The Beginning in a series of the short-term MISSION Adventures of
Daphne & Malcolm Money
Taken from notes transcribed from both our diaries
For some time, I have felt a desire to share of some of our short- term mission experiences to encourage others and to share experiences of how God answered prayer, changed our own heart and mind sets,
( especially initially my attitude.) and how God opened doors, provided for us, and blessed us in so many ways.
Although it is about our adventures and experiences, our desire is that you can also see the hand of God in it all and how God answered prayers, provided, blessed, and made it all possible. But more importantly to encourage you to reflect on your own life experiences and life journey, and identify where God has moved on your behalf and to thank Him for his favour, love and goodness upon your own lives.
This episode is the first part in a series of 8 or 9, and is part one of a two- part trip to China mainly covering things like Preparation, Attitudes, and God’s timing. Part two, due later in May will cover aspects of Prayer Walking in South China which will also include tips on how you can also Prayer Walk in your own environment.
Missions…. To many of usthe word Missions in itself usually conjures up visions of travelling overseas to foreign lands, but in reality, our mission field starts the moment we step outside our church doors, or even inside them. It may be a long term overseas calling for a few, or for others maybe a short- term trip of a few weeks to help encourage and equip the local Christians in another country, but for most of us, it’s in our homes, with family, in our places of work, in our church family and with people we meet every day in our normal life’s routines. However, many years ago as a naive teenager, initially this word to me meant “Here we go again, someone wants money!”
In Acts 1:8 Jesus said to His disciples (and remember today we are His disciples)” to wait until you receive the Holy Spirit and then to be My witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria and to the ends of the earth.” For all of us our Jerusalem is right here in our homes, in our families, work places or everyday activities. Our Judea and Samaria could be anything outside of that in our suburb or city or anywhere else in New Zealand we may have the opportunity to go to. And lastly, anywhere else in the world we may have the privilege to go to. The important thing to remember is that we need God’s timing and power (his anointing, His Holy Spirit) to be truly effective. I know that from experience that things I have often thought would be a good idea or tried to do in my own strength without praying about it first, have fallen flat, but when stepping out in God’s timing, will and anointing, wonderful things have happened.
Daphne and I have been privileged over the years, as a couple, to be a part of several short- term mission trips. All of them were different with often very different experiences. The interesting thing is that although we expected to be a blessing in some way to those we met or ministered to, in most cases we were the ones who were blessed in so many ways beyond our expectations. Both before we went and in the countries we visited.
In Luke 6:38 it says “Give and it will be given to you. good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For the measure you use, it will be measured to you”
You see if we treat others generously, graciously and compassionately, these qualities will return to us in full measure. It’s not just about the giving of money or financial support, even be it grudgingly like I used to, but about giving out of a generous loving spirit which may not only include our finances but our time, prayers, or maybe just a listening ear to someone in need.
Well…… ‘Why us?’ I don’t know, maybe it’s simply just because God loves us and wanted to bless us as He does to each of you, but over the following weeks and months we would like to share with you some of the different experiences we encountered in China, Tibet, Nepal, Rambi (Rabi) Island (Fiji) Myanmar and India. Also, how each experience provided and equipped us for what God had plans for us to be involved in both in the future and back here in NZ.
It will be about the extra- ordinary adventures of two ordinary people who were willing to be used by God but lacked the belief that He would see them as important enough to bless them in this way.
As you read this, we pray that you will be encouraged, and no matter how unqualified you think you may be, just to say to God, “Here am I, take me and use me as you will for your glory” wherever you want me to be, even it’s just to a next- door neighbour, and He will….in His time. He will be your strength and confidence. Just step out in faith and trust Him. Its not about your abilities but your availability. Trust God and He will direct your paths and achieve the plans He has for you.
Compiling these experiences has been difficult in that it in no way can we convey the heat, smells, breathing
difficulties of high altitude, etc. Harder still is to be able to condense our notes without losing its impact.
However, it is written in the hope that you will be encouraged to take a step of faith into perhaps the unfamiliar
or unknown, and experience the blessings and excitement that a journey with God can bring.
