Daughter of pastor released from Chinese prison

Was he emotional too? Yeah, he definitely was. I think he was also a little bit shocked. He didn't even know where he was going. When they took him out of the prison, he was just shoved into a car and then sent from the car to the train to the airplane. And then all of a sudden, he was in the US. And so he didn't have a chance to say anything, take anything. He couldn't even bring his socks out of the prison. He had nothing. And the prison guards sent him just a pair of clothes, and that was all he had. And he arrived in the US.

Does he appear to you in reasonably good health? I think in some ways. We don't know what we expected. It's been a long-- I've never really met really anyone who just came out of a Chinese prison either. So we were not sure what to expect. I think he is in some ways much better than we expected. But lost weight. A lot of weight. And even sometimes when he walks, he's a little wobbly. And we're just still trying to understand how he is doing. There are days when he can't sleep. And then there are days when he sleeps the whole time. And we're just also figuring out his health conditions and how he's doing just emotionally as well. And talk to me about the concerns. He has very deep concerns about those still in prison-- Yeah, definitely.

--for the same offense or related. Yeah, the church was initially shut down, and they arrested around close to 30 church leaders initially. And now eight of them still remain in prison. And many of them, they knew me since I was an awkward kid in high school. And now I am a mother of three kids, and they're like family to me as well. And many of them, eight of them, are still in prison. And even after my father was released, there was a feeling of this tenseness that I can't feel fully excited until I know everyone is really. Don't get me wrong. We're so grateful and so happy that my father is here. It still doesn't feel real. But also, we're just still thinking and praying for the other eight as well. And we're hoping that this joyful moment will soon be felt by more people, including those eight family members. In my reading about this, Grace, your father and his church is not anti-government. It's not anti the Communist Party in China. It just wants to exist and spread the gospel of Christ, as they see it. Yeah. My father, he became a Christian in a very extraordinary circumstance when he was in college. And that was when-- it was June 4, and he had a very coming-to-Jesus moment, basically, after the--

After Tiananmen Square, right? Yeah, after Tiananmen Square. And so he is not-- he knows what the situation is in China, but he feels like as a pastor, he wants people to feel the love and hope that he felt since he became a Christian. And that was his main task, that he felt like his role was in China, to be the pastor, to be helping the weak and the vulnerable, to show the love of Christ. And even for that, increasingly, so many pastors, like I said, including the eight that are still detained, but hundreds of pastors currently are still being detained in China. And so we really hope-- again, we hope and pray that this goodwill, this energized moment will continue to spread and more and more people will be released in China as well. After the church was shut down, it went on the internet and became more visible and more popular, which was probably one of the problems the Chinese authorities saw. Grace Jin Drexel-- Thank you so much.

Thank you very much for coming in. I appreciate it so very much.