Warh-warh-warh-warh-warh-warh-warh!

That’s my attempt to mimic the most interesting car horn you’ll hear traversing the streets of Dragon City, the Sinim capital. Its unique warble rises amid the din of honking in this city that is notorious for its tangled traffic of cars, trucks and weaving motorbikes.

As you drive the streets, you’ll see that most houses are tall and narrow. On the ground level, you can peer into the hair salons, minimarts, motorbike repair shops and storefronts selling produce and cell phones. Above them are narrow, one-room apartments that are often home to families of eight or nine people. As packed as this city is, you’ll still see sparks falling from welders and hear the hammering, drilling and rumble of constant construction to accommodate the growing population.

I used to consider myself a city girl, but this is by far the most urban environment I have ever lived in, and it is taking some getting used to. The Joys and I at times play with the idea of moving a little way out of the city where there is some green space and less noise, and pollution isn’t a health hazard. However, for now, our team cannot deny that to leave the city would be a terrible waste of opportunities to minister to people. As I write this, I have been here only a month, but already I’ve had so many fascinating conversations with people where somehow the topic of God trickles in. In this closed country, God keeps putting into my path souls who are wide-open to spiritual things and in whom I can see His Spirit has been working.

Take Mia for example, or as our team calls her, Sugar Cane Lady. Every so often as I walk the street, I pass by her metal push crate, and she calls me over to sit and chat. The first time we talked, she asked if we “doc kinh,” a Sinim term used to describe Catholic readings. I shared with her that we are Protestants, and she began to expound on her knowledge of the differences between Catholics and Protestants. Apparently, when she was younger, her mother was Catholic, and her father was Buddhist, but the family ultimately chose to be Buddhists. When I asked about her familiarity with Protestant beliefs, she said that, years ago, a young man who lived on their street used to do whatever he could to help people. He worshiped in a nearby apartment.
Sometimes Mia’s friend Thom sits with us. She is a devout Buddhist who is actually familiar with Buddhist writings through her mother who served in a Buddhist temple. I’ve had opportunities to share with them about how the Bible plays a part in why I am vegan, or why I cannot simply date any person just because they are Sinim, and why I don’t worship Mary. Interestingly enough, when I was trying to explain why God alone is worthy of worship, Thom joined the conversation and shared that God is the Creator, created mankind beginning with Adam, and from Adam He created Eve. I still don’t know how she knew those details. Mia has taken a liking to me and has invited me to her house for New Year. She and Thom have plans to make me a vegan version of New Year’s rice cakes, which typically are stuffed with pork or other meat.

Vina is another person God has brought into my life. This young lady is helping me study the Sinim language. For some time, I searched for a place to study the language and prayed for God to lead. I eventually chose a language center and went to meet the instructors for a benchmark test. After the test, they could see that I knew enough to function, but my fluency was low. They were surprised that I had a decent handle on the language, having been born and raised in America. I explained that it was because my mother forced me to speak Sinim and because I grew up in a Sinim-speaking church.

When I met Vina, I was interested to note that she was able to fill in my missing words with appropriate Christian terms, such as hymnal and Holy Bible. “Do you follow the Christian religion?” she asked. I nodded.
“Oh, so you pray?” she said, making the sign of the cross. “And you have a father do readings?”

I explained that, in our faith, we do pray, but those particulars were of the Catholic faith, and I am a Protestant.

“Oh, are they different? I thought they were the same.”

One of Vina’s colleagues was with us and confessed, “I don’t know any of these things.”

Vina then explained that, in the religion of God, there are priests who read from the Bible, and that religion is to teach you to live a good and right life. If you sin, then you have to pray, and it gets fixed. I clarified some details and then asked Vina how she knew so much about Christianity. She shared that she had read about it on the Internet and had asked some people. When I told her that my church was close by, she said she was interested in joining me some time.

Conversations like these often leave me speechless, partly because I don’t have a good enough command of the language to say much, and partly because I had never imagined I would find spiritually interested people so easily. Oh me of little faith!

But nothing has rebuked and inspired me as much as meeting Tinh, a leader of a small Sunday-keeping Christian group. He sings powerfully from his heart and prays fiercely as if to storm the throne of God with his supplications, without regard to any eavesdropping neighbors. It’s clear to me that his faith is earnest, and upon hearing his testimony, it’s no wonder why.

Briefly, he shared that several years ago the police hired him to spy on a church. But over the course of two years, he became a follower himself. He went back to his village and shared with all his neighbors, bringing about 30 people to Christ. Since then, he has been trying to plant small groups of believers despite the resistance he now receives from the police.

They say that, centuries ago, Dragon City was named by the city’s founder who had a vision of a yellow rising dragon. Perhaps this is a mere fable, but it is hard to miss the spiritual parallel—a city held under the darkness of our enemy, the ancient dragon. However, when I think of the souls God’s Spirit has been working on, I feel they are a guarantee of an ancient vision that I know is not a mere fable. Though darkness covers the city, and darkness the people, soon is coming the day when, over Dragon City, the “Sun of Righteousness shall arise with healing in His wings.”

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