Grace Jin Drexel

And again, in 2018, when the pressure was mounting, when the church was under severe pressure right before the shutdown, my family and my father had actually also come to the U.S.

with the church's blessing to see if that would de-escalate the pressure that was put on the church initially.

When the head pastor is no longer there, maybe the government would be willing to negotiate, etc., etc.,

When he realized that that was not happening, then he went back by himself.

And my mother and my brothers, who were also American citizens and they were very young at that time, had decided to stay, remain in the U.S.

starting in 2018 just to finish elementary and middle school, etc.,

We didn't know that that would be the last time that we would see our father in person.

And he has been under an exit ban since 2018 just because the fact that his church was continually growing.

That's correct.

We've all known what could have happened.

I think my father and my mother apparently had a conversation that's very Asian and vague.

And they were like, do you know what's going to happen?

And he says, yes.

And then, are you still going to go back?

And he said, yes.

And then that was the conversation, apparently.

But I think we are all extremely proud of my father and know that he truly feels like

God's heart in China as well.

And he knows that over and over again, God had sent so many, including Western missionaries in the past as well, the best and the brightest, to go back to China and to minister to this land.

He just felt this yearning that he couldn't leave his church behind at a time of need.