鄭子英 Jason Cheng

耶穌走遍各城各鄉，在會堂裡教訓人，宣講天國的福音，又醫治各樣的病症。他看見許多的人，就憐憫他們；因為他們困苦流離，如同羊沒有牧人一般。於是對門徒說：要收的莊稼多，作工的人少。所以，你們當求莊稼的主打發工人出去收他的莊稼。(太9:35-38)

過去這幾年，主在這段經文上教導我一些功課。其中一項就是以耶穌的心為心，在宣道的地方看見主耶穌要我看見的，聽見祂要我聽見的。還有另一項更重要的，就是順服在神的主權下。在這裡主耶穌並沒有說，因為要收的莊稼多，做工的人少，所以你們就要趕快跳進田裡去收莊稼，也沒說要趕快去找更多的人來收莊稼。主的命令乃是要我們禱告祈求莊稼的主差派工人去收莊稼。祂就是莊稼的主人，祂比我們更在意莊稼的收成。在馬太福音28:18-20大使命裡，主先說：『天上地下所有的權柄都賜給我了，』然後祂才說：『所以，你們要去……。』在此申明了祂在宣道事工上的主權。

今年2006年六月底的貴州醫療短宣我原本無法參加。四月中下旬我第一次問我老闆有關於在六月底請假一個禮拜(五個工作天)時，他說他還不知道，讓他想想。那時我警覺到，我不能因為去年老闆爽快答應讓我去短宣，今年就假設一切將順利成行；我也應該好好禱告，尋求神的心意。我想到大衛的榜樣，(撒下5:17-25) 他一次在面對非力士人時，求問耶和華，神指示他攻打敵人的方法，結果他大獲全勝；他下一次面對非力士人時，照樣求問耶和華，並沒有因為之前的勝利就依樣畫葫蘆，而是再一次來到神面前來求問祂，結果祂指示大衛一個決然不同的方法， 『你聽見桑樹梢上有腳步的聲音，就要急速前去，因為那時耶和華已經在你前頭去攻打非利士人的軍隊。』(撒下5:24)

從馬太福音9:37-38，我原本就已經學習到上帝是莊稼的主，是祂決定差遣誰就差遣誰。真正決定我是否去貴州短宣的，不是我老闆，乃是上帝。

在兩個禮拜等待老闆答覆的期間，上帝讓我想到箴言21:1『王的心在耶和華手中，好像隴溝的水隨意流轉。』一天晚上，我為這事禱告時，突然有感動，好像神對我說我老闆會說No。那時心裡充滿平安。隔天早上在上班途中，我也感謝神說，不管老闆的決定是什麼，都會反應神的旨意，因為老闆的心在神的手中，隨神的意流轉。果然那天問老闆，他說不行，因為在六月底他會開始每禮拜多花一天的時間在一家醫療教學中心，所以需要我留在診所看病。我心裡也充滿平安。為什麼神會這樣安排，我不清楚，但我深信祂有祂的美意。我侍奉祂，就得聽祂的命令，順從祂的旨意。順福就必蒙福。

於是我把重心放在準備的工作上，尤其是預備這次要去的年輕人。我心裡也定了意，這次無法去，下次還有機會。但是很奇妙的，事情出現了轉機。五月底一天下班時，我從老闆那得知，他覺得我還沒有預備好，在沒有他的監督下自己看肝臟科的病人，他覺得我還需要一些時間。我心想，當然，才幾個月的時間，不可能一蹴可至。那天回家路上，我突然想到，等一下，如果在六月底時我還不能自己看肝臟科病人，那不就表示我可以請假去短宣了嗎？之後我請弟兄姊妹為我的老闆禱告，隔天我問他，他竟然答應了。他還加了一句：”I think you should go.”  還是那句經文『王的心在耶和華手中，好像隴溝的水隨意流轉。』整件事真是「峰迴路轉，高潮迭起」。我老闆首肯讓我去貴州，這真是今年我收到最好的生日禮物。沒想到短宣還沒開始，就已經開始經歷神了。

