The New York Times today published an awesome story about Fujianese restaurant workers who join a humongous conference call on weeknights, after free night-and-weekend minutes take effect, to study the Bible with a pastor in New York's Chinatown:
The Bible study is the brainchild of the Pastor Paul Chen, a minister at Church of Grace, and himself an emigrant from the Fuzhou region, which has become China's leading source of illegal immigrants smuggled into the United States. Three years ago, he said, he had been praying about how to tend to the thousands of Fujianese working in Chinese restaurants across the country.This story really resonated with me for a number of reasons. First, my wife speaks the local Fuzhou dialect, in addition to Cantonese and Mandarin, because her great-grandparents came from that region. (My paternal grandparents also came from Fujian, but from the Chaozhou area to the south.) When we were driving from D.C. to Seattle last summer, we stopped at a Chinese buffet in Terra Haute, Ind., where we met a 20-year-old waitress who had recently come from Fuzhou via New York. She teared up upon meeting my wife, and I really felt sorry for her situation. These people need God, and I'm so glad to read that God is working among them. I was stirred by the reporter's account of one conference call:
"In the Bible, it states that you are never to stop gathering together," he said, speaking in Mandarin. "For those who are out of state, having fellowship and being together, it is not that easy."
On a recent night, Mr. Chen, of the Church of Grace, led the participants through a passage in the Gospel of Mark where Jesus heals the sick and demon-possessed in Galilee. He impressed upon them that their purpose in the United States was not simply to zhuanqian, earn money, but to spread the Gospel as well.Lastly, and I know this is a controversial point, I was struck by the hardship these people have to endure to come here. One guy related how he flew to Guatemala, crossed through Mexico and snuck across the U.S. border. He had to pay about $60,000 to the "snakeheads," as human smugglers are called in Chinese circles, and would spend the first two years here paying off that debt. Now, doesn't it seem reasonable to set up a legal temporary worker program where these people can pay taxes, and maybe even some permit fee, to the government instead of to smugglers? I'm in no way supporting illegal immigration--I'm just saying we ought to consider reforming the system for the benefit of everyone involved.
Like a preacher revving up his audience, he challenged his listeners to respond, hitting a button to open up the lines.
"We're here to what?"
"Spread the Gospel," they said in a cacophony of Mandarin.
"We're here to what?"
"Spread the Gospel."
Later in the passage, Jesus calls on his disciples to come with him as he preached to other villages. Mr. Chen drew an analogy to the restaurant workers. They could go from buffet house to buffet house, planting seeds of faith wherever they went.
3 comments:
anyone who has circled ins offices for days on end, standing in lines that go on for hours, been stymied by red tape, and sent many "emergency" petitions can't quite share this sentiment. sure... it's nothing compared with being out in the cold desert, or whatever... but in that case, you know what to expect. for all of us who have lived and worked within the system, which slowly grinds it's way, this is nothing but a unjust reward for people who don't work within the system - call them illegal, or undocumented.
i hear you, bipin. i agree that the current system is unnecessarily difficult to navigate, even for those "well-qualified" to live and work here. i also agree that illegal immigrants are not entitled to the same privileges as legal immigrants.
all i'm saying is that we need to fix the entire immigration system by creating a more robust temporary worker program, tightening border security, and overhauling the bureaucratic beast.
It seems to me that the number of illegal immigrants coming into Texas from Mexico would be greatly reduced if Texas would enforce the law that forbids employers from hiring illegal immigrants. Then there would be less incentive for them to sneak over.
And...our country--the great "melting pot of nations"--used to welcome those who needed a new place to live. But I guess overpopulation has swamped us.
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