A few days ago, Elder Yan Guiying, the head of the sixth pastoral district in Yaodu District, Linfen City, Shanxi, shared the gospel with a disabled person and his mother in the hospital ward. Though she was always in good health, the doctor diagnosed her with a mild cerebral infarction, experienced the year before last, so she had to be hospitalized every year.
"You see that God is really gracious to me, as I also can work for God in the hospital. In addition to praying with a few sisters these days, I debated with a person influenced by a cult, and defended the truth with believers who know little about the Bible. Now, I found a disabled person and his mother, so I shared the gospel with them. We can see that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him."
After years of the vicissitudes of life, Elder Yan was immersed in the memories of her own faith and service.
She was a native of Hongdao Village, in Zhentou Township, Yaodu District, which was located in the foothills of the Lvliang Mountains. Suffering hardship as a child, she only studied in primary school for two years. Her mother died when she was 15, and within a year, two younger brothers and her grandmother died. So she developed a stubborn character because of growing up in a difficult environment.
Her father was one of the first village government cadres in the Zhentou Management District, so she worked in the village since she was a child. When she was grown up, she led women to smelt steel. And once she carried the ground grains on her back and walked for a day to build a reservoir 80 miles away in Guoxing Village.
After getting married, the life of her family improved. But her physical condition was getting worse and worse, and she felt uncomfortable all over her body. The doctor diagnosed her with hepatitis, heart disease, a gastric ulcer and other diseases, which caused her pain.
At this time, her younger sister, Jin Ping, came to visit her and said that she had a lot of hair loss in the first month of the past year. But when the Sunday service was held in the church, she went to listen to the sermon and believed in Jesus, and then she never lost her hair after that. She encouraged Elder Yan to go to church and believe in Jesus.
"If there is a god who can cure my diseases, I just try to believe it." So she began to pray to God with her sister, asking God to heal her diseases.
A few days later, Elder Zheng Fengying and a sister from Xiyi Church came to preach at the Yuanshang gathering point. During prayer, the Holy Spirit reminded Elder Yan that there were false gods in her house, such as the kitchen king and door god which must be completely eliminated. After the service, she came back home with the elders to get rid of all the idols. She also prayed earnestly and confessed her sins, and she received unprecedented joy and peace from God.
After believing in the Lord, although she couldn’t read much, she also tried hard to read the Bible. And she saw God perform miracles with her own eyes.
When her eldest grandson was one year old, he got a strange disease. At home, he was ill, but he was not uncomfortable and they could not find any problem in hospital. The family also burned incense and kowtowed to false gods, but these didn't work. Later he received a miraculous cure because of her belief in Jesus, and she determined to dedicate him to God.
Another year, her young granddaughter accidentally got a bean stuck in her throat while eating. She choked and her face became red because she couldn’t breathe properly. She and her family knelt down to pray, and later took the child to the city, but the hospital was closed. She went to the church to ask elder Fan Huizhen to pray when the child was almost out of breath. And after praying together, they felt safe. In the evening, they went to Shansheng Hospital and asked Elder Cheng Shuen, who was on duty at the church, to pray for her. Then Elder Cheng asked the sister of the church who worked in the district hospital to find a doctor in the hospital. The doctor looked at her overnight and said that if she could be saved before midnight, she would live, otherwise she would die. So she and the sisters of the church earnestly prayed to God with tears, and He really answered the prayer. In the second half of the night, the child recovered wonderfully. The doctor asserted that there might be further complications, but the child was completely cured. Later, she was admitted to the law department of the provincial capital university. Another child had the same experience, but she never recovered and remained in a vegetative state. The whole family praised the real and living God.
With a grateful heart, she determined to serve God. Soon after her baptism, she signed up for a month-long training class for pastors in Xiyi Church in Linfen. First working in the kitchen of church, she later spent spare time auditing courses and studied the Bible day and night. Later, she was so familiar with the Bible that she could quickly find scriptures. The other pastoral co-workers were surprised and asked why she was so familiar with the Bible, she said with a modest smile that it was God who helped her to memorize.
After the training, she was asked by the church to give a sermon. Although she had participated in the training, she didn't know how to preach. Sometimes when she set off in the morning, she still didn't know what to share that day. So on the way to the church, she sang hymns and prayed to God. In the service, the words she shared were exactly what everyone needed. So she praised God for his wonderful work.
For more than ten years, she and others from the church have walked around the nearby villages, often serving and sharing the gospel, and successively established gathering places in Zhentou, Cao Village, Majiazhuang, Hetaojian, Maijiao, Dianerao, Shanggeduo and Zhangwayao. In some small mountain villages, the whole village believed through the work of Holy Spirit. There were two meeting points in a village, together they couldn’t hold 300 believers.
