"You are the only Chinese minister we know of"

Here’s an interesting experience:

About a week and a half ago, I got a call from a Mr. Zhang Yu, whom I didn’t know. This is roughly how the conversation went:

“Are you Mr. Zhou?”

“Yes.”

“This is Zhang Yu. I would like to ask of you a favor.”

“Do I know you?”

“You have come by our office, the Hunan Road and Bridge Construction Company.”

“Yes, but I don’t remember you specifically.”

“Well, we heard that you are a minister.”
“Yes.”

“One of my work colleagues died in a road accident recently, and his funeral will be this weekend. So we would like you to come and give a short talk. You are the only Chinese minister we know of.”

“Who was the person that died?”

“His name was Chen Xiong. He was 57 years old. Maybe you don’t know him.”

“No, I don’t. So, how did you get my name and phone number?”

“Mr. Han Kai, who has the auto business, recommended you.”

“Yes, I teach him the Bible.”

“So, the funeral will be this Saturday at 9:00 a.m. There will be a cremation afterward.”

I discussed this with Innocent and Benjamin, the special pioneers, and we decided to meet with Mr. Zhang personally at his office to get more details. Two days later we ended up spending an hour and a half with him, asking some specific questions about the deceased, and saying that we would agree to give a short Bible talk but not say anything about the deceased. We also obtained some assurance from Mr. Zhang that there would be no traditional customs, such as lighting firecrackers (to scare off evil spirits) or burning paper money, that would be out of harmony with Bible teachings and therefore offend our consciences.

So, on the Friday before the funeral, I spent the entire day working on a 12-minute Chinese talk covering (1) why humans die, (2) the condition of the dead, and (3) the resurrection hope. We had arranged that five of us from the Chinese group would drive to the funeral (which was to be in Bugesera, about 45 minutes away) armed with Chinese tracts to distribute to everyone in attendance.

Well, it was late Friday afternoon that Mr. Zhang called me, completely embarrassed and apologetic. He said that because some relatives coming from China would not be arriving until close to 1:00 p.m. the day of the funeral, they would have to reschedule it to 3:00 p.m., which he knew was the time of our Chinese congregation meeting (the second week at this new time). I said, okay, why don’t you give me your e-mail address, I’ll send you the script of the talk, and you or someone else can read it to the audience.

Though it was disappointing not to be able to give the talk I had spent so much time on, there were some positive aspects to this experience. First, it was very gratifying to know that we, the Chinese group in Kigali, are starting to be well-known. Second, preparing the talk was for me like a day of personal study, since I spent the whole day thinking about the resurrection hope. And finally, Mr. Zhang told me later that he did read the talk to the audience, but just the first two sections, because he felt the Chinese audience would not be able to grasp the concept of a resurrection.

My recollection of preaching at the Hunan Road and Bridge Construction Company is that with the exception of one man who ended up returning to China, no one showed interest every time we visited their offices. So, if Mr. Zhang was one of these (and I can’t be quite sure), then obviously the death of his colleague changed his attitude toward our message. In our long discussion, he told me that at 25 years of age, he is suffering a lot of stress and insomnia from his job, he misses his wife and one-month-old son in China, and feels that perhaps the Bible’s message can help him find greater happiness and purpose in life. So, he is now willing to accept more visits from Jehovah’s Witnesses. We will see where this leads!