One brother who lives in Shanghai is really grateful to fellow believers from various cities for their concern and prayer. His community has been in lockdown for a month due to COVID-19, but there is no shortage of daily food, as he has been cooking by himself for over 20 years. When he went to the Huangpu River to preach the gospel in early March, he met an insider who warned that Shanghai would experience a catastrophe. After he finished preaching, he went to the supermarket to get goods for storage, and he bought food that could be stored for a long time. At that time, there were not many people buying goods and the prices were as normal. Since he also purchased much milk powder, now he is no shortage of protein and calories. One of his neighbors from Yunnan ate only once a day, so he gave him some food, and the neighbor’s cat was even out of food.
In early April, he went for a walk in the morning and met an old lady suffering from rheumatism at the entrance of the residents' committee who was in pain as she ran out of painkillers. Knowing this, he quickly went home to get her a spare one, which was enough for more than 20 days. She left gratefully. There is a man surnamed Zhang living in the building next to his. He bought Zhang an MP3 player before and recorded many plays and songs for him. But not long ago, he accidentally broke his leg and had over-treatment misled by the doctor. He spent more than RMB 100,000 at his own expense, so the anger pushed him to break the mp3 player in a rage. Now that he lost the player forever, he felt rather bored. Learning of this, the brother sent his spare MP3 player to him, listened to his complaints, and comforted him with words.
Living on the top floor, the brother often wipes all the handrails on both sides with towels when passing by, as there are several frail people who need to use them every day, and the cleaning staff would not wipe them. Later as the pandemic worsened, the building was in lockdown. When he went upstairs, he would at his convenience bring goods to the neighbors on the 4th, 5th, and 6th floors. The 80-year-old woman who lives alone next door is unable to go upstairs or downstairs, so he is responsible for picking up goods and throwing out the garbage for her, and chatting with her to relieve boredom. Once he heard an old couple on the ground floor complaining that they could not get fresh vegetables, he quietly went down at 5 am and hung two cabbages on the doorknob of their house.
When the building was not locked down, he carried the LED display bag for a walk every day, which could show 10 gospel messages on it, which is eye-catching in the evening. It attracted many people's attention. Two cleaners praised it in surprise. On a sunny day in early April, he went down for a nucleic acid test. He thought that the display effect would not be good under the sun, but unexpectedly it was seen by many people. Some even read the gospel out. When he finished the nucleic acid test, the screen was found by nurses, who read out "Jesus was resurrected after death" and repeated it three times. She also called others to see it, and the police who kept order beside him didn't stop it.
The number of people with positive nucleic acid test results in the quarter was still increasing, so it seemed there was no hope of ending the lockdown. It was said that some residents banged on washbasins or pots, or shouted in unison at night to collectively express their dissatisfaction. On the evening of a hot day that saw temperatures as high as 33 degrees Celsius, there was silence all around as the residents had just had dinner and were opening windows to enjoy the cool air. He took the rare opportunity, hung the player out of the balcony, and played the hymns in the order he made, including Silent Night, Amazing Grace, Yearning (a popular TV drama in the 1990s) by Mao Amin, a favorite local singer of old Shanghainese, and Wishing You Peace by Sun Yue. In the intervals between songs, a 20-second gospel recorded by three announcers was broadcast which spread very far. The Baymax-like staff in protective clothing who are on duty also loudly said "Go on!" The broadcast lasted just over ten minutes, which did not disturb the residents, and could spread the good news.
When he was ill four years ago, he lost much weight, to the point where he weighed only 50kg. Later, he was referred to a treatment plan suggested by a brother and went to see a doctor. Then he got the right treatment and gradually gained weight. It's hard for him to walk the stairs every day, so he took the opportunity to reduce calorie intake and lose weight so that he could walk more briskly. There happened to be a Panasonic hair clipper at home which was sent by a brother more than 10 years ago. He used it to cut his own hair.
Once, he heard a Christian on the Gospel Radio sharing his comments on the implementation of digital RMB. Touched by the spirit of the Lord, he took out his own deposit and exchanged it for tens of thousands of dollars while the money was still free to be exchanged and transferred. He asked his connections to remit it directly to the first-line preaching teams in over 10 countries and regions (including Russia). For some places where he could not transfer money, he would send it in envelopes several times, which had all arrived safely a few days ago. Although it may not be not a big amount of money, the preachers in various countries have been greatly encouraged during the pandemic.