The believers gathered at her house, but it was small, so she planned to build a chapel. She dedicated her cattle pen as a foundation for the building. Later, the cattle tied outside were stolen, but she didn't complain and care, and started the construction with the 8,000 yuan donated by the believers. Because they didn’t have wood to make benches, she asked the workers to cut down the trees in her yard. A carpenter from Shandong province felt the great love of Christ during his work, and later believed in Jesus. He didn’t accept payment and regarded his work for the church his gift to God.
Every time after the service, she dedicated the food and vegetables from her field and let everyone eat and drink. She did this for many years. She also felt that the more she gave, the more God blessed her, and the food she harvested every year could not be eaten up. "In the Bible, it is said that it is more blessed to give than to receive. God has never let me lack anything. The more I give up, the more blessings I get."
After years of continued service, she built churches in the Lvliang Mountains and served with a full heart. She enjoyed preaching sermons, shepherding and visiting the believers. She knew the situation about each local church and set a solid foundation for the faith of the believers.
She was ordained as a deacon and later as an elder in 2009 by the church. She also served as the head of the sixth pastoral district and a member of the Standing Committee of the district CC&TSPM. She prayed for many of the church members every day and was concerned with their spiritual life. It was because of her and her colleagues' persistent prayer that the believers in the Six Pastoral Area have a pure faith and a growing spiritual life and can resist various cults.
(The article is originally published by Gospel Times.)
- Translated by Abigail Wu
前几日，山西临汾市尧都区第六牧区闫桂英长老在病房给一个残疾人和他母亲传了福音。她身体一直很好，前年医生检查说患了轻微脑梗，这才每年要定期住院治疗一段。
“你看神真恩待我，住院都有很多神的工作要做。这几天我和几个信主的姊妹一起祷告，与一个受邪教影响的人辩论，还与不明白圣经的信徒辨明真道。这不，又遇见了一个残疾人和他母亲，就向他们传讲福音。可见真是万事互相效力，要叫爱神的人的益处。”
饱经岁月沧桑的闫长老沉浸在对自己的信仰历程和侍奉道路的回忆中。
闫桂英是地处吕梁山麓的尧都区枕头乡红道村人，从小受尽艰苦，小学只上了两年。15岁母亲去世，后来在一年里，两个弟弟和祖母相继去世。艰难的环境，磨砺了她倔强的性格。
父亲曾是枕头管理区的第一批村干部。受此影响，她从小就在村里工作。带领妇女大炼钢铁，曾磨好粮食背上步行一天，到八十里外的河东郭行修建水库工地。
后来结婚，一家人的生活也不断改善。但身体状况却越来越差，浑身难受。医生检查患有肝炎、心脏病、胃溃疡等各样疾病，使她痛不欲生。
这时她妹妹金萍前来探望，说自己去年正月头发落得很多，恰逢礼拜天教会礼拜，就去听道，信了耶稣，后来再也不落发了，让她也试试。
“如果真有神，能治好病，就信着试试看吧。”于是她抱着一线希望，和妹妹一起开始向神祷告，求神医治她的疾病。
过了几天，垣上聚会点礼拜，西宜教会的郑凤英长老和一位姊妹来证道，祷告时圣灵提醒她家里还有灶王、门神等各种假神，必须完全除掉。礼拜了完了，就和长老一起到家里除掉了一切偶像，她也恳切做了认罪祷告，她前所未有地得到了从神而来的喜乐和平安。
信主以后，她虽然识字不多，但也努力读圣经，在一些神迹奇事中她亲眼看见了神。
大孙子一周岁时，得了怪病。打针吃药也不见效，到医院检查，也查不出什么病。回家病就犯了，到医院不难受。家人也曾烧香磕头拜假神，也不见效，而因她信了耶稣，后来神奇妙医治好了，决心要把孙子奉献给神。
还有一年，年幼的孙女吃饭时不小心被一粒豆子卡住喉咙，脸憋得铁青，她就和全家跪下祷告，带上孩子来到城里，医院都下班了。她就找教会樊惠贞长老，祷告时孩子已经快没气了，一起祷告后就心里平安了。晚上到善胜医院，值守教会的程淑恩长老帮她祷告，托教会姊妹（在地区医院工作），去医院找了医生，医生连夜看了说，如果半夜以前能救回来就活了，不然就没有救了。她就和教会的姊妹情词迫切地流泪向神祈求，神果然垂听了祷告。后半夜孩子竟然奇妙地痊愈了。原来医生断言可能要留下后遗症，但孩子没留下丝毫后遗症，后来还上了省城大学的法律系。而同样另外有个孩子也是一样的病症，结果成了植物人。全家人都看见了又真又活的神。
蒙恩感恩，更应报恩，她立下心志侍奉神。信主不久，临汾基督教会在西宜教会举办为期一月的传道人培训班，她报名参加。先在灶房事工，后来利用闲暇时间旁听课程，白日黑夜下功夫读圣经。后来十分熟悉圣经，一翻书就知道那段经文在那里。以至于别的同工惊讶，你怎么这么熟悉圣经，她谦虚地笑着说，是神的大能与我同在。
