A
mong the seven Missions students who served a five-week summer internship in China were
Melissa Morrison (senior; Harrisburg, PA) and Cheyenne Parker (senior; Mechanicville, NY). As
English teachers in a secular school, they could not openly witness to the first and second-graders in
their class—but they found plenty of opportunities to communicate Christ and to grow in their faith.
Here are some of their experiences in their own words.
THE ADVENTURES OF TWO ENGLISH TEACHERS
MELISSA
: Our students walked into
class on the first day not knowing a
lick of English and not even wanting
to learn English. The first week was
just survival!
But it grew into
a lot of joy.
The “ting bu
dongs” [Chinese
for “I don’t
understand”]
turned into, “I
love you, Miss
Cheyenne and Miss Melissa!” My
favorite part was showing God’s love
to these children. These precious
children are lost souls. Who knows?
Learning the colors, learning the
shapes—those foundational
English words might
help them understand
English so they
will have a greater
opportunity to hear
the gospel that will
ultimately change their
lives.
CHEYENNE
: Because
you cannot rely on
communicating verbally,
your face, your body,
your attitude—the
students are watching all of that like
a hawk. I did not display God at all
at first. I didn’t act Christlike. My
children never obeyed and I kind
of freaked out. We had a teaching
assistant and one day I let my
emotions take over me. I didn’t even
want to display Christ; I was bitter
and frustrated. Melissa told me to step
out and take a breather, and I stormed
out and slammed the door shut. As
I was leaving I caught a look at our
assistant, her face. She was appalled.
I still remember that look. She was an
unbeliever and she knew that I was
a Christian. I went to God all broken
and said, “I need your strength.” I
found myself responding totally
different after that. I praise the Lord
that I was able to patch things up with
the assistant. I asked her to forgive me
for having such a terrible reaction. We
are still in touch, so I pray that God
will use me in her life.
MELISSA
: I have never seen the
Holy Spirit work in such a powerful
way and orchestrate things like he
did with April, a Chinese friend. It
was on the bus, after hearing me
spontaneously sing, that she first
asked, “What does ‘the blood of the
Lamb’ mean?” From there, it grew
into a greater relationship. During
our lunch breaks, I spent time with
her and we read through the Word
of God. We started with simple
spiritual truths, mainly from the
book of John. I felt very inadequate.
Before each session I had to go to
God and tell him that some things I
can't even comprehend, let alone help
someone else understand, and so He
had to speak His truth through an
inadequate person. April claims to be
a Buddhist. She’s very fearful of death
because Buddhism gives no assurance
where she will go after death. April is
the sweetest girl you will ever meet,
but she is away from God, she is an
enemy of God. But God's desire is
to become her loving Father and I
want her to become His child. She
does have a Bible now and she has
continued to show interest; I know
God is softening her heart.
CHEYENNE
: I want to go back, to
learn the culture, to tell people about
the hope in me which could be in
them. I get impatient for that. But
this is where God wants me for now.
He wants me to be equipped to serve
so that if I do go back to China or
wherever I’ll be ready.