At the beginning of the month, we went to c-town, another city in Asia, and got to meet friends there. We were only there for a week, but it was like ‘God’ increased the number of open people we ran into as we were able to share with a multitude of people and connect on a deep level with some of them.
One of my favorite people we met over that week was a student named Raihan from Bangladesh. He invited us to his dorm to have a traditional meal from his country and we ate it with our bare hands. It was a little messy, but it tasted amazing and we were able to connect really well with him. We got around to talking about religion and we found out he is a practicing Muslim. We got to tell him about ‘God’ and talked about the differences between the two. In the end, he was thinking about Jesus in a different way but is still a Muslim. Through that encounter though I realized how unprepared I was to share with someone who has a strong faith in a different religion. He wasn’t looking for anything and thought he had it figured out, but he had bought into a lie. It’s easy to tell someone who believes in something that there is more, but when they think they have it, they don’t see a need for something different. Please keep him in your prayers, that he would continue to encounter the truth as he studies.
After we finished an incredible week in C-town, we flew to Malaysia, which was absolutely beautiful and got to take some time to relax and rest after the fast-paced start to our trip. We even made friends with some local shop owners that had amazing food yet again. We returned home and were launched into a ‘calling’ retreat where we focused on listening to ‘God’ and what our next steps will be. It was a really good, encouraging time to listen to where I am being led next and see my team members hearing ‘God’ in a new way for the first time. He was really moving on all our hearts as the path in front of us got a little clearer.
We were so busy doing all our different meetings and sharing with friends that Thanksgiving snuck up on me. We all got together for a fantastic feast of traditional Thanksgiving food prepared by us in the city. It felt like one big family as we went around saying what we were thankful for with our plates full. It was so nice to feel that sense of family on the other side of the world.