OR MORE THAN 130 YEARS THOUSANDS and thousands of Adventist men and women, young and old, have left the comfort of their homelands to serve the Lord in distant places. A strong witnessing church in many parts of the world today stands as a monument to their success and
dedication.

In 1874 the first official Seventh-day Adventist missionary, J. N. Andrews, left the shores of North America for the mission field of Europe. Since then mission has been an integral part of our Adventist identity and heritage.

Today Adventist mission is alive and well--thanks to your prayerful support and generous weekly mission offerings. Here are just two stories from the front lines of mission, in the challenging 10/40 window.

"We'll Be There"
My more philosophical Chinese friends say I'm an "egg"--White (Anglo) on the outside but Yellow (Asian) on the inside. They also say that there are some Chinese who are "bananas"--Yellow on the outside and White inside.

Missionaries are not culturally contextualized except for the passage of many years. If we are really "eggs," then here is the way it happened for us.

In 1970 the General Conference looked across the world and observed China in the throes of the Great Cultural Revolution. At that time Chinese Adventism was virtually nonexistent. But, along with other Protestant churches, we hoped that China would someday again open to missionary activity. Using the remnants of funding from the old China Division, eight young couples were called to Taiwan and Hong Kong to learn Chinese, and then work on the fringes of China until such a day that China would open up.

That was 35 years ago. China is still closed to missionary activity. Seven out of the eight couples have returned to their native lands. Connie and I are the only "young" couple still out here working on the fringes of China.

The largest amount of our time--18 years--was spent in Hong Kong, specifically focused on ministry in the unorganized territories (primarily China). After the Great Cultural Revolution ended, little pockets of Seventh-day Adventists began emerging all over the place. Adventist believers multiplied incredibly fast, despite the fact that there is no institutional Seventh-day Adventist Church even to this day. In 1949, when Communism took control of China, there were slightly more than 20,000 believers. Most of them shipwrecked their faith. And then the Cultural Revolution apparently destroyed the last remaining believers.

But the Holy Spirit cannot be manipulated by the whims of history, or the policies of governments. Today there are more than 3,000 locations where Adventist believers meet, and our best estimate is that there are more than 320,000 people who consider themselves Seventh-day Adventists.

Exciting things are happening in China and the organized areas of Hong Kong and Taiwan. We've been part of this culture for so long that many people query, "How long are you going to stay? Where are you going to retire?" That's a hard question for me to answer because only God knows.

One thing is for sure: we've spent so much time "waiting" for China to open that we're not keen about retiring back home. Our heart is here. I believe that just before Jesus returns, there will be a small window for missionary activity in China; and when that happens, we'll be there.

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John and Connie Ash live in Taiwan, where John is president of the Adventist Church. John has served many years as high school teacher and principal, mission departmental director, radio broadcaster, and church administrator.