在我的教會我是負責醫療短宣的部分。我還記得在四月時真正確定能去的人不到十位，而且只有一位牙醫師。於是我請教會的牧長同工們特別為這事禱告，求神差派工人去這次的短宣。之後我經歷了上述的峰迴路轉，現在回頭看，神果然聽了我們的禱告。我們並沒有特別去推廣這個短宣，可是最後竟然有30位隊員。在5位醫師及3位受過專業訓練的醫藥助手當中，我是唯一一位屬於我自己教會的醫護人員，其他的人都從別的教會來的。我們整個團隊當中有住在南加州的弟兄姊妹，有從紐約波士頓來的，甚至也有遠從巴西來的。我發現當我的教會並不是在開拓自己的領域，而是在拓展神的國度時，別的教會的弟兄姊妹自然而然地就會來響應這樣的呼召與異象。

我們對於團隊的合一很重視，而腓立比書2:5告訴我們合一的秘訣，就是『以基督耶穌的心為心』。要能夠與主同心就需要花時間與祂親近。所有的隊員在報名時就被告知每天要有固定的靈修生活，不管是讀經，禱告，敬拜讚美，或安靜等候神，個人需要花時間及功夫去培育cultivate與神之間的關係。親近神就是為了短宣所能做最好的預備了。從短宣前的三四個月開始的定期開會，可以說是聚會，前半段時間都用於敬拜讚美神，等候神，禱告，並默寫該次聚會前要背好的經文。後半段事務性的部分都因前半段的時間已經親近神了，進行的非常順利，有好幾次都還能提早結束；而這樣合一的果效也同樣在短宣時顯露出來。在短宣時我們延續了在行前聚會的慣例，每天早晨都有聚會，而且晚間除非是行程關係太晚回去休息，也都有聚會。如此花時間親近神，以致於當我們碰到突發狀況，需要臨時改變計畫，或者是在做工服事之時，都讓我們感受到與神與人同工與合一的喜樂。

我從來沒想過去中國大陸的短宣會需要講那麼多的英文。之前幾年的短宣隊所有團員都聽得懂中文，所以開會時幾乎都使用華語。但這次短宣一開始籌備就有人只會英文，於是在行前的開會，包括敬拜讚美，禱告，報告，文書等等都以英文為主。到了短宣期間，有巴西及大陸當地的同工聽英文很吃力，於是團隊在一起晨間與晚間聚會時，都需要以中文翻譯成英文。雖然有時很不便，但是我們深信語言不應該成為我們同心合一的障礙。而神也藉由團隊彼此之間的分享與交通，造就並且建立了個人的屬靈生命。

就我自己而言，我從別的弟兄姊妹的分享中被神提醒我自己的軟弱並且學習面對。在貴州有一天的晨間聚會時，由一位姊妹分享簡短的信息，由我翻譯。這位姊妹學的是經濟，在貿易公司上班，她說來到貴州後她不知當初為什麼加入了牙醫組，想到要幫病人洗牙就很緊張，在第一天義診之前，她剛好靈修到詩篇139篇，第10節說：『就是在那裡，你的手必引導我，你的右手也必扶持我。』當她第一次要幫病人洗牙時，她就禱告是神的手握助她的手在洗牙，果然服事過程進行地很順利。我一邊翻譯一邊很感動，心想說我自己看診時並沒有想到要隨時禱告尋求神的引導，反而神藉由一位不是醫療專業的姊妹來提醒我。之後的一個主日，我們聚會彼此分享時，另外一位姊妹分享到『你們既做在我這弟兄中一個最小的身上，就是做在我身上了。』(太25:40) 神再次提醒我因為病人眾多，很多時候看診時我便沒有耐心和愛心。隔天在去義診的途中，我找幾個一同坐在巴士後面的弟兄姊妹繼續為當天的服事來禱告。結果那天看診時我自己經歷到神同在的大能，我發現我自己比平常更有愛心與耐心，而這很明顯的是從神而來的。有幾個案例也在神的引導下診斷出比較複雜的病情。我由此學習到我需要多花時間親近神，才能多倚靠神。

