June, 1997 Hartford Courant
Honors |
Bible Thumping in the Far East
By Nicole Belasco
Four Central students went on a two week missionary trip to China to bring bibles to children. Sophomore Anthony Phillips, junior Joshua Miller, and seniors Nellie Santiago and Anthony Barrios are members of the Gospel Light Community Church youth group, which organized the trip.
China's communist government tends to discourage western religions such as protestantism and catholicism. "It's a gray area," said Mr. Ronald Stach, who has taught Chinese history at Central. "They allow religion, but regulate it very closely. They don't want anything to take the place of the state, so there's no such thing as freedom of religion. Sometimes the government is very paranoid and cracks down on religion. With bibles, it depends on the climate. They might allow the distribution of bibles at a particular time. There are no hard rules," he added.
If a Chinese citizen is caught bringing bibles into China, he or she may be jailed. However, if a foreigner such as an American is caught with bibles, the penalty is lighter. The bibles are usually confiscated. The Chinese government is less likely to jail a foreigner out of fear of angering the traveler's country. "If an American goes too far, he would probably be expelled from the country," said Stach.
Following a flight to Hong Kong and a thirty hour train ride to the Chinese border, the youth group separated. Each person carried two or three suitcases which were filled with bibles, and a backpack with their clothes and belongings.
"There were no x-ray cameras [at the border], just a row of guards. If somebody looks suspicious, they take them aside and search them. We had to pretend we didn't know each other, in case one of us was caught with bibles. We couldn't go back for any of the others, even if they were stopped," explained Nellie.
Two members of the group, in fact, were stopped by the guards and had their bibles confiscated. However, the students were able to bring a total of seventeen suitcases filled with bibles across the border of China.
They went from hotel to hotel, meeting up with taxi drivers to make secret deliveries. "We had to be careful," said Nellie. "We couldn't say 'church' or 'God' or 'Bible' because the hotel rooms might be bugged."
This idea seems very strange to Americans, because we tend to take our privacy for granted. Are the hotels there really bugged? "Probably in some cases," said Stach. "Foreigners are very closely watched. They don't want their people influenced by them."
"Many of the big cities, like Beijing, have churches, but it's just for show; it's just for the tourists to see," said Nellie. She explained that the churches in China are all controlled by the government, which tries to paint a picture of democracy. There are, however, many underground churches.
Members of the Gospel Light youth group presented the idea of making the trip to their youth leader and received funding from their church and other supporting churches. The friends and families of the students were excited and happy about the missionary trip, although some of the parents were nervous that their children were leaving the country.
"In the past fifteen years, China has developed a Capitalist economy," said Stach. "It has created extremes of wealth and poverty that didn't exist before. In the countryside, about 80% of the population lives in relative poverty by our standards: no running water, no toilets, no refrigerator. Theydo have televisions. The people are better off in the city, although at best they would have a very small apartment. A lot of people are pouring into the cities from the countryside," he explained.
The students found out about the living conditions firsthand as they made their way to northern China. "The cities were filled with people, especially children," Nellie said. "A lot of the stuff we saw there was really sad, all the poverty. It was a real blessing to know that we could get the bibles to the people."
Nellie seemed angered by the fact that many books understate the amount of poverty in China. "I was reading a textbook that said Chinese children were not in danger, and that they have education, doctors, and health care. In Hong Kong they did but not in China. If [a family] did have a house it was very small and expensive. Health care facilities are scarce," she said.
"You could feel their hunger for religion," Nellie commented about the people she met in China. "They are very open and friendly people. The best part of my experience was probably thinking about how we were able to reach out to people and help them."
