Monday, July 10, 2017

Chicago: Answered Prayers (Yet Again)

If there's one thing Becky and I will never forget about this summer, it would have to be the power of prayer. The first three weeks we were in Chicago got frustrating at times. We were doing lots of important research for local workers, but we weren't meeting really anyone that we could build relationships and share the gospel with. We prayed endlessly for persons of peace and prayerwalked up and down the street we're based on more times than I could count. It was a long three weeks, but the Lord really opened doors for us to meet the community through.

Like I said last week, Becky and I are teaching English to four women who speak either Farsi or Telugu. We've been having such a great time getting to know them and help them with their language skills. That said, we were struggling to find a way to share the gospel with these women, considering they speak little to no English, and we most definitely can't speak Farsi or Telugu. We'd constantly been praying before lessons that the Lord would give us an avenue through which we could tell these women about His glory, and our prayers were (yet again) answered!

One of the women we work with has a daughter in high school. Last week, Becky was helping the mother learn words applicable to job skills/training, while the high schooler and I were working on conversational English and writing. She asked me what I had done the day before, so I mentioned I'd gone to church and one of my friends had preached. She asked me about the sermon and quickly transitioned over to discussing school. When she later asked me what my favorite book was, I told her I really loved the Bible.

The Lord had definitely heard our prayers about softening these women's hearts! She asked me what the Bible was about and took notes of everything I said in her journal...her notebook basically has the gospel in it now! She seemed really interested and wants to talk about it more next week; she even asked if we could read some of it together the next time we met so that she could practice her reading too! Becky and I were so excited we were able to break down our language barriers and tell this girl who Jesus really is, the Son of God.

Please pray for the following:
  • "H" would be open to hearing more about the gospel and reading the Bible the next time we meet
  • Becky and I would continue to balance our research and our English lessons
  • we would find more ways to share the gospel with the other women we meet with
  • the Holy Spirit would work in these women's hearts so that they would be open to hearing about God's glory and love for them.
-P52 Chicago