As we continue to meet more
families, it has been refreshing to see some familiar faces each week. My first night in Nashville I stayed with a
family from Myanmar. They were extremely welcoming and are also Christians. We
continued to follow up with them and quickly built a relationship. One of the
daughters posed to be the easiest to relate to and spoke very clear English. We
continued to talk to her and invite her to our apartment. Our second week here
she invited us to attend church with her. It was not what I was expecting and
was different from what I am used to, but I realized that different does not
mean that I should give up on it. She invited us to go back with her the
following week, but only Hannah and I were able to go with one of our other
roommates. It was a little easier for me to feel comfortable the second time.
It was still different, but I felt that I was being called to continue to
invest in the lives of this small group of people.
The third week (this past Saturday) came around and I was the only one that was able to go. I was a bit hesitant, but they have been the only believers that we have met that have been open to reaching out to the refugees, and I felt that I should continue to invest in them. Little did I know that I was in for a joyous surprise during this third meeting. One of the members of the church is a middle-aged man from China. I had not met him before. He brought his niece that had just arrived in Nashville earlier that week. She will be moving to Michigan at the end of the summer to begin classes towards earning her master’s degree in engineering.
The night progressed and we began our time of worship. We came to a song about “abiding in the vine”. We stopped and the sweet lady whose house this week’s meeting was held in asked the guest if she understood what it means to abide in the vine. She said she was not sure. After speaking with her further, we learned that she did not believe in Jesus. She informed us that she had “heard stories of Jesus but does not know Jesus”. The sweet hostess and I began to talk to her and explain who Jesus is and what He has done for us. I could see her face light up just bit. She said she understood and right there she decided to follow Jesus. My heart filled with joy as we prayed. I could just see the light shining through her. We read through some scripture about accepting Christ and she read it in Chinese.
It amazes me how God uses our smallest steps of obedience to show us just how powerful He is and how His grace is truly sufficient. God is still in the business of saving lives and working miracles. I just ask that you pray for our new sister in Christ and that we may have more encounters with people that are open to hearing about and accepting Jesus.
-Nikki