Some of you may have heard that we’ve experienced some pretty serious trouble with the authorities this past week. This is a preliminary update, since we still do not know how everything will shake out in the end, but we wanted you to be able to join us in prayer with at least some knowledge of the situation!
Here’s a short update, explaining a bit of what happened, followed by some prayer requests…
One week ago this evening (about 7am last Monday morning, US Eastern Time), a handful of local police showed up at our house at about 7pm and lied to me about my rental car being broken into where it was parked in a nearby alley. When I went with them and opened the van up, it didn’t seem like anything had been broken into or messed with, but they immediately asked to see what was in the suitcases in the back. Busted. We had a couple suitcases full of literature (Bible portions, tracts) that were left over from the nighttime distributions we had been doing for the previous 6-7 days.
Turns out they finally turned ON all those surveillance cameras we’ve been seeing more and more of the past few years. Once a million cameras are actually in action, and available to the authorities, its hard to stay hidden very long. We knew we had to be more careful (and we had been taking extra precautions), but it seems it was too little too late. We’ll make a note of that for the future! 🙂
I was then immediately taken in, photographed, written up, and interrogated til almost 3am. Reports were filed, papers signed and fingerprinted, my (rental) car, license, passport, and phone all confiscated (temporarily). But now I’ve been back home with the family for nearly a week with no news. They said they’d call (my wife’s number) when something is finally decided, and today (Monday morning) she finally got a call. I’m supposed to call them back later this afternoon.
(UPDATE: Before sending this, I got my phone and Chinese driver’s license back, as well as the rental car, which was immediately turned in to the rental agency with no trouble. But still no news on my passport or Chinese visa.)
Let me quickly note that it was just I that was taken in, not the team we had been hosting (they somehow managed to get out of the city, even though they were being looked for). And the police haven’t so much as spoken to my family at all. They police haven’t even asked to see their passports. We’ll hopefully find out soon what they decide to do with my visa, but it doesn’t look good.
My wife and kids have been amazing. Deysi was also up most of that first night waiting for me, chatting with people online, and then helping me secure some other important things in the house in case of a possible police search (that never came). When I got back after 3am, I had hours worth of stuff to do to make sure all our laptops and phones are secure, and to delete everything on my locked iPhone (gotta love findmyiphone!) that the police confiscated (i never gave them the password).
So specifically, right now, please pray for…
1) leniency by the authorities, even though that doesn’t make sense in the natural (most people who get caught doing similar things these days lose their visa and get blacklisted for a few years)
2) clarity by the authorites, so we know exactly what kind of cancellation/blacklisting they decide to do (i’d hate not knowing whether it was worth it to get a new passport, apply for a new visa, etc..)
3) continued protection for all of our friends and contacts, who are all currently safe and anonymous (the vast majority of those we know are not involved in my particular line of work, but we don’t want them to be under suspicion nonetheless)
4) protection for all of our “sensitive” materials and personal items in case of future searches (the Lord has already begun to answer this prayer!)
5) wisdom and provision for the next few months here in Asia, since literally everything is up in the air (our hope is that even if my visa is cancelled, my wife and the kids will still be able to visit a couple of times this summer/fall while we craft long-term plans for our continued efforts)
Finally, I want to extend an invitation to ALL of you to come and visit China at least once in the coming years! The situation is such here, and the need is so great, that we need more and more people coming on shorter trips to truly cover western China with the Word of God! The worst that would happen if you got caught is getting sent HOME…but for us the worst is getting sent out of our BELOVED and ADOPTED HOME!
Indeed, it does feel for us like we are about to get kicked out of our true homeland (2 of our 3 children were born here and they have all grown up here… and my wife and I have been here since our late TEENS). Can you imagine getting forced out of your home country, or state, or city for preaching the Gospel? That’s a little bit how we feel right now. We love you all and covet your prayers!
FYI: we are obviously dealing with some unplanned for expenses in the aftermath of all this, so any gift would be so appreciated: https://give.iphc.org/missions/219769
