I hid my Bible in a pig sty

What if your Bible smelled of pig’s manure? Would you still want to pick it up and read it? Long Qinmei did. Because it was her one and only Bible and she cherished it so much.

During China’s Cultural Revolution, Long Qinmei kept her New Testament inside a box and hid it in a pig sty when authorities raided her house. And when she refused to divulge the names of her church leaders, she was sentenced to seven years in prison.

'By God’s grace, the sentence was reduced to nine months,' recalled Long. She was 34 then. Now she’s 86, and her eyesight and hearing are still sharp and her stamina still strong. 'I was so happy to recover my Bible from the pig sty after I was released!'

The Bible’s a bestseller

Times have changed in China. The Bible is no longer banned and has become a bestseller. More than a million people in China come to faith every year. And the generosity of people like you, for example through our China appeals, means that a vast amount of these new Christians will receive a Bible to cherish and call their own.

The New Testament that Granny Long hid in the pig sty was in the Miao language, spoken by the Miao ethnic minority group in Southwest China.

Full of gratitude

She was full of gratitude to people like you whose generosity makes the wider distribution of Bibles in China possible. Without your kind giving, many Chinese Christians like Granny Long would not own a Bible.

‘Because of your love offering to [Bible mission in China], many living in poverty can access the Bible and benefit from God’s word, and God’s name is glorified,’ she said.

Granny Long lives alone but says she never feels alone because she spends so much time meditating on her Bible and ‘being with God’.

Despite only enjoying a limited education, she reads both the Chinese and Miao language and is well known among the Miao churches for her love and knowledge of the Scriptures. She gets invited to many churches to preach, share the gospel and do home visits. The living waters within her flow out to refresh many lives, and these waters are made all the more powerful by her engagement with God through her cherished Bible.

Thank you for your continued support of Bible mission in China. Your kind giving through our latest China appeal will mean many more Bibles for many more people in China. And as it is common for Christians in China to reach out to others by giving them a Bible as a gift, more Bibles mean more people’s lives being changed for good. And that means more people like Granny Long will be witnessing to future generations.

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