培训完了，就被教会排上礼拜证道。当时虽说参加了培训，但不知怎样讲道。有时早上出发时，还不知道今天要讲什么。于是一路走，一路唱诗赞美，祈求神帮助预备。结果赶到聚会点，讲道时神预备的圣经话语，正是大家所需要的，神人同工效果极好。
十几年间，他们走遍了周边的村落，经常服侍做工，先后建立了枕头、曹村、麻家庄、核桃尖、麦角、点儿凹、上圪垛、丈洼腰等聚会活动点，圣灵也亲自动工，有的小山村全村都信了，一个点装不下，就分为两个活动点，信徒达300多人。
在本村礼拜时，开始在她家，地方狭小。后来就商量筹建礼拜堂，她就把家里的牛圈奉献出来作为地基，后来牛在外边拴着也被偷走了。她没有埋怨毫不计较，用大伙儿奉献的8000多元开始建设。要做凳子，没有木料，就让工人把自家院里的几棵树砍了，有个山东木匠做木活，在干活中他感受了基督里的大爱，后来也信了耶稣，连工钱也不要，作为奉献。
作为接待点，每次礼拜完了，她就把自己所种的粮食、蔬菜奉献出来，接待大家吃喝，多年一贯。她也感受到，越是愿意为神付出，神就越加倍祝福，每年打下的粮食吃不完。“圣经说，施比受更为有福，神从没有让我缺乏过，舍得舍得，越肯舍，得到祝福就越多。”
多年不懈的侍奉，她奔走在吕梁山区，建立教会，讲道牧养，爱心服侍看望，对每个地方教会的情况她了如指掌，对弟兄姊妹的生命也筑牢了信仰根基。
她先后被教会按立为执事，2009年被按立为长老，又担任第六牧区负责人、区基督教会两会常委。每天为许多肢体提名祷告，牵挂着每个属灵肢体的灵命。正是因为她和同工一代代的坚守，以至于六牧区虽然地处山区，但教会信仰纯洁，灵命渐长，抵御了各种异端邪说的侵扰。
（本文作者为福音时报特约撰稿人。）
神恩说不尽，矢志为主活——山西临汾尧都区第六牧区闫桂英长老侧记
A few days ago, Elder Yan Guiying, the head of the sixth pastoral district in Yaodu District, Linfen City, Shanxi, shared the gospel with a disabled person and his mother in the hospital ward. Though she was always in good health, the doctor diagnosed her with a mild cerebral infarction, experienced the year before last, so she had to be hospitalized every year.
"You see that God is really gracious to me, as I also can work for God in the hospital. In addition to praying with a few sisters these days, I debated with a person influenced by a cult, and defended the truth with believers who know little about the Bible. Now, I found a disabled person and his mother, so I shared the gospel with them. We can see that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him."
After years of the vicissitudes of life, Elder Yan was immersed in the memories of her own faith and service.
She was a native of Hongdao Village, in Zhentou Township, Yaodu District, which was located in the foothills of the Lvliang Mountains. Suffering hardship as a child, she only studied in primary school for two years. Her mother died when she was 15, and within a year, two younger brothers and her grandmother died. So she developed a stubborn character because of growing up in a difficult environment.
Her father was one of the first village government cadres in the Zhentou Management District, so she worked in the village since she was a child. When she was grown up, she led women to smelt steel. And once she carried the ground grains on her back and walked for a day to build a reservoir 80 miles away in Guoxing Village.
After getting married, the life of her family improved. But her physical condition was getting worse and worse, and she felt uncomfortable all over her body. The doctor diagnosed her with hepatitis, heart disease, a gastric ulcer and other diseases, which caused her pain.
At this time, her younger sister, Jin Ping, came to visit her and said that she had a lot of hair loss in the first month of the past year. But when the Sunday service was held in the church, she went to listen to the sermon and believed in Jesus, and then she never lost her hair after that. She encouraged Elder Yan to go to church and believe in Jesus.
