July Update

So, I know it’s been a little while since I’ve posted an update- my apologies. This past month has been SO busy. I’ve been doing lots of outreach and follow-ups, as well as being with the youth group. Mostly more of the same. Some cool things have happened, though, this past month (how could there not be?). First, my roommate, Joe, visited. The timing of his visit was perfect, because I was absolutely exhausted and getting worn down, and he came and brought a breath of fresh air to me and all the friends he has here. Then, the day before he was supposed to fly back to America, he was asked to stay by the base leaders because he was such an asset. So, he skipped his flight home and made a Go Fund Me page and stayed on as an intern for the rest of the summer. Not long after that, The Harbor (my church in Boston) sent a short-term team out here, and that was another breath of fresh air. Alex, one of the short-term team members, is also going to be helping to lead the college ministry next year. Joe, Alex, and I were able to go out together and do outreach and see Jesus do amazing things. We are all so pumped to take this shared experience and bring it back to the leadership of the college-ministry.

One story from our outreach- we went out to do a solid 7-8 hour day of outreach. I’ve done a ton of outreach since I’ve been here, and this day was unlike any other. People would just come up to us and open the door nice and wide for us to share Jesus with them. For example, the first person we talked to just came up to us and starting talking to us about a tumor that he had and gave us the opportunity to pray with him. Then, we were sharing Jesus with a drug dealer who started talking to us. And after that, a woman came and asked if we had cocaine, and through that interaction we ended up back in her tattoo parlor praying for her. Jesus was breaking down wall after wall giving us the chance to share His love with anyone and everyone. Later on, there was a guy who had his whole arm wrapped up and in a sling. He told us that he had dislocated his shoulder. Naturally, we asked to pray for it. After we prayed, he told us that it DIDN’T HURT and that his shoulder felt hot!! So amazing… but also becoming (thankfully) a regular occurrence here at my base.

Another highlight from the last few weeks is the youth group. I know I’ve mentioned it before, but it’s such a joy working with them. I took a couple of the guys that I disciple out to do outreach at the mall one day, and it was incredible seeing them eagerly pursue what Jesus asked of them. When we got to the mall, I had them ask Jesus if there was any person in particular that we were supposed to talk to, and they had very clear pictures of 3 different people for us to find. As we walked around the mall talking to and praying for people, I got to help coach them in how to approach conversations and praying for people. After we prayed for people at the mall, we went to meet the rest of our team where they were putting on a drama. We were there a little bit early, and the guys were saying that they wanted to see people get healed. Then, we saw a guy with a knee brace who was limping. They ran after the guy, and asked to pray for him. And after they prayed, he was healed!! I’m seriously so proud of these guys and how they’ve grown and the faith that they have that Jesus will show up.

This stuff is absolutely amazing. As we are here trying to start a church-planting movement amongst the refugees, Jesus is showing up in so many ways and we are seeing so many miracles.  Muslim refugees are coming to know Jesus, and a movement is beginning. How lucky are we to be out here and able to be a part of this?