我們團隊當中也有一位大學生還未信主，當初當他報名時，我個人並不認為很妥當。我讓總領隊知道這件事，沒想到他說可以有條件的讓這個年輕人參與，包括開始看聖經，去教會聚會，參加行前的開會。我當時想我也需要順服，就在那時，我覺得上帝在問我說：『你不是想去貴州短宣嗎？他人就在美國，他就是你們宣教的對象了。』我忽然恍然大悟，如果我們向一個參與短宣隊的人都不能為神做美好的見證，那又如何在異地為神做見證呢？於是通知整個團隊為他的救恩禱告，在開會禱告時也特別為他代禱。這年輕人也很可取，開始唸聖經，放暑假前還在東部上課時也跟朋友去教會，而每次開會所有隊員要背的經文他也認真的背。在短宣期間他也非常有團隊的精神，認真參與所有的活動。短宣回來後的第一個主日，教會安排所有的隊員上台分享，輪到他時我為他將英文翻譯成中文。他說他在短宣時看到主內弟兄姊妹相親相愛的美好關係，也看到大家與神之間的美好關係，他很羨慕，於是決定也成為一個基督徒，好教他自己也能與神與人有如此美好的關係。我一邊翻譯，一邊很受感動，沒想到上帝這麼快就成就了我們所求的。感謝主，讓我們雖然沒有直接向他傳福音，無意間我們在日常生活中卻流露出主耶穌生命的見證，並且可以帶人信主。

我們當中有一位姊妹很小就來美國，講國語的時候很像小孩子，在短宣前因為家人的關係先回去台灣一趟，結果讓她的中文大大地進步。她講了一個她在台灣剛聽到的一個冷笑話：『有一個人啊，他很機車啊，然後他就被騎走了啊。』(註：『機車』意指令人討厭反感。)我把這個笑話轉述給我們的總領隊聽，已經步入中年的他，聽不太懂這個台灣年輕人的冷笑話。他想了一天後，很鄭重的告訴我說：『我們做人不要太機車被人家騎走，我們要做小驢駒被主騎。』這次我們的團隊裡絕大部分是從事別的專業的年輕人，當他們報名的時候，都會問我們說：『我不是醫生也不是護士，我到底能夠做什麼？』雖然他們有自己所偏好的服事組別，但他們都願意被擺在最有需要的地方。當他們有一顆謙卑順服的心的時候，主就大大地使用他們了。

這次的短宣醫療部份分有牙科，中醫針灸，內科及小兒科。每天各科看診人次從三四十位到上百位不等。牙科助手最多，所做的工也最細，這次不同往年的是，除了拔牙外也增加了洗牙的部分，由兩位牙醫師設立了美好的模範，勤奮並且細心，帶領一群不同專業的年輕人做服事人的工作。這次短宣也有新的領域，就是英語教師培訓的工作，而負責的弟兄姊妹們用活潑而且實際的方式將英語會話融入日常生活當中，以短劇的形式進行教學，帶來不同的效果。

老實說在貴州鄉下裡的人雖然窮困，但他們並不需要我們，沒有我們去他們也一樣過的好好的；他們真正需要的乃是上帝。我們的禱告就是期盼能在那裡播下真理的種子，落在好土裡，能結實三十倍、六十倍、一百倍。而我們所能做的，就是以實際的行動來闡釋上帝的愛。貴州人不需要我們，反倒是我們需要去貴州，去經歷神的奇妙作為。『但聖靈降臨在你們身上，你們就必得著能力，並要在耶路撒冷、猶太全地，和撒瑪利亞，直到地極，作我的見證。』(徒1:8)

Guizhou Medical Missions

Jason Tzuying Cheng, MD

Jesus went through all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the good news of the kingdom and healing every disease and sickness. When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. Then he said to his disciples, "The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.  Mt 9:35-38, NIV.

