Everyday Life

     I’ve never witnessed the activeness of God among Muslims in the way in these weeks in the valley. I continue to meet people who have had vivid dreams of Jesus Christ and are eager to understand the scriptures. Just yesterday, I sat across from a woman who asked me how she could receive the Holy Spirit. She told me that her family would kill her if they found out she had rejected Islam but that she wants Jesus as her Lord more than her life here on earth. I continue to find myself overwhelmed that God has allowed me to watch His hand here.
    Life might look different each day, but it is then that we see God at work. We alternate each morning between intensive Arabic studies at a language center and teaching at a Syrian refugee school. Our evenings are spent with families who attend the refugee school or attending bible studies in the various refugee camps near our home. 
     The language center has been incredible. The Arabic teachers are excellent and a number of them are Muslims who are seeking Jesus in the Scriptures. They are eager to know about his identity as Savior and Son of God. Our lessons are 4 hours and an open opportunity to share lives and the truth of the Gospel. This week one of the teachers asked me of her own accord how I knew about Jesus and when I started following him. Please pray for us to be able to communicate clearly in Arabic and have wisdom to explain the Scriptures to our teachers!
      We also get to see God’s hand at work at refugee school. Every day about 150 children from Muslim families attend the small four-classroom school. Each day they pray together, sing hymns in Arabic, and hear the explicit Gospel in chapel. Our role is to teach chapel and English for every class. Many of the children have become followers of Jesus and return home every day, telling their parents the truths they are learning. God is working so powerfully through the presence of the school and it has resulted in several bible studies in the refugee camps. However, there is now increasing pressure from the Muslim community for these families to withdraw their children from the Christian school. Please pray for us to have a bold witness as we spend time with these families and encourage them to not reject Christ out of fear of persecution.
     Our vision is to equip and develop committed leaders for the proclamation of the gospel and the salvation of the Muslim world. God has brought a lot of fruit from our time here. God is clearly crafting these days to be a time of learning, embracing humility, confessing weaknesses, and have our character chiseled more and more into the likeness of Christ. I’m blown away to watch God so clearly bringing the vision that He’s given us to fruition. It is through every day circumstances that we get to see the power of God on display as He continues to build His church here in this nation that needs to hear of the good news of the gospel.

Please pray for wisdom and humility to lead, teach, and serve those I work with.