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Missionaries ...... I have been in China for almost 7 years and have been asked often: "are you a missionary?" The only way I can answer is by saying that as a Christian, of course I'm a missionary. Now, having said that, I must add that the "missionaries" I have met in china haven't impressed me much. I lived in the same building as one of the "missionaries" for a year in Gansu Province. He was apparently well supported by some church and came up with weekly lists of new Christians to justify his own life there. I talked with some of them afterwards. When asked if they had told their parents that they had become Christian the answer was always: "of course not ..... they would be upset." I suspect that most of these "converts" were "courtesy converts," too polite to laugh publicly at the lauhai (foreigner) Christian. I have come to believe that the only witness that means anything to a non-Christian from a foreign and non-Christian culture is the witness of the deed. Four years ago, I was at the edge of the Sichuan earthquake. My missionary brethren were walking the campus telling frightened kids that they should become Christians or they will be tortured forever by God if the next aftershock killed them. I was in my apartment with a half dozen kids, explaining tectonic plates and calming fears. We ended the "class" with prayer. One of the kids looked at me and said: "you are a very good man, (not knowing much about me) and I responded simply ..... I am a Christian." Later the same kids came to my apartment to read Luke's Gospel. The question I asked every time we finished reading was simple: "If this Jesus was here in Tianshui, would you follow him?" At that point we could begin to discuss what we must do if we are to follow him. It is easy to make "converts" in China, but to help Chinese find out first what Christianity is and what it means to be a Christian, is difficult. This is a country where superstition rules, even among Christians. I live with a family. I am a surrogate grandfather/father for a 48 year old woman with a serious bi-polar disorder, and her 16 year old son. I have heard Chinese "Christians" tell her to stop taking medications. I have (a slight case of) metastasized prostate cancer and have been told that when pain wakes me I should simply spit on my fingers and make a cross where the pain is most severe. A good friend (a Christian psychologist in the States) gave me an answer to that. "If you wake up cold in the middle of the night, do you pray to be warm, or do you pur on another blanket?" I certainly believe in the power of prayer but sometimes we should first do all we can do with the medicine and medical knowledge God has given us. And thank God for that. I have a short commentary on "missionaries on my site, Ron's Notes From China - Welcome and it's not very flattering.