Welcome to China Compass! I'm your China travel guide, Missionary Ben. 

You can follow me on X (@chinaadventures) where I post daily reminders to pray for China (PrayforChina.us). You can also email me any questions or comments @ bfwesten at gmail dot com… And if you want to learn more about everything we are doing, visit PrayGiveGo.us.  

Today we discuss the following topics and more...

How many Chinese spies are among us? 

Chinese Adoptions Come to An End (Families in Limbo)

https://www.foxnews.com/media/china-end-foreign-adoption-program-leaving-hundreds-u-s-families-limbo

Pray for our friends who have attempting to adopt Chinese children for years!

This podcast is brought to you by Pray for China, where we encourage Christians from every US state to adopt every Chinese province in prayer. Today we will look at Hunan, which is paired up with Indiana and Ohio for prayer in our intercession scheme @ PrayforChina dot us (https://prayforchina.us/)

Hunan's Name & Geography

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tianmen_Mountain

https://www.chinasource.org/resource-library/blog-entries/changsha/

Hunan's Christians (Wang Xianheng)

https://chinapartnership.org/blog/2024/08/life-of-wang-xiangheng-1/

Mao and the China-Yale Mission at Changsha, Hunan

https://ia801902.us.archive.org/33/items/yale-group-spurs-maos-emergence-yale-daily-news-vol.-93-no.-96-february-29-1972-p.-1/Yale%20Group%20Spurs%20Mao%27s%20Emergence%20%28Yale%20Daily%20News%2C%20Vol.%2093%2C%20No.%2096%2C%20February%2029%2C%201972%29%20p.%201.pdf

https://chinahandsmagazine.org/2021/03/26/120th-anniversary-of-yale-china-mao-zedong-and-yale-china/

Don’t forget to check out the millionaire missionary from Yale at http://BordenofYale.com!

Robert Morrison, China’s First Protestant Missionary, landed in China on THIS DAY (Sept 7, 1807)...

http://www.prayforchina.com/#!prayers/09-07

Welcome to the China Compass podcast on the Fight Laugh Feast Network!

Find me on Twitter (@chinaadventures) where I post daily reminders to pray for China. Email me any questions or comments @ bfwesten at gmail dot com… And find the rest of our books and projects @ www.PrayGiveGo.us  

This week I am recording in Peru, but I start out by talking about the NSA "middle finger" kerfuffle and why I can't curse in Chinese (or Spanish). 

Next I talk about NBA players promoting their brands in China, and how to avoid being hypocrital when criticizing people who want to plant their flag in China.

https://about.nike.com/en/newsroom/releases/jordan-brand-athletes-2024-china-tour

This podcast is brought to you by Pray for China, where we encourage Christians from every US state to pray for every Chinese province. Today we look at Shanghai, which is paired up with New York City for prayer in our Pray for China intercession scheme: https://prayforchina.us/index.php/new-york/

I want to focus on Shanghai today, and after talking about my visit the the 7 Star Shanghai Restaurant, we look at a funny linguistic connection to Peru (Shanghai/Chancay) and then talk extensively about the potentially dangerous Chinese Megaport being built in Peru.

https://www.nzz.ch/english/chinas-mega-port-in-peru-poses-a-geopolitical-threat-ld.1840781

https://www.scmp.com/video/china/3268281/peru-resolves-chinese-megaport-dispute-president-prepares-meet-xi

We wind down by talking about all the Chinese people in Peru (and their restaurants) and how I went from serving in Peru (short-term) to living in China (long-term). I also share what's so special about where I am recording this podcast from (the slums of northern Lima, Peru!). 

And here's the final plug from the podcast...

Training and Sending from the Andes to the Himalayas :: https://tibetandina.com/

Welcome to the China Compass podcast on the Fight Laugh Feast Network!

You can follow me on Twitter, @chinaadventures, where I post daily reminders to pray for China (PrayforChina.us). You can also email me any questions or comments @ bfwesten at gmail dot com… And if you want to learn more about our missions projects or get one of my books, visit PrayGiveGo.us.

We start out by discussing Tim Walz' ties to China, as seen in two different articles...

Seven Troubling Tim Walz Connections to Communist China

https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2024/08/08/exclusive-seamus-bruner-seven-troubling-tim-walz-connections-to-communist-china/

Tim Walz’s Long Relationship With China Defies Easy Stereotypes

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/08/11/us/tim-walz-china.html

Next we talk about our primary sponsor, Pray for China, where we encourage Christians from every US state to pray for every Chinese province. Today in “honor”  of Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, we are looking at the Chinese province of Heilongjiang (Black Dragon River), which is paired up with the state of Minnesota for prayer in our Pray for China intercession scheme.

Heilongjiang translates literally as Black Dragon River, and is located in far northern China just south of the Black Dragon River, which separates it from Siberia to the north. Black Dragon River is known for its pine forests, rivers, lakes, and frigid winter weather (sound familiar?). It makes a natural fit for Minnesota. 

