Opened Doors

Yemeni Food

We have just crossed the halfway point of the summer, and I was feeling a little discouraged. Although we had met a lot of people and were able to show Jesus' love, most of our Yemeni friends were very resistant to talk of the gospel or did not know enough English to understand. We began praying for doors to open for conversations and that we would encounter people in the homes that could speak English or that God would show us some way to communicate. Oh how our prayers have been answered!

Abril at Yemeni friend's house

Right after we began praying, our friends introduced us to an Iraqi couple that have been here for 15 years, speak English, and love to talk! We have spent many hours going back and forth about religion and life. We have also been able to share in the homes of many of our Yemeni friends we have been teaching all summer. School recently got out, and now several teenage daughters come in to help their moms with translation. In two of these houses, one of us has been able to deeply share the gospel with these daughters and answer their questions while the other partner is teaching the mothers.

As this week of prayer continued, God kept opening more and more doors in front of us. At a very devoted Muslim friend's house, I noticed a giant Arabic Study Bible on the shelf and inquired about it. She also brought out an English/Arabic Quran, and we were able to read some of both while her 10 year old son translated our questions back and forth. While this was a difficult and sometimes inaccurate way to have a conversation, it resulted in her agreeing to read the book of John while we read the third Surah! While the Quran clearly goes against the gospel, this Surah shows that Jesus is holy, powerful and different. Surah 3 is often used as a bridge to the gospel, which she is now reading in the book of John! We are so excited to go back to this house next week and follow up with her!

Kids joining in on the English lesson

Through the last few weeks, He has shown His grace and faithfulness, and we have learned the power of prayer. He has opened so many doors, and we continue to pray that our friends' hearts and minds would be open. This time with Muslims has also shown me that our job is to sow the seed and pray for our friends. We trust God there will be a harvest, and we pray for workers to come and continue His work in the harvest field. We pray that our friends will come to the Lord soon, but even if we don't see the results, we trust God and see He is working.

Pray that our friends would not just seek head-knowledge of Christianity, but that they would see their need for a personal relationship with the Savior.

Pray that we would be able to focus the conversations on what matters.

Pray for our Syrian and Afghan refugee friends who are looking for jobs and better housing.

Thank God for all the doors that He has opened.

-Sarah 

God Provides

Abril and I landed in Detroit with no housing, no car and no idea how to best serve the people- yet God provides. All week leading up to our flight, we had been praying for God’s provision and guidance, and He has provided so faithfully in marvelous ways.

While we were expecting to work in the suburbs of Dearborn, God has opened many doors for us to also serve across Detroit in the town of Hamtramck, a large refugee area. This has been an amazing opportunity to meet with many new Muslim refugees and develop close friendships. God has also provided a place to live. After staying at a church, we were given housing with a pastor and his wife that live well outside of our ministry area. However, this has been such a blessing as they have been able to provide us Godly council and support.

This location involves over an hour of driving each day, and again God has provided. Our very gracious pastor has allowed us to borrow Suzy, a large pickup. Suzy is large, camo, not really air conditioned and extremely hard to parallel park on the narrow streets of Detroit. Abril even has to sit on her purse to see out the front! Although she wasn’t what we were picturing driving in the city, she is again another blessing in disguise. A local church planter has lost 3 cars in the last 3 years, and the truck serves as a more unattractive target while allowing us to get to the homes. In addition, through the juggling of schedules, we have also been able to borrow several cars and car seats for transporting refugees.

God has been showing us that His plans aren’t always what we expect, but He knows best, gives us the tools we need, and blesses His work.

- Sarah

Meet the Team: P52 Motor City

Assalaamu Alaykum! (Peace be upon you!)

Abril (left), Sarah (right)

We are the Motor City UPG Outreach serving in the Detroit area, reaching out to the large Arabic population here and working to build relationships with Muslim women. Praise God for the many opportunities to meet women we have had in the two days we have been here, and we are currently setting up English tutoring and conversation partners.  

