different from what we read from our side of the world. In this big city, none of these people ever experienced or heard anyone that they know experienced any kind of psction. But in small towns and rural area, and even in Sh-hi is a different story, as I was told. Yet, I believe that needs to be proved by people who live there. In Beijing, I had some wonderful experiences, even miracles. I am learning A LOT of things first hand for my students. :))) Your prayers do work! And I can sense it.I'm in Fuzhou right now. Some of my relatives showed great interests in our faith. Dad always gave me opportunities in sharing with them. Please continue to lift me/us up. My cell phone number (in Fuzhou) is (011-86) 13905007648. There is a 12 hours difference between here and the US. I am hoping to go to Chengdu area on May 28 or 29 (please pray for my relatives to let me go, for they are greatly concerned of the already outburst of plague (but under-reported by the public news broadcast). Hope they will understand Ps 91.). I was assigned to stay in one of the five most affected counties, team up with two local brothers (for updates about the earthquake, please check out the attachment and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2008_Sichuan_earthquake, http://www.ifgogo.com/77/earthquake-wenchuan-sichuan-china-may-12/). To better protect the cooperating local authority, we will not disclose the city name. The death toll up until yesterday was 55,740, another 24,960 are still missing, with little hope of surviving now that 12 days has elapsed. The government/millitary disarster relieve is very effective and very orgnaized this time. And Chinese people nation-wide are very giving this time. Up until yesterday, they have received over 3 billian USD of donation (both domestic and international). The orphanage that I visited are processing to receive earthquake orphans. Partners International (PI) is planning to have 10 posts in this region. They are hoping to establish partnership with the westerner churches (Chn and Eng), and encourage your church to adopt one of these posts, so that they can bring temporal and spiritual resources. There is a great need for counseling. I was asked to help getting the word out to you.
Isa. chapter 25-27.

Blessings, Flow with the Sprit,zc

Peace! Just got in the hotel 30 minutes ago. I only have internet access, but can't access to the blogger from China. A friend of mine in SF is helping me post this. I read this info from a newspaper distributed on the plane. 05/19-21 are the national mourning days for the Wenchuan (epicenter) earthquake. Up until 05/18 2pm (one week after the quake) the death toll is 32,476, wounded: 220,109 05/17, the first international rescue team of 60 post-quake specialists from Japan entered the Wenchuan area. This is the first time China ever received international aid since 1949. 05/18 US Milliatary delivered $700,000 aid, which is greatly appreciated. There are more than $1.2 billion donation from Chinese people to Sichuan province in total so far. Many people volunteer to adopt earthquake orphans. People's heart are really softened! Isa. 19:21-25, Ps. 67, Job 36:15-16 ("But those who suffer He delivers in their suffering; He speaks to them in their affliction.")