Reading about the lives and experiences of early missionaries like William Carey and Hudson Taylor have never ceased to inspire me, especially their continued faithfulness to Gods calling on their lives despite the difficulties and tragedies they went through in those early days of overseas mission. We hope that in some way these experiences of ours will inspire you in some way as well.
THE BEGINNING …...PREPARATION
For us, it all began around 1957-1958. Daphne and I were attending Sunday School at Mt Albert Baptist Church, which was very missions orientated, and regularly had missionaries returning to and from exotic places like the Congo in Africa, India, Pakistan and New Guinea.
These were mainly long- term missionaries returning to NZ, or ones back home on furlough, who shared their experiences, and showed photos on slides or 8mm movies. These were a fairly common occurrences that we loved to go too and we were always inspired to hear more.
Although a lot of these meeting were to encourage ongoing financial support, their sharing impacted us and encouraged us. I think at times we tend to underestimate just how much sharing our own experiences and testimonies can have an impact on other people’s lives.
Some missionaries were school teachers, nurses, Bible college teachers, doctors and builders. All serving in their own special ways, and using their own particular gifts, but above all, just being available to serve God.
Daphne and I were aged around 10 and 12 respectively in those years, and one Sunday, a small English woman in her mid-50’s, called Gladys Aylward, who had been a missionary in China, had been invited to speak. Little did we know then of the impact this woman was to have on our lives. Gladys shared of her missionary experiences in China during the 1920’s – 1930’s until she returned to England around 1940. The thing that struck us about Gladys was the size of her feet compared to her short stature and the knowledge that through the movie and book about her, that although there as a missionary, she had been appointed by the town mandarin as a foot inspector in her district in China to oversee the unbinding of young girl’s feet which was a cruel but common practice. Gladys was also involved in alone taking over 100 children, mainly orphans, to safety over the mountains during the Japanese invasion of China in the late 1930’s.
(Photo Above: Gladys Aylward)
A movie called ‘The Inn of the Sixth Happiness’ staring Ingrid Bergman and Curt Jurgens, had recently been released. It was based on the biography of Gladys from the book written by Alan Burgess called “The Small Woman”. Although Gladys was no match ‘appearance’ wise against the film star Ingrid Bergman, I guess the movie we saw later helped to place in our hearts something of a call to missions and a heart for China, something that has stayed with us for many years. However, the years went by and China was a closed nation due to the communist government. Foreigners were rarely allowed to go there and missionaries and other religious organizations were banned or expelled.
We grew up, got married, (to each other), took out a mortgage and brought our home, had our children, and never thought that someone like us would ever have the finances to travel, as overseas travel at that time was expensive and predominantly by ship. A visit to Waiheke Island or Rangitoto was our expectation of a great ‘Overseas Experience” .
Thirty- two years later in 1990, while attending West City Christian Church (now called Church Unlimited), in Glendene, West Auckland, a team went to Hong Kong to courier Bibles into China to believers in the underground church there. Times were financially tough for us and we did not have the finances to go, so we became part of the home- based prayer support team. The team had a very exciting time. Sometimes they got caught at the Chinese border and had their load of Bibles confiscated, but mostly they were successful in their trips and drop offs. Upon their return back to New Zealand, it was exciting to hear what they accomplished, and we prayed that if the opportunity came again, and we had the finances, we would be able to go ourselves. Little did we realize, how suddenly that would become a reality.
It had been a long wait, but God is faithful and He knows the right time.
Psalm 37:4, says, “delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart.”
It seemed to us to take a long time but He answered our prayers and gave us the desires of our hearts …….and God’s timing was right.
The Adventure Begins:
.
In the Bible, in the book of Malachi chapter 3 verse 10, it says “Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse
(the place where you are spiritually fed). Test Me in this and see if I will not throw open the floodgates
of Heaven.”
