Preface

My name is Ling Xi. I am a 14-year-old girl who lives in modern day China. I have 2 siblings, my older sister Ting-Ting, and my younger brother, Le Hi. We live in a small city about an hour away from Beijing called Meriting. We live with our parents in a small hut near the riverbed. We are a middle-class family who are one of the lucky families who live in nice 2 bedroom houses with indoor plumbing. We, unlike other Chinese citizens, are apart of what we call underground churches. We strive to learn about the Lord and read the Bible, but we must keep this a secret. Why? Because if caught with a bible, we are thrown into prison and are tortured to death, no matter your age. This is my story, and it is a cruel tale about our struggles during our life's trials. We will be okay because we know that God is watching over us.

Chapter 1

We are on our way to my best friend, Ti Lang's home for our morning service. Her father is Pastor Lang. He has bibles that are specially designed to look like regular books to disguise them from the cops. The rules are at the church:

Do not ever carry your bible around for all to see.

Never pray in public.

Hide your bible in a place where only you can find it.

Never break any of these rules.

At first, everyone thought that Pastor Lang was overreacting, but we soon found out that he wrote these rules for a reason. We would go around our little town and say little things like: "God bless you" or "Jesus loves you" to our friends from the church. We must also be careful because policemen patrol around Ti Lang's street and that's where they usually arrest others.

My family and I never look when someone from our church is being arrested because we realize that those people could have been us. We act like normal people around our town and never speak of these things. But, when we are at our home, we can speak freely about God, church, and the Bible, but we must speak low because the policemen patrol two to a street to listen for suspicious words such as threats, foul topics, etc. On the top of that list are Christianity, God, the Bible, and any other things that go with that topic.

At my school, we are punished for the typical misbehaviors, and those of the religion we must not speak of. We are taught to follow the religion that our parents were brought up with. My parents were raised in Christian homes, so it makes it harder to concentrate on another religion that is not my own. Because of this, we have come into a shock the night of April 5th, 2010.

Chapter 2

We awoke at 2:39am to the sound of a thunderous explosion outside our house. My father and brother went out to see what was going on. When they returned, I heard my mother scream and run down the hallway, screaming, "Ling! Ting-Ting! Get out of you beds! There has been an explosion at our church! Pastor Lang has been arrested! Ti Lang and her family don't seem to be doing well, they haven't come out of the house!"

When I heard this, I panicked at the thought that my best fried and her family might have been killed all because of my idea to start a church. (Yes, this was all my fault, but think of all of the people who have accepted Jesus Christ into their lives!) I looked out of our window, but before I really got to look, Ting-Ting yelled,"You are a crazy girl Ling! We are in the death ring and all you can do is look out the window? "I looked at her, crying now and all I could do is shed even more tears. I have a speech problem and can't speak much. I communicate with sign language and sometimes paper and pad or computer if I have one with me. I tried as hard as I could to tell her what I was trying to say but couldn't get it out. So I watched their house burn.

Chapter 3

I ran as fast as I could. Our house was about to collapse of all the pressure the fire was putting on it. My family came running out after me as I swerved right into the Lang's home. They were huddled into their, what used to be, kitchen. They had third-degree burns. I rushed into their home, jumping over the rings of fire.

"Ling, Ting-Ting, Le Hi, Mi-Ting? What are you doing here? Where is Yao?" asked Mrs. Lang.

"Our father has gone to put out the fires with the other men in our neighborhood," I signaled. Ting-Ting translated for me.

"As long as we know that your family is okay. We were worried sick about you. Ti Lang did not want to see this happen to your family because she thought that you were dead, Ling."

My mother found a way out of the house that had not been lit by the fire. We lead them to safety and got them settled into our home after we assessed the damaged.

My father had not returned and Le Hi was starting to lose hope. He is only 5 and is in the 1st grade. He is very smart and knows what to do when we are in a crisis. We turn to him for majority the problems we can't solve. This was a time where he couldn't solve things and he was so scared that he cried all the time. "He may be a problem solver but he's only five!" shouted Ting-Ting.

"But he can pull himself together!" cried my mother

"We're in a war against our own country and he can't suck it up! Our father is DEAD! DEAD!" Ting-Ting shouted.

Our mother stepped back to take a look at ting-Ting. Tears welled in her eyes. I was crying also, silently. I knew that we had to do something.

Chapter 4

As the first sounds of morning came, I awoke to my family all squished into one of our rooms. I got dressed and ate silently while everyone was still asleep. Thinking about my father made me want to find out what was left of my neighborhood and assess the damage. I then ran to the hospital. I asked if there was a Yao Xi in one of their rooms, but no one by that name was there. There were at least twelve hospitals in the areas around our area, I had only 15 more hours before I had to be home for supper and nighttime prayer and reading our bibles.

I went to 4 cities; each had at most two hospitals. I counted the one hospital in my town, but it was only a clinic. By 5:00pm, I had already been to 9 hospitals with no luck. When I returned home, no one was there. They left a note for me. It said that they went to dinner at the 9 Dragons restaurant. They told me to meet them there.

I got on my bike and peddled there as fast as I could. My bike was so unused that I blew my tire and had to run the rest of the way. We have cell phones; they don't work in our neighborhood. Meriting is like a third-world country, but it's a town. We are about to be a second-world town because of our progress, but to God, it is a holy land (that's what Pastor Lang told us).

I finally reached the restaurant with minutes to spare before they brought out the appetizers. This restaurant is in Beijing and is only about an hour away by car. I arrived at the table and noticed that everyone had been wearing black.

"What is the occasion?" I signed.

"Your father is dead." My mother stated. "We are having a funeral today. I brought your black dress."

"The one daddy gave to me?"

"Yes, it is the only one you have. If I buy you a new one, I won't have money to buy our groceries and make payments for our house."

"You have no idea what we are going through! You think that the only reason we are here is to comfort you when you are down. I know that God has given us a plan and we are to follow it. If it is God's plan for you be a big baby, that's fine. We will not tolerate it anymore!" Ting-Ting yelled, stirring a scene in the restaurant.

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