Adventist Heritage Center From: Sent: To: Subject: Bob & Audrey Folkenberg <KingdomGrowth=chumadventist.org@mail157.atl171.mcdlv.net> on behalf of Bob & Audrey Folkenberg <KingdomGrowth@chumadventist.org> Sunday, September 27, 2015 1:29 PM Adventist Heritage Center Mid-Autumn Harvest / News From the Chinese Union Mission You are receiving this email because you have expressed an interest in news from the Chinese Union Mission. Add KingdomGrowth@chumadventist.org to your address book so the Kingdom Growth newsletter will be sure to land in your inbox. Email not displaying correctly? View it in your browser. You may unsubscribe here. The Harvest 1
It is Mid-Autumn Festival and millions upon millions of Chinese people are enjoying a break from work or school. Starting back in the Shang Dynasty (16th 10th century BC), the Mid-Autumn Festival brought families together to worship the moon on the night of the brightest full moon of the year (the 15th day of the eighth lunar month). They burned incense while praying for harmony and good fortune. It was also a time to celebrate the harvest as they told tales of the moon, offered food to their gods and feasted together. Today, Mid-Autumn Festival is one of China's most celebrated holidays. Families enjoy barbecues and going to carnivals to watch lion and dragon dances and couples enjoy gazing at the moon together. People give and receive moon cakes and children make colorful lanterns. 2
A harvest, from time to time and culture to culture, has always been something to celebrate. Imagine the celebration in Heaven which will take place when the final harvest is done and all are gathered around that long table in Heaven to celebrate with the Lord of the Harvest. Jesus said, "The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few." Across China, there is a plentiful harvest. Church leaders and members are working the fields, yet the reality is that most Chinese have not been introduced to their Savior. This alone underscores the fact that in China, the workers are indeed few! As you continue to pray that China will come to know Christ, never doubt that your prayers are making a difference, for in the midst of atheism and idolatry and growing materialism and secularism, people in China are turning to Jesus. Someday, you will be thanked by workers and many Chinese people in Heaven that are there because you prayed for the Harvest. Early Harvesters in China 3
Edwin Hymes Wilbur (1869-1914) and Susan Haskell-Wilbur (1872-1965) were the first Seventhday Adventist missionaries to inland China. Edwin Hymes Wilbur had a burden to be a missionary in China, but because of poor health was rejected by the SDA Foreign Missions Board. He repeatedly requested to go to China as a missionary, always ending his letters, Yours for China. He reasoned that if he should die soon, he would rather die in the mission field than at home. Finally, he was asked, "Are you still wanting to go to China as a missionary?" On July 21, 1902, Edwin Wilbur (33) and Susan Haskell (29) were united in marriage and by the end of October, they boarded the Empress of India and sailed to China. Elder Edwin Wilbur became seriously ill after returning from Wu Zhou where he had conducted 4
four baptisms for new converts. His malaria recurred and his heart condition worsened. On May 1, 1914, he rested in the Lord, age 45. Mrs. Wilbur then returned to the United States and continued to passionately share Jesus with the Chinese people, spending much of her time working amongst the Chinese in Portland and in Chinatown, San Francisco. Workers need prayer for: Willingness "Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, 'Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?' And I said, 'Here am I. Send me!'" Isaiah 6:8 Endurance The Harvest is Ripe! "Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up." Galatians 6:9 Connection "I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing." John 15:5 She is disabled, so her husband carried her in and out of the water for her baptism. Not only was she baptised, but her husband and others in her family were baptised, too. All together, 12 were baptised. Oh the joy! "I used to worship Buddha..." 5
I believed that the more I worshiped Buddha, the more I would gain. In my mind, my family would be protected from sickness and misfortune by my religious devotion. However, when my husband died, I realized that Buddha was just an idol. We had spent so much money worshiping Buddha, but received nothing good in return. One day, I was given a card that said, Jesus gives you peace. It was my first introduction to a God called Jesus. I was interested, and so began to study the Bible and worship on Sabbath with the couple who had given me the card. I learned that Jesus was to come again and could give me eternal life. He promised that the new world would be a land where sorrow, sickness, tears and death would not exist. The couple that gave me the "Jesus gives you peace" card eventually invited me to accept Jesus. I wanted to follow Jesus with all my heart, so soon I was baptized. I have 6
continued to study the Bible and am sharing the Gospel of Jesus with my family and many other Chinese people. I feel a peace and happiness that I did not know when worshiping Buddha. Buddha was not a friend like Jesus. Being "saved" is a gift, not something that I have to earn or buy. I used to worship Buddha, but now I am a Christian! GLOW Report from a pioneer team in an unreached area of China: Earlier this year, our mother church and the Chinese Union Mission gave us some GLOW tracts. What a difference they have made in helping us connect with people that do not know Jesus! Sometimes we pass these gospel tracts to people on the street and sometimes we distribute them door-to- 7
door. As a result, we have been able to meet a variety of people that we can study the Bible with and/or invite to our house church. We are thrilled to have 30 people in our small house church and to be studying the Bible with 18 different people every week. Most exciting is that 10 people were just baptized. Send Us An Email Make a Donation Copyright 2015 Chinese Union Mission, All rights reserved. You are receiving this email because you signed up for this newsletter on our website or responded to an email where we invited you to sign up. Our mailing address is: Chinese Union Mission 12/F., Citimark, 28 Yuen Shun Circuit Siu Lek Yuen, Shatin 00000 Hong Kong Add us to your address book Forward to Friend Update your subscription preferences. Unsubscribe from the Kingdom Growth newsletter. 8