The capital of Black Dragon River is Harbin, but that same trip I also visited the towns of Suihua, Hegang, Yichun, Jiamusi, Shuangyashan, Jixi, Qiezihe, Qitaihe, Mishan, Hulin, and more. I tell a few stories in the time that remains…

https://open.substack.com/pub/chinacall/p/4am-conversation-with-a-homeless

Subscribe to my blog/substack @ ChinaCall.Substack.com

Welcome to the China Compass podcast on the Fight Laugh Feast Network!

You can follow me on Twitter, @chinaadventures, where I post daily reminders to pray for China (PrayforChina.us). You can also email me any questions or comments @ bfwesten at gmail dot com… And if you want to learn more about our missions projects or get one of my books, visit PrayGiveGo.us.

On this special episode I talk with my good friend Brent who is a teacher at NSA, and we are recording right here in Moscow during the 2024 Grace Agenda Conference.

In this podcast, Brent and I discuss a wide range of topics, including...

Here is the link to the John Piper sermon that God used to introduce Brent and I...

https://chinacall.substack.com/p/my-burden-for-the-truly-unreached-fbc

https://www.desiringgod.org/messages/holy-ambition

And here are various links to Brent's book on Chinese classical Christian education, "Redeeming the Six Arts", in both English and Chinese:

Roman Roads Press：https://romanroadspress.com/store/six-arts/

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Redeeming-Six-Arts-Christian-Classical-ebook/dp/B0BXY45TSK/

中文（Chinese)：

恩道：https://ebook.endao.co/book-914#

微读：https://wdbook.com/dp/54502751633409?fbclid=IwAR2B082mM0lkt2_q_i1-ZR-G-P6Olb-XjO6Xkha27KZJfB_9jdsBIoq046E

亚马逊：https://www.amazon.com/%E6%95%91%E8%B5%8E%E5%85%AD%E8%89%BA-Redeeming-Six-Arts-Chinese/dp/1944482709/

Welcome to the China Compass Podcast on the Fight Laugh Feast Network! I’m your host & China travel guide, missionary Ben. You can follow me on X (@chinaadventures), where I post daily details and reminders to pray for China (PrayforChina.us). You can also email me with any questions or comments @ bfwesten at gmail dot com, which is my pen name. If you want to learn more about our missions projects or get any one of my books, visit PrayGiveGo.us. 

This week, I'm trying to get back into my “normal” podcast schedule, as I comment on current events from a Chinese perspective, highlight one particular Chinese province to pray for, and then finish by telling a bunch of stories from my experiences in that particular province.

So we start by discussing China's Olympic pride and propaganda, dating back to the 2008 Beijing Olympics and turning to the current medal competition with the United States. Here are the NPR articles that I referenced...

https://www.npr.org/2024/08/09/nx-s1-5068021/olympic-medal-count-paris-gold-silver-bronze-total

https://www.npr.org/2024/08/02/nx-s1-5061584/china-paris-olympic-gold-medal-count

Next we look in depth at the Chinese province of Jiangxi, which is paired up with Georgia in our Pray for China prayer scheme (https://prayforchina.us/index.php/georgia/). Hot, humid, hilly, located in SE China and and only slightly larger than Georgia, Jiangxi was the early hideout (aka, Jiangxi Soviet) of the the Communist guerillas (led by Mao) in the 1920s and 30s, as well as home to the important Lushan Hill Station, which was built by missionaries in the late 19th Century, but served as a de facto southern capital for the Communist Part for many years during Mao's reign.

Finally, during story time I talk about turning 19 on the streets of Jiangxi's capital, Nanchang. I share about our encounters with police (and a sheep!) in Yiyang and Lianhua, getting taken for a (yummy) ride in Ji’an, oversleeping on a wooden bed, walking circles around Ganzhou, and wading through the Dingnan floods all while "running from the light".

As I mention on the podcast, get your copy of Borden of Yale (free on Kindle!), who visited northern Jiangxi in the fall of 1904 at the age of just 16, and tells a few stories himself: BordenofYale.com

I’m your host & China travel guide, missionary Ben. You can follow me on X @chinaadventures, and you can email me with any questions or comments @ bfwesten at gmail dot com. B.F. Westen is my pen name, btw.

If you want to learn more about our prayer and missionary projects and get any of the books I’ve helped to publish, check out the website www.PrayGiveGo.us for easy access to all of these things. 

On last week’s podcast I shared my extended interview with Evangelina, and her beautiful song reminding us to pray for the persecuted. This week’s podcast features a ½ hour interview with her brother “Jaime”, who talks in depth about his arrest and deportation from China in 2011, when he was just 14. 

Jaime is also one of the 10 being sentenced in Nashville. He, along with his sister and another young man, were sentenced on July 30th. Similarly to the other defendants (except for their dad, “Uncle Bundo”, who was given 6 months in jail), they were let off with a combination of home detention and probation. Here is the update that was posted online this week…

Update: The four defendants today have been given time served (which covers the 21 months of pretrial probation), followed by 90 days of home detention, followed by 3 years of probation.

