Grubb Mission
Report – October 2018
“Go into all the world and preach the gospel
to every creature” (Mark 16:15).
A Work of the
Chestnut Mountain Church of Christ, Chestnut Mountain, Georgia USA
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PLEASE PASS THIS
REPORT TO THOSE YOU THINK MIGHT HAVE INTEREST IN OUR WORK!
If any
congregation would like for me to come and give a report of our work, please
let me know so that we can schedule it.
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China Trip
On September 4th, I left for my 69th
overseas trip. For the first time, I flew non-stop from Atlanta to Shanghai. It
was just short of fifteen hours. It was the first time I have been in an
airplane that flew above Canada and Alaska to travel to Asia. It was one of the
smoothest flights I have ever taken. Thanks also to Delta for upgrading me to
Business Class. What a difference that makes on such a trip.
Upon arrival in Shanghai, I was met by
two of our friends and taken to the hotel where I would stay on the trip. I
spent the rest of the evening in showering and getting my luggage squared away.
On Thursday morning (Sept. 6th), I woke
up at 5:00 AM, took my walk, showered, etc., ate breakfast and got ready for a
brother to meet me at 10:00 AM to go to the police station to register my
visit. The rest of the day was a day of getting acclimatized, etc.
On Friday, we had dinner with brother Sun
and then a Bible class at his office. We did not have as many to attend as they
normally have, but we still had our class.
On Saturday, we had a Bible study with
the daughter of one of the members. She is a college student. We had a good
study and will continue the study next week.
On Sunday, we were involved in Bible
study and worship in two different locations. At the morning location, about
twenty came together for Bible study and worship. After the services, we went
to a local restaurant for lunch. We then took the subway to the other location
for the afternoon services. About twelve attended those services.
On Monday, we went to the city of
Nanjing for some sightseeing and to visit with a Christian there. We took the bullet train
from Shanghai and about 90 minutes later, we were in Nanjing. On Tuesday, we
went to the Sun Yat Sen burial site. It was very impressive. On Tuesday, we
went to the Ming Dynasty, Tai Ping Kingdom, Qing Dynasty, and Nationalist
presidential palace. It also was very impressive. It was on Wednesday morning
we met with James and talked to him about efforts he is making in teaching in
Nanjing.
On Thursday morning, we took the train
back to Shanghai for the next two weeks of teaching. On Thursday night, I had
the second study with a college student. The study was going very well. Friday
night was our regular Bible class. On Saturday, we had the third study with the
college student.
The second Sunday in Shanghai was equally
as busy as the first. I did go to a different place on Sunday morning. There
were more than twenty who attended in the morning service. I then went to the
other congregation that meets on Sunday afternoon. After the afternoon service,
we went to a Dim Sum restaurant for dinner.
I spent Monday working on projects and
lessons for future events. I am working on some bilingual PowerPoint lessons
for the Taichung lectureship. Tuesday was more of the same. On Wednesday, we
had another Bible study session with the college student. We had planned to do
some sightseeing on Thursday, but the weather was terrible, so I stayed in the
room and worked on lessons for the future.
On Friday night, we had our regular Bible
study with some of the members in Shanghai. I taught from Ephesians chapter
four. Saturday night gave us the opportunity to continue our study with the
college student.
On my last Sunday in China, I spoke twice
in the morning at the congregation on the west side of Shanghai then after
lunch, I spoke twice to the congregation on the east side of Shanghai. It was
good to see the brethren again this year.
On Monday and Tuesday nights, I continued
my study with the college student and was not able to completely finish the
study, so the local brethren will continue teaching her. She left for college
the day before I left China and will be back at her home every weekend. The
local brethren will be able to continue to teach her. She has a good attitude
and I believe she will obey the gospel in the very near future.
On my last day in China, I was able to
visit my favorite tourist place in Shanghai – the Bund. It has a number of very
old buildings that survived the Second World War and has been renovated as
well. Across from the Bund is the second tallest building in the world along
with a number of other impressive buildings.
On Thursday, I boarded a flight to travel
to Jakarta. Let me tell you why I made a side trip to Indonesia.
About eight years ago, I met a Christian
lady who was married with two young girls. She had taught Barry and Melany
Hatcher the Indonesian language and Barry and Melany taught her the gospel. I
met her again in 2014 and then again in 2016. In 2015, she had become a widow
as a result of her husband’s heart condition that resulted in his passing.
In February 2018, I met her again when I
came to Sumatra. We seemed to hit it off. As friends, we had already been
writing each other for about two years. In May, we decided to take our
relationship to the next level. We started to get to know each other better. We
are thankful for the technology available to us in the twenty-first century
which enables us to be able to communicate effectively in spite of being
separated by about eleven thousand miles. We then decided we needed to see each
other for a couple of weeks and see if this relationship was real.
So, in July, I made a trip to Indonesia
to see her and her girls to see if this would be a lasting relationship. After
two weeks of visiting with each other, we decided we were “made for each
other.” We are now engaged to be married and we will be married in the not too
distant future. We have decided to have a very small wedding and then later to
have a reception for family, friends, and brethren sometime in the middle of
next year.
By the way, the name of this Christian
woman is Bertha Beatrix (Eta) Purba. She has two grown daughters named Jessica
and Jovita. During this trip, we took care of details that have to be taken
care of to meet all of the legal aspects of marriage in Indonesia. Eta will
take care of the rest of the details between now and the date of the wedding.
We are not going to publish the date of the wedding, but we will let you know
after the fact. We solicit your prayers on our behalf as we continue to make
preparation for our wedding and marriage.
In addition to these events, I had the
privilege to speak at two congregations in Sumatra as well. I spoke at the
Natar church and the Asoka congregation.
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INDIANAPOLIS,
INDIANA:
“Hi John. Been meaning to mention something based on your last presentation on
the work in China. You mentioned that in some areas you have to study in the
open with no hardcopy Bibles. I think it would be good to share examples of the
challenges Chinese Christians face in living their faith. Especially stuff from
the government. Most Americans have no clue of the dedication required since we
live in a country founded on religious freedom. They also assume life in China
is just like life in the US. God bless you in your work. And I pray regularly
for all my Brethren all over the world” –
David Chamberlin. (NOTE: In the next newsletter, I will answer this letter from
brother David. JMG.)
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USEFUL WEBSITES
http://www.grubbchinese.org
http://www.wvbs.org
http://www.gbntv.org
http://www.ibtministries.org
http://www.oabs.org
http://ChineseBibleSchool.org
apologeticspress.org/OL_Chinese.aspx
Grubb Mission
Reports can be read here:
http://grubbmissionwork.blogspot.com
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SPEAKING
SCHEDULE
2018
Oct. 14 –
Southside Lectures, Lubbock, TX
Oct. 27-28
Southeast Lectureship –
Richmond, Hill, GA
Nov. 26 – Jan. 3
– Four Seas College Lectures/Singapore, Taichung Lectures/Hualien, Taiwan,
Indonesia
2019
Tentative Trips
Jan. 24-Mar.
4 Indonesia/New Zealand
May – June
Indonesia/Malaysia
September China
or Malaysia
Oct. 20-23
Gospel Meeting - Cape Fear, NC
Nov. – Dec.
Singapore – Taiwan
– John M. Grubb
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Chinese Website:
http://www.grubbchinese.org
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