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Have you heard the expression “Boots on the Ground?” Well our Live Dead Missionaries are the boots on the Silk Road. Here we’d like to take a moment and allow one of them to share a snapshot of their life with you. Some names and details have been changed, but this is a true story from this colorful, vibrant, and sometimes surprising region.

“We can give you a ride home, but all we have here is our work truck,” he said. “It’s a van with no windows in the back.”

So a white, windowless van. The stereotypical kidnapper kind.

“Of course we’ll come!” we replied.

These are some of my favorite moments of living here. Before you freak out completely, you should know that these were friends we had known for a little while and had a fair amount of confidence in. Also, they ended up insisting that we all sit in the cab, as foreigners, and they rode home holding onto the sides of the cargo bay.

There are a lot of situations here I have to evaluate very quickly. Is this uncomfortable or dangerous? Is it unwise or just unusual to me? Do I hear the Holy Spirit warning me to stay away, or do I feel Him encouraging me to dive in and use this opportunity to build deeper relationships with the people here?

So I eat a lot of weird foods from questionable sources. I accept the spontaneous invitations from sweet ladies to have tea at their house (though never alone). I get on the buses that I think will take me to the right place, even when I’m not sure.

Ready for Anything

One of the local businessmen in our neighborhood had been telling my roommate Liz and me about a place to eat local food for weeks. What we didn’t understand was where it was. We thought we knew where he said it was, but when we walked by that building we couldn’t see a restaurant.

Finally one day as we were walking home from language class, he popped out of his store.

“Have you eaten yet?” he barked, skipping all the usual pleasantries.

Caught unaware, we admitted we hadn’t. He gestured towards a young man standing outside the store that I had never seen before.

“He will take you to eat local food,” said the man. Liz and I exchanged a glance, then both just shrugged and smiled.

“I guess we’re going then,” I said to her under my breath with a little laugh. We followed the young man to the building, and went down a flight of stairs so we were on the lower level outside the building. He walked us around to the back and down another flight of stairs into the basement.

As we descended I had to cover my face to suppress my nervous giggles. Here I was, following a strange man into the basement behind some random building. From all appearances this was a horrible idea, but I felt so completely safe. I was still in my own neighborhood, barely a block from my house. I trusted the sweet old businessman not to steer us into anything dangerous.

Enjoying the Unknown

The experience seems like an apt analogy for my whole life here right now. My path to the Silk Road felt like a weird meandering journey, just following one random person after another. I never quite know what’s going to happen next. The future is a looming mystery.

All the while, I know God is keeping me safe. He has already prescribed my path, and He will faithfully guide me on it.

There was indeed a kitchen at the bottom of the stairs, next to a small dining hall where the businessman provides lunch for his employees. The stranger leading us there was his son, who it turns out my roommate had met before. We enjoyed a wonderful meal, laughing quietly all the way through it, at how unpredictably delightful life along the Silk Road can be.

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