The following story is written by a recent short-term trip participant. To explore opportunities for you to serve with us overseas, visit www.eastwest.org/missiontripschedule.
On Monday, God said “Wednesday.”
I told my translator how God had affirmed in my Spirit that on Wednesday, He would work out something big.
And Wednesday is when we met Ser*.
We went to a local park, saw Ser at a distance, and asked the Lord to help us engage in conversation with him. That’s when Ser and his friend walked over to sit and talk with us. We quickly dove into a spiritual conversation. As we shared the gospel, Ser quietly listened. After his friend left we asked his thoughts on the conversation and he said he didn’t want to talk about God.
We shared a cup of coffee and made plans to meet the next day.
The next morning, we met Ser at a museum that held gems inside dating back to Jesus’ teenage years. We purposefully picked this place to start more spiritual conversations. We saw Roman mosaics of Lions and shared with Ser the story of Daniel, the dream interpreter, who was spared from death by lions through the power of God. My translator shared with him a story about his friend that experienced God in a dream.
Slowly but surely Ser went from closed off to curious. When we parted ways, our team felt convicted to pray for God to show up in his dreams, a common occurrence in the Middle East.
Two weeks later on another Wednesday, one of the long-term missionaries followed up with Ser and his friend, Hero*. They talked about many doubts and fears and misconceptions that Ser held about the Lord. Both of them resonated with the missionary’s testimony and Hero expressed his interest in wanting to become a Christian.
Ser gave his word that he would earnestly pray for the Lord to reveal himself to him.
As a short-term trip participant, I am comforted by the faithfulness of our long-term missionaries and by the peace that God is faithful to answer prayers from afar. God is able to do far more abundantly than we could ask or think (Ephesians 3:20-21). And I can prayerfully and expectantly hope that God will reveal himself to Ser and Hero.
*names changed due to security risk