One Saturday in 1989, at a church we were newly attending, I was invited to a men’s breakfast. There was supposedly to be a good video message from an American preacher called Ed Cole but still I went very reluctantly as men’s breakfasts weren’t ‘my thing’. I really did not want to go but eventually listened to the wisdom of my wife and anyway the food might not be too bad if nothing else.
The title of Ed’s message was that word that had caused me to cringe whenever I heard it…TITHING. It was bad enough hearing Daphne’s dad saying “A tenth unto the Lord”, but to have this rammed down my throat again was just more than I wanted to cope with. I was already struggling financially to look after my family without giving anything to the church.
Ed launched into Malachi 3:8-10…(v9) In tithes and offerings, you are under a curse. Suddenly I was under a curse, Why? …because you are robbing Me. Now I was also robbing God… Well that really made me feel better!!! Not only did I feel condemned and ashamed I was now cursed and a thief. Unfortunately, breakfast was served at the same time the video was running so it was hard to sneak out. If I left via the main door I would be noticed and there was no back exit down the corridor past the toilets. I was trapped.
Just before I switched off and ignored the rest of the message, I did hear him read…(v10) “Bring the whole tithe into the store house...TEST ME IN THIS… and see if I will not throw open the flood gates of heaven and pour out so much blessing you will not have enough room for it.”
Totally ignoring the rest of the video presentation, I took my pen and serviette and worked out roughly how much my tithe would have amounted to over the last 26 years. Starting back in 1963 when I started work as a Post Office Cadet/ Telegram Delivery Boy on Two Hundred Pounds ($400) per year, up until my salary in 1989. I was shocked. How could I ever repay that back to God and then tithe as well.? Now I felt more guilty and discouraged than ever.
Suddenly it was like a voice in my spirit saying “Forget about the past, it’s not important to Me, you owe me nothing, but trust me from now on and see if I will not bless you”. I felt quite stunned by this experience. Was it just my imagination or was I actually hearing something from God in my spirit?
I went home from that meeting and said to Daph that I believed we needed to start tithing. There was a great sense of peace in my decision. Daph was in total agreement but how could we tithe when there was never anything left over at the end of each fortnightly pay week. We had a $2000 credit card that we could never seem to get rid of, a $1500 personal loan that we used to buy another old car when the previous one fell to bits or rusted out, a mortgage, which some of you that were around in that era will remember that interest rates were around 17-21%. Many people at that time lost their homes and if we were to tithe, I believed we would also be one of them. I was a bank manager with the Post Office Savings Bank (Later sold off at corporatization to the ANZ) at that time and I was responsible for several homes the POSB had loaned on that were up for mortgagee sales as people had just walked away from them unable to meet their mortgage repayments. In those days there was also a freeze on government employee’s salaries and they were always far behind the private sector.
Expecting we would probably have to sell our home in the next month or so, the next payday we tithed. I still struggled to understand how it worked but to my amazement we were no worse off. We still had sufficient to meet our needs. How come? Our budget should be minus but it wasn’t. I checked what we would set aside but I could not figure it out, I knew my figures and how to budget but it made no sense.
Very shortly after tithing in 1989 our organisation was corporatized and I took up a senior managerial position with NZ Post. Normally one had to be promoted up through the various grades and apply with many others for promotion. I was actually personally approached and asked to take up the position bypassing some very competent and senior staff.
My salary increased dramatically and became a contract that was performance orientated. (we were paid a percentage of our salary and the rest was performance based). I was also provided with a company car and a medical package that covered all our family. God had certainly started to open the floodgates of blessing on our lives. At the end of the first year, I received a performance bonus (actually the rest of my contract salary) of $15,000 before tax. Having never had more that about $800 in the bank at any one time, this was like winning lotto. We had never had so much money and we struggled to adjust to have that much in the bank. We paid some off the mortgage, paid off the credit card and personal loan, had enough to go on our first mission trip with Asian Outreach Hong Kong to China and actually decided to give some away to bless others. We had so much fun and enjoyment giving some of it away after many years of holding on tight to what little we had. It was so freeing to be able to bless someone else or a charity instead of just being on the receiving end. To be a ‘giver’ instead of a ‘taker.’