As a large proportion of the deaths in the pandemic has been the elderly, he suggested that his fellows should evangelize them, and their faith in the Lord will influence their descendants. For example, Hao Bochun, a veteran Kuomintang member, came to Christ in the 2020 pandemic. Liang Yusheng, a famous writer, and Mei Baojiu, a renowned Peking Opera artist, also became Christians during their old age.
- Translated by Oliver Zuo
一位弟兄非常谢谢各地同道们的关心和代祷。他的小区封1个月了，日用饮食没有缺乏，因为20多年来一直是他亲手下厨。他在3月初去浦江边行走传福音時，遇到一位知情者，警告上海大祸将临，他结束后去了超市补货，买了可以久存的食物，那时候物价还没涨，人也不多。还买了许多奶粉，所以现在身体所需的蛋白质和热量并不缺乏。他家隔壁的云南小哥，一天吃一顿，给了他一点，他養的猫也断了粮。
4月头上，他早上散歩，在小区居委门口遇到一老太太患风湿，很痛，止痛药已断档。他得询後赶紧去家中给她取来备用的给她，够她使用20多天，她很感激地走了。他家旁边一栋楼里的张师傅，使用的mp3播放器是以前他帮买的，还给他录入了许多戏剧、歌曲。但是不久前他不慎小腿部骨折，被医生误导，做过度治疗，光自费部分花去十多万；气愤难平，一怒之下把播放器砸坏了，现在没有听的了，很无聊。他得知后把家里的备用机送去，默默地听他诉苦情，发怨气，安慰他几句。他家住顶楼，他常在上下楼时順便用毛巾把左右侧的扶手全部擦一遍，因为每天有几位体弱者要使用，清扫人员也不擦。后来疫情加剧，楼被封后，在上楼時他順带上发给4、5、6层业主的东西。隔壁的80岁独居老太太，上下楼不便，他承包了她的取货、扔垃圾等活，还常陪她聊天解闷；一次听到底楼一对老夫妇，抱怨买不到新鲜菜，他就在凌晨5点悄悄下去，把两颗牛心菜挂在他们家的门把上……
在未封楼時，他每天背LED显示包去散步，上面显示10条福音信息，在傍晚尤其显目，引起许多人注目，有两位清洁工看到后，惊奇地称赞。4月初有一日是大晴天，下去测核酸，原本以为大太阳照射下效果不好，想不到那天反而被很多人看到，有的人在后面读出声来，做完核酸時还被护士发现，读出“耶稣死后复活了”等，重复了三遍，还招呼其他人来看，在旁边维持秩序的警察也没阻止。
小区里阳性者还在增加，解封无望。听说有的小区居民们在夜间或集体猛敲脸盆、烧锅或齐声叫喊，表达不满。有一日最高气温33度，傍晚夜幕降临，四围寂静，当人们刚用过饭，正开窗乘凉時，难得的机会，他按原先编好的次序，将播放器挂出阳台，播放起诗歌《平安夜》、《奇异恩典》以及老上海人喜欢的本地歌手毛阿敏演唱的《渴望》、孫悦的《祝你平安》，每曲間隙插入由三位播音員录制的20秒一段的福音广播，小高音传得很远。正在下面值班的“大白”（对身穿防护服的工作人员的称呼）也高声说“继续！”。短短十来分钟，既不扰民，又把信息传出去了。
他体重在4年患病時一度下降到50KG，后来参考了一位弟兄寄来的治疗方案，去就医效果不错，体重增加。每天走楼梯吃力，正好趁此机会，减少些热量摄入，瘦了些，走路更轻快了。正好家里还有一弟兄10多年前送的松下理发器，一直用来自己给自己理发。
有一次他听到福音电台的小贝弟兄分享关于对推行数字人民币的评论，他被主的灵所感，趁现在钱还可以自由流转、换汇，取出了自己的存款，换成数万美元，托人分别直接汇往10多个国家和地区的一线宣道队（包括俄罗斯）。有的地方实在不行，他装在信封里分次寄往，于日前均已安全到达，虽然金额不多，但在疫情盛行的当下，各国的传道者们受到了很大的激励。
鉴于疫情中老年人染病去世者占很大比例，他建议大家应该注重向这些人传福音，他们信主后也会影响其后辈。例如在前年疫情中有国民党元老郝伯春信主，还有作家梁羽生、著名京剧艺人梅葆玖等均在年老时信主的。
在瘟疫弥漫中的上海一主内兄弟的来信
One brother who lives in Shanghai is really grateful to fellow believers from various cities for their concern and prayer. His community has been in lockdown for a month due to COVID-19, but there is no shortage of daily food, as he has been cooking by himself for over 20 years. When he went to the Huangpu River to preach the gospel in early March, he met an insider who warned that Shanghai would experience a catastrophe. After he finished preaching, he went to the supermarket to get goods for storage, and he bought food that could be stored for a long time. At that time, there were not many people buying goods and the prices were as normal. Since he also purchased much milk powder, now he is no shortage of protein and calories. One of his neighbors from Yunnan ate only once a day, so he gave him some food, and the neighbor’s cat was even out of food.
