Over the Christmas holiday something that was on my mind was the continuity of God's promises and His plan. We celebrate Christmas in recognition and thankfulness that Jesus Christ came down to earth. This month I've been blessed with seeing tangible pieces of proof that God is still 'coming' in a sense, by moving through His Spirit in us today. One day, Jesus Christ will come back to our world victorious again. He has come, He is coming and moving, and He will come again!
There are so many things I could say about this month. After three difficult months wondering if I would see fruit of ministry in Rome while I was here, or if that would not come until years later, God has been good in blessing that desire in my heart. To recap quickly...
- My very first English student that I tutored, now a friend to Taylor and myself, started asking questions a few weeks ago. They first started with an intellectual interest in the differences between what we believe and the Catholic church, and in just a few weeks he's been brought to a point where he recognizes there is something missing in his life. God is moving in his heart in an unbelievable way. He told us that before he met us and started learning about our faith, he was behind a veil but now, little holes of light are piercing through. ("Veil," really? 2nd Corinthians 3, anyone?) He's confessed how he has a great life, money, looks, family, girlfriend, etc, but still feels lacking. He's never met anyone that talks about God as we do, of how He's real and present in our lives. God has taken an academic, classroom tutor relationship and transformed it into this...and our friend is so ripe for the gospel to seep into his heart through the conversations God creates!
- One of the exchange girls I hosted in Athens and is now a friend of mine here told me the other week that she likes talking about 'religious things' with me, because she sees a difference in authenticity. Over a simple lunch at McDonald's, I felt the Holy Spirit in a huge way guiding our conversation, leading her questions, and giving me answers to some things I had never thought of before. On top of that, when she was telling me a story from her weekend and how her key got stuck in a hotel room lock and all the staff said it would not be possible for the door to open without a locksmith, she said she prayed, made her friend pray with her, and God answered by opening the door two minutes later!
- When I was meeting my Italian language partner in a new coffee bar, some Irish study abroad students randomly approached me asking if I was Irish. The Lord used that to create an immediate friendship with these three, and we hung out twice in the week after before they left for Christmas. All three have seen some ugly, ugly things with violent conflicts between Catholic and Protestant churches growing up in Ireland, and all are incredibly turned off to the idea of religion, what for whatever reason they accept both me and my faith. God has literally dropped these friends in my lap, and I could not be more excited about how He will grow our friendships this next semester.
- Taylor and I were invited to go to an overnight birthday party for a dear friend of ours. Other than significant others, all the people there had been friends >15 years. Though that type of party was a new experience for me, we could tell it meant a lot to our friend and validated his friendship with us in the eyes of his childhood group since we were included and chose to come. I could tell some of them were surprised to see the random American girls there! We're praying that will open doors with the rest of his friends, that it helped show that though we hold different beliefs, we care about them and do not see ourselves 'above' them in any way.
- We had our first prostitute outreach two Saturdays ago, and it was wonderful for our initial contact. Four women on our team and a new friend who works with prostitutes in a different part of the city went, and we covered the same highway the four of us have been prayer-walking for months. We gave all the girls (and three transvestites) little gift bags for Christmas, including our theme scripture verse (Isaiah 43:1-3). Every girl but one took our offer, and several of them talked to us a bit. It broke my heart actually talking to these girls, seeing how so many were younger than me, bubbly, beautiful, or scared, but I'm thankful the first experience has renewed our passion to pray for these girls and minister to them whenever we have opportunity. One day the Lord will bring justice to all the trafficked victims, and until that day comes we will petition before Him. What was also so neat about the outreach is it has given us a conversation topic with our friends (like my Irish friends), who are curious to why we would do something like that for those girls. God certainly has a way of bringing everything together to bring glory to Himself!
Needless to say, we've been busy here! Today was the second day of our Italian-American exchange program that we started in August, and so far it is going great. Please be praying for us over this next week, that the Lord would use this time to create stronger relationships and show our sweet Italian friends Himself through us in vivid ways.
"The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth."
-John 1:14