Over the next few years there were several more bonus payments, although not as much as the first, ( my department was not an income generating one) opportunities to bless others, go on more mission trips, pay off our mortgage and eventually be debt free.
After We had started tithing on our income to the church and suddenly from years of living week to week on the breadline, getting clothes often from the opportunity shop, and VERY occasionally and begrudgingly putting something in the church offering, we suddenly were experiencing an outpouring of financial blessing on our lives. It did not make a lot of sense but it’s the one time in the Bible where God says “Test Me in this.” In future years after being made redundant, being unemployed, being on a benefit, employed again on a lot less than when in my managerial position and finally on National Super we have never gone without and in times of need God has always provided and made a way.
2 Corinthians 9:7-8 says “ Remember this: Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously. Each should give what he has decided in his heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that in all things at all times, having all you need, you will abound in every good work.”
I don’t believe tithing was totally the answer. It was not about the amount but trusting God and giving cheerfully instead of begrudgingly. Having a change of heart attitude.
Hong Kong – China 30 December 1992 – 16 January 1993
In early 1992, Asian Outreach Hong Kong, advertised for people willing to join teams to again “smuggle,” or should I say “courier”, Bibles into China.
Suddenly we had the finance. We were both in our early to middle 40’s and never been out of New Zealand before, and now China was starting to open up to overseas ‘tourists’. We faxed our applications in with another two people from West City Church (now called Church Unlimited) and we were accepted for a trip to run from 30 December 1992 to 16 January 1993. Adventure and excitement at last! .’.Bible Smugglers’. The year of preparation began with regular weekly prayer times with our part of the team. (We were to connect with others in Hong Kong.) There were the obvious passports to obtain, inoculations, pills for all sorts of medications, first aid kit, etc. All a new experience for us and quite daunting.
A few months out from departure, news came through that the Chinese Public Security Bureau Police (PSB) had stopped a truck carrying Bibles near the border and also located a farmhouse nearby with many Bibles stored there. They were on high alert for Bible smugglers at the borders. As a result, it was deemed too dangerous to take Bibles over the border. We were disappointed, but the trip was changed to one where light evangelism would take place. Maybe meeting with people in secret? We were happy with that and we continued with our plans.
A month later we were advised that a Chinese pastor had been released from a “re-education facility” after many years of imprisonment for his faith, and would be living near the area in Guangzhou, China, where we were to stay. Again, the PSB police would be watching, especially foreigners. The light evangelism component could endanger Chinese nationals we spoke to and so the trip would now become an intercessory prayer trip to pray around the places we went, for the Spirit of God to have His way in those areas.
WHAT!.... a prayer trip! Spending over NZ$4,000.00 to go overseas to pray for people we probably would not be able to talk to, I could stay at home and do that and save all that money at the same time. And to beat it all I was not even sure what Intercessory Prayer was.
(Part of Intercessery prayer is where you ask God to show you what the spiritual strongholds are that you can ask God to bind or bring down. It really was not that difficult. You look at the place you are in. Is there a materialistic culture that could harden people’s hearts from accepting Jesus? Or, maybe the people are struggling in great poverty and need. Looking at people’s faces also tells a story. Fear, anger, hard hearts, arrogance, broken in spirit, etc. were some of the indicators on how to pray and discern the spiritual climate of the area.)
But God eventually softened my heart and we still decided to go, even if only for the cultural experience, and what a life and attitude changing experience it was to be.
One Sunday in December before Christmas 1992, we were prayed out from West City Church.
Several passages from the Bible were given to us to encourage us on our trip.
Philippians 2 1-10
Humble yourselves and God will lift you up…Well I still thought I was humbling myself to go on a “prayer” trip instead of something adventurous and exciting
Don’t be selfish, look to the interest of others…Me selfish!!! Really!
Take the focus off yourself…Oh boy, is God talking to ME!