In early April, he went for a walk in the morning and met an old lady suffering from rheumatism at the entrance of the residents' committee who was in pain as she ran out of painkillers. Knowing this, he quickly went home to get her a spare one, which was enough for more than 20 days. She left gratefully. There is a man surnamed Zhang living in the building next to his. He bought Zhang an MP3 player before and recorded many plays and songs for him. But not long ago, he accidentally broke his leg and had over-treatment misled by the doctor. He spent more than RMB 100,000 at his own expense, so the anger pushed him to break the mp3 player in a rage. Now that he lost the player forever, he felt rather bored. Learning of this, the brother sent his spare MP3 player to him, listened to his complaints, and comforted him with words.
Living on the top floor, the brother often wipes all the handrails on both sides with towels when passing by, as there are several frail people who need to use them every day, and the cleaning staff would not wipe them. Later as the pandemic worsened, the building was in lockdown. When he went upstairs, he would at his convenience bring goods to the neighbors on the 4th, 5th, and 6th floors. The 80-year-old woman who lives alone next door is unable to go upstairs or downstairs, so he is responsible for picking up goods and throwing out the garbage for her, and chatting with her to relieve boredom. Once he heard an old couple on the ground floor complaining that they could not get fresh vegetables, he quietly went down at 5 am and hung two cabbages on the doorknob of their house.
When the building was not locked down, he carried the LED display bag for a walk every day, which could show 10 gospel messages on it, which is eye-catching in the evening. It attracted many people's attention. Two cleaners praised it in surprise. On a sunny day in early April, he went down for a nucleic acid test. He thought that the display effect would not be good under the sun, but unexpectedly it was seen by many people. Some even read the gospel out. When he finished the nucleic acid test, the screen was found by nurses, who read out "Jesus was resurrected after death" and repeated it three times. She also called others to see it, and the police who kept order beside him didn't stop it.
The number of people with positive nucleic acid test results in the quarter was still increasing, so it seemed there was no hope of ending the lockdown. It was said that some residents banged on washbasins or pots, or shouted in unison at night to collectively express their dissatisfaction. On the evening of a hot day that saw temperatures as high as 33 degrees Celsius, there was silence all around as the residents had just had dinner and were opening windows to enjoy the cool air. He took the rare opportunity, hung the player out of the balcony, and played the hymns in the order he made, including Silent Night, Amazing Grace, Yearning (a popular TV drama in the 1990s) by Mao Amin, a favorite local singer of old Shanghainese, and Wishing You Peace by Sun Yue. In the intervals between songs, a 20-second gospel recorded by three announcers was broadcast which spread very far. The Baymax-like staff in protective clothing who are on duty also loudly said "Go on!" The broadcast lasted just over ten minutes, which did not disturb the residents, and could spread the good news.
When he was ill four years ago, he lost much weight, to the point where he weighed only 50kg. Later, he was referred to a treatment plan suggested by a brother and went to see a doctor. Then he got the right treatment and gradually gained weight. It's hard for him to walk the stairs every day, so he took the opportunity to reduce calorie intake and lose weight so that he could walk more briskly. There happened to be a Panasonic hair clipper at home which was sent by a brother more than 10 years ago. He used it to cut his own hair.
Once, he heard a Christian on the Gospel Radio sharing his comments on the implementation of digital RMB. Touched by the spirit of the Lord, he took out his own deposit and exchanged it for tens of thousands of dollars while the money was still free to be exchanged and transferred. He asked his connections to remit it directly to the first-line preaching teams in over 10 countries and regions (including Russia). For some places where he could not transfer money, he would send it in envelopes several times, which had all arrived safely a few days ago. Although it may not be not a big amount of money, the preachers in various countries have been greatly encouraged during the pandemic.
As a large proportion of the deaths in the pandemic has been the elderly, he suggested that his fellows should evangelize them, and their faith in the Lord will influence their descendants. For example, Hao Bochun, a veteran Kuomintang member, came to Christ in the 2020 pandemic. Liang Yusheng, a famous writer, and Mei Baojiu, a renowned Peking Opera artist, also became Christians during their old age.
- Translated by Oliver Zuo
A Brother's Letter From Shanghai Under Pandemic