In the past few years, the Lord has taught me a few lessons through this passage in Matthew.  One of the lessons I learned is to have the same heart as that of Lord Jesus, to see what He wants me to see, and to hear what He wants me to hear in the mission fields.  Another more important lesson is to submit myself under God’s sovereignty.  Here in the passage, Lord Jesus did not say that because the harvest is plentiful and the workers are few, so you must quickly jump into the field and harvest the crop.  Nor did He say that you have to find more workers for harvest as soon as possible.  The Lord’s command is for us to pray and ask the Lord of harvest to send workers for the harvest.  He is the Master of harvest and cares more about the harvest than any of us.  In the Great Commission found in Matthew 28:18-20, the Lord first said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me,” and then He said, “Therefore go…” (NIV)  Here He reiterates the sovereignty He has over missions.

For the medical missions trip at the end of June this year in 2006, I actually could not make it at first.  Toward the end of April when I first asked my boss about taking a week (five working days) off at the end of June, he said he wasn’t too sure yet and would think about it.  At that time I was alerted that I could not assume everything would be okay this year simply because last year my boss was pretty happy to let me go on missions.  I still needed to pray and seek God’s will on this.  I then remembered the example of David (2Sa 5:17-25).  One time when he faced the Philistines, he asked the LORD for direction.  God showed him the way of defeating the enemy, and as a result he had a great victory.  The next time when he faced the Philistines, he still went and inquired the LORD.  Instead of copying the same method from the previous victory, he came before God again and sought for direction.  Consequently, God showed David a very different way:  “As soon as you hear the sound of marching in the tops of the balsam trees, move quickly, because that will mean the LORD has gone out in front of you to strike the Philistine army” (2Sa 5:24, NIV).

From Matthew 9:37-38, I had already learned that God is the Lord of harvest—it is He who decides who to send, and such person shall be sent.  The person who would decide whether or not I could go to Guizhou for missions was not my boss, but God.

In those two weeks while I was awaiting my boss’s reply, God reminded me of Proverbs 21:1—“The king’s heart is like channels of water in the hand of the LORD; He turns it wherever He wishes” (NASB).  When I was praying for this thing one night, I all of a sudden felt like God was telling me my boss would say no.  At that time my heart was filled with peace.  The next day on my way to work, I was thanking God for that whatever my boss’ decision was going to be, it would reflect God’s will no matter what.  The heart of my boss was in God’s hand and would be turned either way according to God’s wishes.  When I asked my boss that day, sure enough, he said no.  He would start spending one extra day per week at a major medical center around the end of June, so he would need me more in the office to see patients.  My heart was filled with peace though.  I had no idea why God arranged it this way, but I truly believed that His will was good and pleasing.  Since I serve Him, I have to listen to His orders and obey His will.  Obedience surely brings forth blessings.

I therefore placed the emphasis of my work on the preparation itself, especially to prepare the young people for this trip.  I was also determined that even though I couldn’t go this time, there would be more opportunities later.  Amazingly, things got turned around.  Toward the end of May one day after work, I found out from my boss that he didn’t think I was ready yet to see hepatology patients on my own without his supervision.  He felt I needed more time.  I thought to myself that, of course, there was no way for me to get to the top in a few months.  That day on my way home, it all of a sudden occurred to me that, wait a second, if I cannot see liver patients on my own yet at the end of June, that means I can take time off for the missions trip!  I then asked brothers and sisters to pray for my boss.  The next day when I asked him, he actually said yes!  He added:  “I think you should go.”  It is still the same verse:  “The king’s heart is in the hand of the LORD; he directs it like a watercourse wherever he pleases” (NIV).  The whole thing was like a roller coaster with ups and downs, as well as twists and turns.  The fact that my boss was willing to let me go to Guizhou turned out to be the best birthday gift I received this year.  It was beyond my expectation that even before the missions trip started, I had begun experiencing God already.

