If I told you about myself, I would probably sound like an average 13-year-old — I watch music videos and the latest TV shows, I eat ice cream, and I could beat you in a spicy-food-eating contest any day.
But now I find that I don’t have much in common with most kids my age. You see, my parents left home when I was five years old in search of better jobs. I stayed behind with my grandparents so that I could continue in school. But even though I tried my hardest, I just couldn’t keep up. At the end of fifth grade, my scores on the final exam weren’t high enough for me to pass to the next grade.
In my area of China, doing well in school is the only hope for a better future — the only way to escape the life of a tradesman: working from sunup until sundown with nothing to show for it but just enough food to stay alive.
For me, not passing fifth grade meant the end of my dreams for the future.
I decided to quit school and I moved to the city with my parents — if I couldn’t make it in school, I needed to learn a trade. Now it’s my job to earn a living. It’s my job to be responsible.
Every morning we wake up at 4 a.m. and set up our stand to sell breakfast to our neighbors, and every evening we prepare the vegetables we bought that day so that we can wake up and do the same thing over again. It’s not fun, you know. But life isn’t really about fun… I guess I’m just beginning to figure that out.
I once heard about a man who came to offer real life — abundant life — but I don’t know what that means. I asked my mom, but she doesn’t really understand it either. She says we already know who we are — we are Hui and we are Muslim, and even though we don’t really understand it, that’s who we have to be.
Prayer Requests:
- Pray that followers of Jesus will proclaim the Gospel to Chinese Muslims who practice trades (food stands, vegetable or meat stands, manual labor, etc.) in the cities.
- Pray for God to reveal to the millions of Chinese Muslims that just because they are Hui does not mean they have to be Muslim. Pray for them to hear and understand the truth of the Gospel and turn to follow Jesus.