In our last update, we shared how we were in the middle of a two-week training for seniors. A lot of cool things came out of that time. Honestly, I could share a ton of testimonies out of that time; there was an awesome sense of Christian love and community that developed, a growing hunger for the Lord, a readiness and a joy to share the Gospel, a willingness to lay their life down to see His kingdom go forward, and many others, large and small. But, I think my favorite is about a girl whom I’ll call Wendy.
During one of our practice sessions, I went out with one of the guys to help him share his testimony with his friend and classmate. We met at the gate of the university and wandered into a warren of small restaurants and shops. Over a steaming bowls of noodles, he began to share his testimony, stumbling at times, but sincerely and with real vulnerability. You could see his friend’s heart was touched. When I asked if she knew anything about Jesus, she said no, but she wanted to hear more. Right then and there, we shared the Gospel with her, and at the end, I felt impressed to give her my Bible. She held it tightly and insisted it was too big a gift. And although she wasn’t ready right then to follow God, you could tell He was at work.
In fact, she ended up joining us for the rest of the training and kept mentioning how she was impacted by the loving community and how she could sense God’s love at work. She said things like, “God is like a fountain of love, just pouring our more and more love.” The day she started with us we were teaching on how to share the whole Gospel, so she got to hear it again and then decided she wanted to go out with people that afternoon to see how they would share with others. This is someone who isn’t a believer yet!!! Not only that, directly after our training event, our whole church network was going on a short-term trip to another province to share the Gospel in villages among the mountains, and she signed up for the trip also before believing! I asked her, “Wendy, are you sure you want to go? You understand what this trip is, right?” But she was still certain she wanted to go. Sure enough, as we all met at the train station to take the 36-hour train ride to the other province, she was there!
The opening night of the short-term trip, after worship and all the activities were over, Wendy shared that she had decided to follow Jesus with her whole life! We were all smiles that night! She said Yes!
Wendy has been marked by joy, and will often say things like, “Every time I think about how I have a relationship with the God of the universe, I get filled with amazement and joy, such joy.” She has already begun to share some of that joy with those around her. As her dorm mates peppered her with questions about her Bible, she shared stories from the Gospels she was reading, and even though she wasn’t trying to, they thought she was preaching the Gospel to them. And maybe she was!