At my church I am in charge of the medical missions portion of the trip.  I still remember that back in April there were less than ten people confirmed to go on the trip, and there was only one dentist.  I therefore asked the pastoral staff and other co-workers at church to pray for this, asking God to send workers to this missions trip.  Afterwards, I experienced the event as described above.  Now looking back, God surely listened to our prayers.  We did not specifically promote this missions trip, but at the end we had 30 people total on the team.  Among five doctors and three professionally-trained medical/pharmaceutical assistants, I was the only healthcare worker from my own church.  The other seven people were from other churches.  In our team, we had brothers and sisters from southern California, from New York and Boston, and from even as far as Brazil.  I have discovered that when my church is not enlarging its own territory but expanding the kingdom of God, brothers and sisters from other churches very naturally come and respond to the same calling and vision.

We paid a lot of attention to the unity of the team.  Philippians 2:5 tells us the secret of unity, and that is having the same mind as that of Jesus—“Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus” (KJV).  In order to think the same as the Lord and have the same attitude of mind as He does, we need to spend time with him.  All the team members upon applying were told that each person had to have spiritual devotions daily, be it reading the Scripture, praying, worshiping and praising, or waiting upon the Lord quietly.  Each person had to put in energy and time to cultivate his/her relationship with God.  Spending time with God was the best preparation for the missions trip.  The team meetings that took place regularly, starting three to four months prior to the trip, could be said as spiritual gatherings.  The first half of the meeting was used for praise and worship, waiting upon the Lord, prayers, and writing down memorized verses for that particular meeting.  The second half of the meeting for the logistics usually went very well as a result of the time spent with God earlier—quite a few times it even ended early.  The same fruit of unity was also seen during the missions trip, in which we continued the same practice we had prior to the trip—we gathered together to spend time with God every morning as well as every night, unless it was too late upon returning to the hotel due to the traveling.  Spending time with God thus allowed us to experience the joy of unity in working with God and with people, even when we faced unexpected incidences, changed plans the last minute, or labored and sweated together to minister to others.

I had never thought that I would have needed to speak that much English in a missions trip to China.  In the years prior, pretty much all the team members understood Chinese, and all the meetings were conducted mainly in Mandarin.  But this time way in the beginning of preparation for the trip, there were already people who understood only English.  So for the meetings prior to the trip, including praise and worship, prayers, announcements, and handouts, English was the main language.  During the trip, we had team members from Brazil and local coworkers who had a hard time understanding English.  Therefore, all the morning and night meetings had to be in Chinese with English translation.  Even though at times it was inconvenient, but we deeply believed that language should not become a hindrance to our unity.  And through the fellowship and sharing within the team, God nurtured and built up each individual’s spiritual life.

As for me, God reminded me through other people’s sharing about my own weaknesses, and I learned to face them.  One day during the trip in Guizhou, a sister was assigned to share a short message in the morning meeting, and I was translating for her.  This sister majored in economics and works in customer liaison for a company.  She said after arriving at Guizhou, she started wondering why she joined the dental team at the first place, and she got very nervous whenever thinking about doing tooth cleaning for patients.  Before the first day of service, she read Psalm 139 in her devotion.  Verse 10 says:  “…even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast” (NIV).  And the very first time she was about to do tooth cleaning, she prayed that it would be God’s hand holding hers as she cleaned the teeth.  Sure enough everything went very smoothly for her.  As I was translating for her, I was very touched myself at the same time.  I was thinking that when I saw patients, I did not think of praying to God at the same time and seeking His direction like she did.  And God used a sister not in the medical profession to remind me of doing so.  The Sunday afterwards we were sharing among ourselves during a meeting.  Another sister shared that “whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me” (Mt 25:40, NIV).  God again reminded me of my lack of patience and compassion many a time when there were too many patients.  The next day on our way to provide medical service, I asked a few other teammates also seated in the back of the bus to continue praying for the work that day.  As a result, I experienced God’s mighty power that day when seeing patients.  I discovered that I had much more compassion and patience than usual, and that obviously was from God.  Under God’s guidance I was able to make diagnoses in a number of more complicated cases also.  From this I learned that I need to spend more time with God so that I can rely on Him more.