"If there is a god who can cure my diseases, I just try to believe it." So she began to pray to God with her sister, asking God to heal her diseases.
A few days later, Elder Zheng Fengying and a sister from Xiyi Church came to preach at the Yuanshang gathering point. During prayer, the Holy Spirit reminded Elder Yan that there were false gods in her house, such as the kitchen king and door god which must be completely eliminated. After the service, she came back home with the elders to get rid of all the idols. She also prayed earnestly and confessed her sins, and she received unprecedented joy and peace from God.
After believing in the Lord, although she couldn’t read much, she also tried hard to read the Bible. And she saw God perform miracles with her own eyes.
When her eldest grandson was one year old, he got a strange disease. At home, he was ill, but he was not uncomfortable and they could not find any problem in hospital. The family also burned incense and kowtowed to false gods, but these didn't work. Later he received a miraculous cure because of her belief in Jesus, and she determined to dedicate him to God.
Another year, her young granddaughter accidentally got a bean stuck in her throat while eating. She choked and her face became red because she couldn’t breathe properly. She and her family knelt down to pray, and later took the child to the city, but the hospital was closed. She went to the church to ask elder Fan Huizhen to pray when the child was almost out of breath. And after praying together, they felt safe. In the evening, they went to Shansheng Hospital and asked Elder Cheng Shuen, who was on duty at the church, to pray for her. Then Elder Cheng asked the sister of the church who worked in the district hospital to find a doctor in the hospital. The doctor looked at her overnight and said that if she could be saved before midnight, she would live, otherwise she would die. So she and the sisters of the church earnestly prayed to God with tears, and He really answered the prayer. In the second half of the night, the child recovered wonderfully. The doctor asserted that there might be further complications, but the child was completely cured. Later, she was admitted to the law department of the provincial capital university. Another child had the same experience, but she never recovered and remained in a vegetative state. The whole family praised the real and living God.
With a grateful heart, she determined to serve God. Soon after her baptism, she signed up for a month-long training class for pastors in Xiyi Church in Linfen. First working in the kitchen of church, she later spent spare time auditing courses and studied the Bible day and night. Later, she was so familiar with the Bible that she could quickly find scriptures. The other pastoral co-workers were surprised and asked why she was so familiar with the Bible, she said with a modest smile that it was God who helped her to memorize.
After the training, she was asked by the church to give a sermon. Although she had participated in the training, she didn't know how to preach. Sometimes when she set off in the morning, she still didn't know what to share that day. So on the way to the church, she sang hymns and prayed to God. In the service, the words she shared were exactly what everyone needed. So she praised God for his wonderful work.
For more than ten years, she and others from the church have walked around the nearby villages, often serving and sharing the gospel, and successively established gathering places in Zhentou, Cao Village, Majiazhuang, Hetaojian, Maijiao, Dianerao, Shanggeduo and Zhangwayao. In some small mountain villages, the whole village believed through the work of Holy Spirit. There were two meeting points in a village, together they couldn’t hold 300 believers.
The believers gathered at her house, but it was small, so she planned to build a chapel. She dedicated her cattle pen as a foundation for the building. Later, the cattle tied outside were stolen, but she didn't complain and care, and started the construction with the 8,000 yuan donated by the believers. Because they didn’t have wood to make benches, she asked the workers to cut down the trees in her yard. A carpenter from Shandong province felt the great love of Christ during his work, and later believed in Jesus. He didn’t accept payment and regarded his work for the church his gift to God.
Every time after the service, she dedicated the food and vegetables from her field and let everyone eat and drink. She did this for many years. She also felt that the more she gave, the more God blessed her, and the food she harvested every year could not be eaten up. "In the Bible, it is said that it is more blessed to give than to receive. God has never let me lack anything. The more I give up, the more blessings I get."
After years of continued service, she built churches in the Lvliang Mountains and served with a full heart. She enjoyed preaching sermons, shepherding and visiting the believers. She knew the situation about each local church and set a solid foundation for the faith of the believers.
She was ordained as a deacon and later as an elder in 2009 by the church. She also served as the head of the sixth pastoral district and a member of the Standing Committee of the district CC&TSPM. She prayed for many of the church members every day and was concerned with their spiritual life. It was because of her and her colleagues' persistent prayer that the believers in the Six Pastoral Area have a pure faith and a growing spiritual life and can resist various cults.
(The article is originally published by Gospel Times.)
- Translated by Abigail Wu
Elder Yan Guiying’s Story of Serving God
