There have definitely been some ups and downs in terms of language study, and a big part of our batt1e so far has been keeping our eyes lifted up on the big picture, which is the portrait of Christ and the Father’s will in us. It’s been difficult to have to lay down certain aspects of the work, such as evangelism, for a season while investing in the greater, long-term vision.
However…….
Yesterday, I had a great one-on-one meeting with my teemmate and co-leeder Simba, which left me with a lot to ponder and seek God about personally. I decided to take a long walk, and after going about a mile, I noticed a boy a few feet ahead of me and sensed the Lord asking me to talk to him.
I have felt these promptings pretty frequently recently, but have been resistant to them for various reasons. Again this time, being in an introspective mood, I hesitated, and in a humorous sort of dance, I continued walking now faster, now slower, to keep close to this young man. The urgency grew, and I pondered how to begin the conversation, asking the Holy Spirit to fill and guide me.
The boy was smoking a cigarette with one hand and holding a phone up to his ear with the other. As I took my head phones out, I could hear he was listening to music, and so I asked him what he was listening to. This lead to me telling him I am a believer and I like worship music. I played him a little Mute Math, which he really liked, and then gave him some other names of Chrstian bands.
He was so soft spoken I had a difficult time understanding him, and he couldn’t speak English, so as we walked together, I just started to tell him (in his language) the good news with many of the new words I’ve been learning from reading the W0rd and from the training videos we are using.
I couldn’t say everything I would’ve like to, yet I know Dad was speaking to the 16-year-old, whose name is GengHua. As we ended up on the corner where our ways parted, I quoted Jn. 3:l6 to him and then was silent. He looked up into the sky with a strange look on his face, and I just smiled, having no idea what he was thinking or what effect this night would have on his life.
Finally he broke the silence and asked me what kind of things are important to our faith. I told him all we really need is the BiBle and recommended he get a Book and read John. I gave him my email address, then we said goodbye.
As I returned home, I was filled with excitement at what had just happened. To me, it represents the heart of what we are doing this year, and also clearly illustrated the progress and fruit of our trying first month here. Please believe with me that Dad will put a Book in GengHua’s path and that he would begin a relationship with Christ today!
Thank you all so much for your faithful prayers! We have a week of vacation here for Chna’s Nat’l Day and plan to get out and see some other Universities here in this city and possibly take a day trip to a nearby mountain for some sightseeing before the temp drops below freezing;) We’ll also be seaking vision for this year and beyond, so please pray that God would speak to us His life-giving words (and pictures;).
Clive