This was where we hoped the ‘Z’ people lived. We had been on a journey for the best part of 10 days to get to this area where we had been told we would find the people we were looking for. It was evening and we had been on the bus all day, so our first task was to find a place to stay.  There was only one hotel in the town, so we checked in, had a wash and then went out to get some food.

After we got back from dinner, we had only been in the room for about ten minutes when we got a phone call. I understood three words from the conversation (which was short): ‘police’, ‘why’ and ‘five minutes’. In less than five minutes the head of the police along with his junior assistant and the hotel manager were at the door of our room. They were pretty upset about us being in the area and wanted to know why we were there. Unbeknown to us the area was then off limits to foreigners.

Actually as soon as the police officer realised that we were not out to cause problems and that we could communicate in Chinese (even though basic at the time), he calmed down and we all sat on the bed talking about Hindi movies! When we told him we where interested in meeting some ‘Z’ people, he said that they actually lived in the next valley over. He then told us of the bus we could take there the following morning and made us promise that we would only stay in the valley for 24 hours. The Father was in control! He knew the difficulty of getting into the area; He knew that we would be able to find the exact location from the head of police; He knew that the head of police likes Hindi movies; He also knew that we would get permission from him - and He knew it would be best for us not to know any of this beforehand!

The next morning we got the bus early to head into the next valley. This was quite a tense moment for us. We had put a lot of expectations on this trip and in particular on getting to the place where the ‘Z’ people lived. For the previous six months of language school we had been prevented from making the trip because of travel restrictions due to the SARS outbreak. Every day for the previous six months the moments that were about to be played out had been rehearsed over and over in our heads. Surely when Father said to go to those people, something was going to happen. We were fully expecting someone to run up to us and say something like, ‘You’re here. Six months ago I had a dream that you would come and give us a book that would be the truth’! Or there would be a dead person whom we prayed for who came back to life! Or at least there would be a beam from heaven come down when we got off the bus!

The reality could not have been more different. We do realize that those other things do happen and we are still looking forward to the times when they do (well, maybe not the light beam). What did happen though was that people stared and children ran. People did not understand our Chinese and we did not get all they were saying either. It was just a normal rural Tibetan village. Not only did nothing out of the ordinary happen, but because it was such an uninteresting place an argument started between us: ‘How can you not like the place that Father has so obviously called you to?’ The Enemy was all over us. We had to take a walk out of town and pray to Father and forgive one another for biting each other’s head off because of the expectations we had put on the place, the people and ourselves. When we walked back in, it was a different place. We spent the evening with a family and have been able to go back and see them several times over the last three years.

We are now rounding up our formal Mandarin language study (what ever that means – I am convinced that the language is going to be a ‘full-time’ pursuit for the rest of my life here in China). We have travelled back to the ‘Z’ people’s valley many times, building relationships, speaking and being the Message as much as we can. In the near future we are looking to open up a business venture that would place us in the valley carrying out the vision that the Father has put on our hearts.

So you are probably asking, ‘Why the ‘Z’ people?’ or ‘How do you know that you should be there in such a small place in the middle of the mountains?’ Good questions! To answer them we have to go back to the summer of 2000. I was at university in England and my wife (just a friend at the time) was in Canada. It was that summer that I made my first trip to China on an AM-CCSM short-term team and was introduced to the Tibetan culture. It was a ‘revelation’ trip for me and I definitely felt a real pull to the place and the people that went deeper than just an adventure in Tibet.

Back in the UK, as I finished my studies, I continued to fuel this spark that I felt the Father had dropped into my heart. After my final university exams I made a second trip to China and felt the Father seal the call to the Tibetans that I was sensing. In December, my wife and I got married and began working in an outdoor centre. During this time we made plans to join the Antioch School of Missions’ (ASM) course and then move on into China to see what the Father had for us with Tibetans there.

This was no easy progression of steps! My wife at that time had no interest in China; I on the other hand felt a clear call to go, but not without her. Father had without question put us together and He had also put a real assurance in me that ASM and then China was the next step for us. But the two did not seem to want to come together at all. It was a hard time of questions and doubts.

In September 2002, we started our training for China on ASM. It was on the short-term team to China halfway through the course that the Father really changed my wife’s heart, or rather showed her what His heart was for the Tibetan people. So when we went into China for our one-year placement in December, both of us were sure of two things: that Father was calling us to be involved somehow somewhere with Tibetans, and that we were going to be spending our first year in language study.

We began to learn more, particularly about Tibetans. We realized that the term Tibetan includes several different people groups with totally different languages and practices. Although some people may get a general call, we sensed a need to really seek Father for direction concerning a specific Tibetan group. So it was back to the drawing board in a sense. We collected information on all the different Tibetan groups and put their names on a map of Central Asia and China. We then just began to ask Father to show us.

He did! Early in 2003, Father gave us both dreams on the same night and in the dreams told us just what we needed to hear. In my dream a voice spoke to me and said, “Go to the ‘Z’ people. They live amongst the Amdo. They need your help, specific help and medical help.” I woke up immediately and wrote down the name and then rushed to see if I could find the name on the map of names we had made. I did not recognize it but sure enough it was there and, yes, they did live amongst the Amdo Tibetans. I went straight away to wake my wife up and told her what had happened. She said that she had also had a dream. In her dream a voice had asked her a question, “Where would be the right place to live?” Up until then we had been making plans to work with some of the Tibetans in Northern India. It seemed to make sense, as both of us had grown up in India, my wife speaks fluent Hindi, and my grandfather had originally been called to work with Tibetans in the far reaches of Northern India - this would be a handing on of the baton. However, in my wife’s dream she answered, saying, “The Chinese part of Tibet.” This was completely the opposite side of the Tibetan world but it complimented the dream that I had exactly.

So that brings us to where we are now. We have a mandate to help and bring the Gospel to the ‘Z’ people. After ASM we returned to the UK to share our vision with friends and family, and then returned to China with AM-CCSM for further language study - and also to be as close as possible to the people Father has called us to. Now we are looking to set up a business to work in the ‘Z’ area. We will be here for a while!