In our team there was a college student who was not a believer.  When he applied for the missions trip, I personally did not think it would be appropriate.  I let the director of Guizhou missions know about this, and surprisingly he said we could allow this young man to participate on conditions including reading the Bible, going to church, and attending team meetings prior to the trip.  So I felt I should obey my superior as well.  Then I felt God was telling me:  “Don’t you want to go to Guizhou for missions?  He is right here in the States.  He is your mission field.”  All of a sudden it dawned to me that, if we could not be good witnesses for God to a person involved in the team, how could we testify for God in a foreign land?  Therefore, I notified the entire team to pray for his salvation, and during team meetings we specifically prayed for him also.  This young man actually did a good job.  He started reading the Bible, went to church with his friends while still in school at the East Coast, and memorized the Scripture for each meeting as required for all team members.  During the trip he was a very good team player also, and was very into all the activities and services.  The first Sunday after the trip, our church arranged for the missions team members to share about this trip during the service.  When it was his turn, I translated for him from English to Chinese.  He shared that during the trip he witnessed the wonderful relationship between brothers and sisters in Christ, as well as the wonderful relationship between them and God.  He was envious and decided to become a Christian as well so that he could also have such wonderful relationships with God and with others.  As I was translating for him, I was very touched by God.  I did not expect that He would answer and accomplish what we had asked so soon.  Praise the Lord that even though we did not evangelize to him directly, as a testimony for God our daily life reflected the life of Lord Jesus, and led this young man to Christ.

Among us there was a sister who came to the States when she was very young, and she sounded like a kid when she spoke Mandarin.  Right before the trip she had to go back to Taiwan first because of her family.  As a result her Mandarin greatly improved.  She told us a latest joke from Taiwan:  “There was a person, and he was very ‘motorcycle,’ and then someone rode him away.”  (“Motorcycle” is a slang which means “obnoxious” in Taiwan.)  I told the director of missions about this joke.  As a middle age man, he did not really understand this joke from the young people in Taiwan.  He thought about it and after a day, very seriously he said to me:  “As a person we should not be too ‘motorcycle’ for someone else to ride away.  Instead, we ought to be a colt for the Lord to ride on.”  In this trip the majority of the team members was young people from othe r professions.  When they first signed up, they all asked us:  “I am not a doctor, nor am I a nurse.  What exactly can I do to help?”  Even though they had their preferred area of service, they were all willing to be placed at wherever that had the greatest need.  As they had a humble heart willing to submit, the Lord used them greatly.

For this trip the medical services included dentistry, acupuncture, internal medicine and pediatrics teams.  For each day of service, each team saw anywhere from 30 to over 100 patients.  Dental team had the largest number of assistants, and their work was also the most detailed.  Different from prior years, there was tooth cleaning in addition to extractions this year.  The two dentists were great role models for this group of young people from other professions and disciplines.  Working hard and paying attention to the details themselves, the dentists effectively led the young people in serving and ministering to others.  Also new to this trip was the intensive training for the English teachers.  The English teaching team used fun and practical teaching methods and integrated English into daily life.  Skits were part of the lessons and brought different perspectives to the local teachers.

Honestly speaking, even though people in Guizhou’s countryside are poor, they don’t really need us.  Without us they still carry on their daily routines.  Who they really need is God Himself.  Our prayer is that we may sew seeds of the truth over there, and that they may fall into good soil and bear fruit 30-fold, 60-fold and 100-fold.  What we can do is illustrating God’s love through realistic means and practical actions.  Guizhou people don’t need us, but instead we need to go to Guizhou to experience God’s wonderful works.  “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth” (Ac 1:8, NIV).