But before my interview with Jaime, I spent some time remembering a brother, a friend, a missionary, who passed away in a plane crash in Canada (Merritt, BC) a few days ago (Sunday evening, July 27th), leaving behind a wife and five kids (from their late teens to mid 20s). For security reasons, I will just share his first name, Geoff. Listen to the podcast for my thoughts on his life and legacy. 

On this special episode of the China Compass Podcast, Evangelina faces her upcoming Nashville sentencing (July 30, 2024) with faith and joy.

Then we talk through many happy (and scary) China memories, including her near escape (when I was deported).

Finally, she shares how my little deportation book (Unbeaten.vip), was a blessing to her (esp. the Appendix: Remember My Chains), then plays and sings the beautiful and powerful song, Remember Me.

She wrote this song about interceding for the persecuted partly based on my message, and partly from her own experience in US Prisons. 

As always, the China Compass Podcast is brought to you by www.PrayforChina.us!

Welcome to the China Compass Podcast (from Lima, Peru)! Today, I start by looking at China's "take" on the assassination attempt on former president Trump, and how the Commies use the news for their own propaganda purposes...

A nation under strain: What the Trump assassination attempt reveals about America

https://www.chinadaily.com.cn/a/202407/16/WS669660aea31095c51c50e67b.html

Trump T-shirts that flooded Chinese retail sites after the shooting have disappeared

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/trump-assassination-attempt-shooting-china-t-shirts-disappear-online-rcna162042

*China Compass is brought to you by Pray for China: www.PrayforChina.us --- Follow @chinaadventures for daily prayer updates!

Today's featured province is Guangdong (aka, Canton). After a quick overview of this heavily populated region, it's story time. I talk about the time I was almost robbed with a pair of scissors while taking a midnight nap, my first experience with Chinese beggars, and my first encounter with the Chinese police, that almost stopped my career in China even before it got started. 

*Unbeaten is my story of being arrested, interrogated and deported from China in 2018: www.Unbeaten.vip

Finally, we tackle some new China Compass Q&A, followed by William Borden's account of the Guangdong "boat people" in 1904.

*Borden of Yale is a classic missionary biography written by Hudson Taylor's DIL: www.BordenofYale.com

Welcome to the China Compass Podcast! I start by sharing some observations from last week's Nashville Sentencing, which took place just after I recorded the interviews with Denny and Uncle Bundo. 

The most important thing I mention is Denny's bold declaration to the judge, which you can read here: https://chinacall.substack.com/p/missionary-arrested-in-nashville

Also, please bookmark Denny's extensive online used bookstore, which is one of the primary ways he supports his family and ministry: https://www.remnantbooks.org/

In my interview with Uncle Bundo, we forgot to encourage everyone to pray for Heather Idoni, one of the Nashville 10 (and a grandmother!) who is already in federal prison due to a similar conviction last year: https://freeheatheridoni.com/

The CCP is brought to you by Pray for China (https://prayforchina.us/) and today's province is Fujian on China's SE coast (paired up with South Carolina). 

After a short overview of Fujian, I discuss China's subtle propaganda at a Summer Camp FOR AMERICANS in China, hosted outside of Fujian's capital, Fuzhou: https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2024/07/09/world/politics/xi-young-americans-scripted/

I also discuss China's CURRENT war with Taiwan, just miles away (in certain places) from Fujian: https://asiatimes.com/2024/06/chinas-war-with-taiwan-is-already-underway/

During story time, I tell about meeting a fighting couple (domestic abuse) and an elderly Christian man during the long walk through the old city streets of Fuzhou in 2003.

Finally, I finish by describing my attempt at pronouncing (and finding) "net bar" (wangba) in Fujian 20 years ago, and the time I spent four hours(!) writing an email to my now wife. 

On this special episode of China Compass. I chat with my good friend "Uncle Bundo" the night before his sentencing in federal court for singing and praying in front of a Nashville abortion clinic.

After a brief introduction, we spend the first segment discussing his experiences during upwards of 30(!) trips to China, including taking Bibles to Chinese believers in the late 1980s (1:28).

Then, after discussing Uncle Bundo's favorite Chinese region (16:45), we talk through more stories, including being surrounded by Muslims in the middle of the night and falling and busting his head open in a Tibetan town (also in the middle of the night) with his teenage daughter driving the getaway-car-turned-ambulance.

(BTW, AsiaHarvest.org is the best way to send Bibles to China today. Also, visit PrayforChina.us to learn how to pray strategically for all of China.and follow @chinaadventures on X for daily China prayer updates)

We finish with Uncle Bundo sharing how you can be praying for him as he faces sentencing in Nashville  (41:15), followed by one last story about driving a retired police van turned Bible-delivery-vehicle all over the mountains of western China with his teenage kids.

Although he wants to keep his identity a secret, in hopes to return to China again one day, he does want to encourage everyone to pray for Heather Idoni, one of the Nashville 10 (and a grandmother!) who is already in federal prison due to a similar conviction earlier this year:

https://freeheatheridoni.com/

*Uncle Bundo was sentenced on July 3rd (the day AFTER this podcast was recorded) to 6 months in Federal Prison, followed by 6 months house arrest and three years of probation. The prison sentence won't start until at least October, possibly later depending on appeals.