Introducing Lauren

Praise God for allowing my teammate, Lauren, and I to spend the weekend together in a cross-cultural setting in a major city in preparation for working together in Mozambique! She and I will be sharing a home among the Mwani people in Pemba so spending the weekend with her was a tangible reminder of my imminent departure January 8.


We had a variety of experiences and learned so much that we, unfortunately, forgot to take a good picture of the two of us together.

(some treats Lauren and I tried in one of the shops in the area)

My favorite time from the weekend was sitting in a home Friday afternoon getting to know a lady and 6 of her 8 children. Her English was limited and she did not know us prior to our visit and yet she strove to make us feel welcome and comfortable in her home.

(the restaurant where we ate lunch Saturday, trying new foods we've never tried before)

We experienced feeling like outsiders, observed many different cultures, and had several good conversations with people from other countries.

We did not have to go far.
God is bringing the Unreached to reachable places.
Lauren and I are excited about moving to Mozambique to reach the Mwani people, but ministry in nearby cities is equally important. 
Will you reach out to those near you who do not know Jesus as their Savior?

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Coffee Shop Atheist

Image
My ears perked up. The three men at the table across from me in the coffee shop had started talking about the Bible. My intentions of working on my historical fiction novel got pushed aside as I started eavesdropping on their conversation. Who were they? What were they saying about the Bible? The smartly dressed, white-haired gentleman facing me pulled up Romans 8 on his phone and read part of it to the young man sitting with his back to me. Intriguing. I love Romans 8. Was it a pastor mentoring a young man in his church?  Then came the revelation. The two older men facing me identified themselves as Jehovah's Witnesses. I should have known. But what about the young man with his back to me? Who was he? I could hear the older men quite well, they had louder voices directed towards me. But the young man had a softer voice and was facing away from me. I couldn't hear him very well. Concern for the young man grew in my heart. I know who Jehovah's Witnesses are. I know what they
Read more

5-Day Club

Image
The big week had finally arrived! I smiled in excitement as I thought about the 5-Day Club about to happen at the Welcome House. Several refugee families had been invited of mixed beliefs and backgrounds. I was also nervous. How would it go? Would anyone get offended? Angry? Keep their kids from coming? Or stop the 5-Day Club from happening? (A 5-Day Club is a ministry of CEF, a type of backyard Bible club with stories, songs, games, and memory verses) Day 1 As the CEF teachers walked toward the tree, one talkative little boy following in my shadow went on the defensive. He said his family doesn't believe in Jesus and asked something about God having a dad. I went on alert as I listened to him. This is exactly what I was nervous about. I wanted to navigate these conversations with respect for others but in a way that the Truth could still be proclaimed. "I know you don't believe in Jesus," I said as we walked into the shade of the tree. He seemed happy that I knew thi
Read more

God's Backward Oreo

Image
"I feel like God made you an Oreo, only a backwards Oreo." I knit my eyebrow trying to follow my mom's line of thinking as I listened to her voice note. "He's got cream on two sides and the hard cookie in the middle," she continued, "As in, you're standing in the blueberry patch on Saturday just talking with Dad and suddenly this lady goes, 'Hey, I want to get your newsletter.' I mean, wow, cream, sweet cream. And then... a hard cookie." I laughed a bit sardonically as I realized where she was going, "There's a lot more layers to the 'Oreo' than that this week!" I replied. I was having a weird week and wasn't sure how to feel about it. Yes, God had given me several moments of sweet, delicious cream, but those moments of cream had been broken up by more than one hard thing. On Thursday, listening to my mom's message, I couldn't decide if the cream outweighed the hard or if the hard outweighed the cream
Read more