This weekend was packed with opportunities to serve and pry. We had a national holiday called, “Tomb Sweeping” Holiday. Where we live, people are not buried in the kind of cemeteries we have back in America. They are buried in mini-tombs in the hills and mountains. Once a year, during this 3-day festival, families visit the tombs of their deceased ancestors. Sounds normal, right? Well, this type of visit is a little different than the kind where we would normally take flowers to our family’s grave. Instead, they bring paper everything… Paper houses, paper supermodels, paper cars, and fake paper money. They burn these paper items so that their deceased family members will receive a better after-life. The surrounding mountains are full of smoke and fire for 3 days as people continue this hopeless tradition. While we respect the customs of the people here, our hearts absolutely break for them as they seek emptiness. They have no clue what kind of “after-life” they could receive from knowing the King.
When you have a chance, please pry for these people we are living with. They need more than anything to know truth and to be filled with hope.