Sarah:

Hello, my name is Sarah, and I am the team leader for the P52-Detroit team. I attend Texas A&M University, and I hope to soon be employed as a case worker. I enjoy reading and playing the piano. I also love teaching English with internationals while at school, and I am very much looking forward to the English classes this summer and the opportunities for gospel conversations that these provide!

Abril:

Hi! I am Abril and I am from the northern part of Texas. I attend the University of North Texas in Denton. There, I am thankful to be involved with the UNT Baptist Student Ministry and the The Village Church Denton. There, I have had the opportunity to find my community and build new relationships with international students by hanging out and having conversation partners!

Prayer Requests:

• Ramadan begins Monday, June 5^th, so please pray that the women will be willing to meet during this busy time. Pray that the women will be open to discussing their personal beliefs and listening to us share about Jesus and the Injiil (the Gospel).
• Pray for team unity between the two of us, and the pastors and missionaries we are serving with this summer.

Thank you so much for your prayers and support!  Ma’a as-Salaama! (Goodbye!)

-Sarah and Abril

From Religious to Follower

As we sit on the floor of Miram's home, I try to soak it all in.  I love every minute of this: drinking tea, pulling apart pita with my hands, eating the Arabic dishes (with our hands, of course), and talking with our Yemeni friends.  We came to teach English, but, today, we are pausing our schedule in order to eat breakfast together.  

I feel the Lord tugging at my heart, telling me to not let this moment go to waste.  I take a deep breath and plunge in.  I ask, "So, why do you celebrate Ramadan?"  My sweet friends begin to explain to me about fasting and our conversation evolves to an explanation of the Five Pillars of Islam.  Miram and her daughters tell me that, especially during Ramadan, they pray, fast, and give money to poor people so that Allah will have mercy on them and let them into jannah (heaven).  Again, I take a deep breath, and ask, "Oh, so if you died right now you would go to jannah?"  My heart breaks as they give a shy smile and shrug their shoulders, saying, "Enshallah (God willing), but we don't know.  We can't know.  Only God knows."

I want to hug them and cry out, "But you can know! Isa Al Masih came to us so that you can know that you can have a relationship with God, that He loves you, and that You can spend forever with Him!"  I think about when I was very young, how I spent hours and hours of my life trying to say the "right" words "enough" times, in hopes that at least one time it would "count" and God would accept me.  When I think about how I tried to pray the correct way, in the correct position, saying the correct words in hopes that I would earn God's favor, I realize how much I empathize with my sweet friends.

I pray that, as Jesus transformed me from a religious person to a true follower of Him, He would also transform the hearts of these friends from trying to do enough of the right things to trusting in Jesus.   

I Must Go

I never thought that reaching the unreached would be in my future or would become my future before this summer. I actually never thought I would want to leave Texas let alone America. However, this summer has broadened my horizons to the need to reach the nations. Who knew that remaining in the States would open my naive eyes to the truths of war-torn places, physically and spiritually, nationally and internationally, and their desperate need for the Living Water? Certainly not I.  For many years I had been praying that God would reveal to me an irresistible passion for something, anything. It wasn't until arriving in Dearborn that the Lord shook me to reality, telling me that all He wants me to do is go... go to the nations and share the gospel and love everyone in the name of His Son. After spending time with a different culture here, I feel led to be overseas, sharing the Good News with people unlikely to hear it or who lack in knowledge of it. My eyes have been open to the cruelties of this world and the need for the gospel; I feel like I must go to complete what God has called all of us to do, to do the Great Commission. -Jamie

P52 Team of the Week: Motor City UPG Outreach

Motor City UPG Outreach

Teams will seek to bring the gospel to the Arabic population of Dearborn, Michigan through personal evangelism, seek out persons of peace who are receptive to the gospel and then disciple those who come to Christ through interpersonal one to one discipleship relationships.

Location: Dearborn, MI  More Info!!
Team size:  2 teams of 4
Cost: $1555 plus round-trip travel from orientation site to Detroit 

Dates for Summer 2015:
April 1: Deadline for applications
May 28: Member orientation begins
June 2: Teams travel to the field
July 28: Teams return for debrief
July 31: Students return home