Chapter 1
Dream
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As through a smoky veil, I enter into the dream; I am walking down a jet-way somewhere in China. I pass by a pilot dressed in his captain's hat, white shirt with epaulets, and black slacks, but I cannot recognize his face. Stepping up onto a vast, gray, concrete balcony, I peer over a four-foot high wall. As I look out, I see a broad plain with mountains far off in the distance. The word HANGZHOU is hanging like a sheer curtain in the sky before me.
Beyond a river, I see a village. A voice to my left speaks, "The people who live there make their dwellings of sticks and are called the stick people," referring to the villagers who live there. In the next dream sequence, I'm in a humble hut, squatting in front of a small fire with some other women. As I hold my hands up for warmth, I hear a person say, "Her clothes came out of her backpack when she crossed the river." Then, a comment about a woman who died the previous evening in a nearby village follows. The speaking voice says, “I think the lady's clothes will fit her." Later, returning from the village and wearing a drab, gray Mandarin jacket, I walk into the village where I will be staying. Walking along a dirt road, I pass by a duplex building on my left and a single story house on my right. Turning to the right at the corner is a two-story rose-colored building on my left. Sitting at the landing on top of the stairway is an obese, Asian person who is known as the “Lord of the high place," but I know within my heart that he is not my Lord. The Lord calls to me, inviting me to climb the stairs and join him for tea. I think, Oh, here's my chance to share Jesus with him. The Lord is wearing a beautifully embroidered, silk Mandarin jacket, and is holding a cup of tea in his fat hands. A servant hands me a cup of tea, in an ornately decorated, porcelain cup. Just as I start to move closer to the "lord of the high place," I stumble and spill the tea all over his handsome jacket. I feel clumsy and embarrassed. The dream ends - reality begins. After such an extraordinary dream, one that had a word spelled out before my eyes, I called my friend, Judy Cagle, a missionary to Asia Pacific, and told her about the dream. I was curious if she had ever heard of a city in China named Hangzhou. At that time, Judy said she wasn’t familiar with a place by that name, but she would look to see if it was on her map of China. Surprising to both of us, she did find that it is a major city in China. It is known as China’s "Garden City." We agreed that it was an interesting dream and left it at that. ~~~~~~~~ A month or so later, Gary, my husband, along with several other Continental pilots, was changing aircraft equipment and needed to go to Houston, Texas, for training. Knowing this, we started looking for a glorified storage facility, which to us meant a place to stash our stuff and hang our clothes while we traveled to and from Houston. The principal at the mission school where I taught, told Gary about a new apartment for rent located in the “Little Manila” district of Dededo on the west side of the island of Guam. Gary took me out to see it. For us, the price would be right at $650 a month. He thought we could squeeze all our Guam belongings into it and sleep there on our trips back to Guam. On the drive out, Gary kept looking over at me apprehensively, waiting for my reaction to the trash along the roadway. As a neat-nick from the U.S., my assessment was that the area was close to becoming a garbage dump. There was even the sickening sight of a dead, bloated dog along the shoulder of the road. Oddly, right in the middle of the through-road stood a power pole! We drove around it and continued on our way. Suddenly, my eyes widen as we turn left off the main road and drive through an ornately gated, dirt road. On our left was a duplex, and on the right was a single-story house. Passing the house, we turned right. To my utter amazement, on the left was a two-story, rose-colored apartment building! I’m thinking… "nener, nener - nener, nener," as I remembered my earlier dream. We parked the car in the unfinished first level, got out, and, again to my amazement, walked up highly polished tile steps to the landing area. The landing was beautiful. Being ornately decorated in burgundy and pink floral tile added a bit of class to the “Little Manila” apartment complex. Gary unlocked the door to the apartment to the left, and we entered the main living area. The cabinets painted the color of ripe raspberries, complemented the tiled burgundy and pink tile. One room had French doors, which opened onto a balcony overlooking the micro-village with all its construction projects. I couldn’t believe the noise of the place. Somewhere close by, a thousand roosters were making an awful racket. The landlord told us that there was a cock-fighting arena down the road. |
On the way back to our rented house in Baragada Heights, Gary said, “Well, what do you think?” I took a deep breath and said, “It must be my destiny to move into that apartment.”
After we had managed to cram all our stuff into the 800 square foot apartment and settled in, we had a Chinese family move into the apartment to the left of ours. Our new neighbors, Moses and Mary Sun, with their three-year-old daughter, Lisa, and baby, Joshua, had been referred to the building also by my principal. Moses, a missionary to China, recorded short-wave radio broadcasts of the gospel for China from his little Guamanian apartment. Mary was equally amazing; she had her master’s degree in Japanese Literature. We enjoyed being neighbors for nearly a year. Then, one early Christmas morning, after seeing a friend off at the airport, we came home to nap before our Christmas activities at church. Suddenly, I heard a terrible commotion next door. I woke Gary and said, “Quick, Gary, something is wrong at the Sun’s.” We jumped up and ran out the door. When we opened it, Moses was yelling at a 911 dispatcher in Chinese. He was too upset and nervous to think or to speak in English. While Gary helped him, I hurried into their apartment to see what was wrong. Mary, with a panicked look on her face, held out the limp body of little Joshua, saying, “My baby dying. My baby no breathe.” Indeed, his face was frighteningly blue, and his eyes were rolled back in his head. I said, “Quick, Mama, open his lips, and give him tiny breaths. Tiny breaths, Mama, tiny breaths!” She did that a few times, and then I had her turn Joshua over and pat him on the back. Nothing! Our eyes pierced each other’s as our alarm continued to mount. Mary breathed into him, again. Still nothing! My heart was racing along with Mary’s. Tears began streaming down our faces. Then, miraculously, the third time she patted his back, he gave a great gasp and began to breathe. When he focused his little eyes, he looked at his mama, clearly thinking she was kissing him and lifted his head to kiss her back. (Oh, thank you, Jesus!) We gently stripped Joshua down and started cooling his fevered body in the bath. Meanwhile, Gary helped Moses communicate his needs to 911, and the paramedics were on their way. While we waited, Moses sat on the sofa, wringing his hands, saying, “Chinese medicine no good!” I encouraged him that it was good. He was right in thinking that the fever would burn out the bacteria, but I cautioned him that he had to be careful not to let the fever get too high and go for too long before attempting to control it. Joshua went to the hospital that Christmas day and in the week that followed, he experienced six more seizures. The good news is that he fully recovered and, to this day, is a healthy young boy. ~~~~~~~~ My interpretation of these events is that the Good Lord spoiled the plans of the enemy to take little Joshua’s life. Perhaps one day he will become a great spiritual warrior for God, just like his papa. Dreams can amaze us! ~~~~~~~~ Thwart the Enemy with the Armor of God! Ephesians 6:10-20 fitly tells us: “Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might. Put on the whole armor of God that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. "For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. "Therefore, take up the whole armor of God that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. "Stand therefore, having girded your waist with truth, having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace; above all, taking the shield of faith with which you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one. And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God; praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints—and for me, that utterance may be given to me, that I may open my mouth boldly to make known the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in chains; that in it I may speak boldly, as I ought to speak.” |
Moses and Mary Sun with Lisa and Joshua