How much like Jesus have you become? Have a Christ like attitude... I think I have a long way to go
Take a servant’s role and do all you can to help others
It’s their (Asian Outreaches) vision and dream, pour yourself into it
Leadership training…to be raised up and to build into the lives of others around us. Great leaders invest in others
You reap what you sow…sow with your heart generously
Romans 12:2. Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is, - His good, pleasing and perfect will.
Finally the time arrived to go. . We were first time overseas travellers, over packed to cover every situation, and heading into the early winter of southern China and Hong Kong. A cool 27 degrees!!!! Hey that’s our summer on a good day!
On Wednesday 30 December 1992, and after arriving at Auckland International Airport, we said goodbye to our three teenage children, and church friends who had come to see us off and went through those foreboding “Departure” doors. Going through customs for the first time was quite scary. Did we have all the right documentation? Was everything filled in correctly, did we have our boarding passes, where were our passports, would we find our way around the other side of the airport? I think I was sweating I was so nervous. Would I look guilty of something and get called aside? So many things were going through our minds. But all went well, as it was not a lot different from the side we came from.
Two others in the team from our church joined Daphne and I and we boarded the Cathay Pacific flight at 2.25pm on a 10 hour direct flight to the old Kai Tak International Airport in Hong Kong.
One of the lady team members was terrified of flying. She sat in her seat, buckled herself in, asked for a blanket with which she covered herself completely, including her head, and stayed that way, not eating or drinking until we landed again. But why waste food that had been paid for, so we ordered food for her and ate it ourselves. Cathay Pacific food was fantastic A Thai salad of minced chicken, prawn, or a roast loin of lamb, with stuffing, potatoes, Vichy carrots and green beans. A few cheese crackers, brownie cake with a Kaiser Roll, and a selection of boxed chocolates. Later followed up with a Mesclun Salad with a cold plate of filleted beef and smoked salmon and a Plum Flan. We each got different meals and shared them between us, three meals between the two of us of course, as the other male member of our group wasn’t as gluttonous as us. Well…it had been paid for hadn’t it!
While flying across the ocean we glanced out the window at an atoll far below in the bright blue ocean. You could see the white waves around the edge of it and the blue & green and brown colours of the atoll itself. It looked very beautiful. After about another half an hour we again glanced out the window and saw the atoll still far below us. That could not be right, so we went closer to the window for a better view. Duh!!! The bright blue was the reflection of the blue sky on the metal of the wing and the ‘atoll’ was a metallic stain on the wing itself. How dumb did we feel…..real dumb! But then again, we had never flown before apart from one short trip to Christchurch many years before. After a good laugh at ourselves and more food and a rest we arrived at Kai Tak Airport at 8.05pm. Landing at night in between the huge towering apartment and office blocks was amazing. The high-rise buildings on either side of the runway were like huge skeletons in the dark towering above us. CHINA AT LAST.
Well, I will leave it there till next time when I will share some of our experiences in Hong Kong and in Guangzhou City in Southern China. As you can see, we need to prepare ourselves prayerfully to serve in whatever God calls us to do. To be still and to be able to hear from God to know what his will is, to be able to willingly give up our own agendas and to cheerfully and not begrudgingly serve in whatever capacity we are called. No matter how simple or challenging. Above all to be able to go in His anointing for the task ahead and trust Him. .
Jeremiah 29:11 says “I know the plans I have for you.” We may think we have a plan and God may give us the desires of our hearts if we delight ourselves in Him (Psalm 37:4) but remember His thoughts are not our thoughts and His ways are not our ways (Isaiah 55:8)
Just don’t be surprised if our plans and the end result winds up very different than we envisaged….but the end result will be better if we allow the Holy Spirit to guide us.
In following episode’s the names of team members, leaders, and local contacts will be identified only by the first letter of their name. This is because we are either ……………
No longer able to contact them to obtain their permission to identify them
They are, or have been actively involved in ministries in restricted nations and as we have no control over where these episodes may end up, ongoing access may be compromised.
Identifying local contacts and pastors or missionaries in restricted nations may create difficulties for them.
TO BE CONTINUED………
Till next Time…..God bless you all and may you know His abundant blessings in your lives
