Hello!
My squad arrived in Cyprus about a week ago. My team (Trailblazers) and another team (Team One) are staying together in northern Cyprus and serving with a ministry host. I will write more about our time here soon, but I wanted to write another blog about Morocco.
In Casablanca we had the opportunity to visit one of the universities there. It really was quite strange if you think about it, we were just a group of Americans walking around campus, meeting and talking with all kinds of people. We definitely stuck out. But at the same time, we were received very well. We were a curiosity, and many students would walk right up to us and start chatting. That’s how I met Rihanna. She walked right up to me, we started talking, and we clicked instantly. She is beautiful inside and out, and has many life ambitions. She has a desire to take care of her family and to make something of her life. I was able to meet with her for another entire day, and she trusted me enough to open up to me about some personal struggles. I loved being there with her, listening, and being able to share my thoughts on her struggles, and sharing Truth with her about who she is as a woman, and who God says she is. She is Muslim (obviously), but she she was really listening to me. At one point over lunch, I was even able to share the Gospel with her. It was amazing how God opened that door, for her to hear the most important Truth about what God has done for us. She wasn’t convinced, which I expected, but I’m glad that I was able to at least talk to her about it. She told me that my words throughout the time we knew each other had really encouraged her, and that she thought Allah had sent me there for her. I know that God sent me there to meet her and talk with her.
Rihanna and I
I was able to meet 4 other girls in Casablanca over the month who I became friends with, and I had the open door to share the Gospel with 3 of them, praise God!
Sidenote: Throughout my Christian life, I have felt a tension surrounding the term “sharing the Gospel”. I used to really struggle in my missionary work before the Race that I wasn’t sharing the verbal Gospel as much as I thought I “ought” to be. Even amongst my squad here I have felt the tension. I think that sometimes we can focus too much on numbers…. people might measure your “success” as a missionary based on the number of times you’ve shared the Gospel, or the number of salvations that have happened, or the number of baptisms. I think there is a huge amount of value in striving to reach as many of the spiritually lost as possible, and in that sense, to rejoice in large numbers. But on the other hand, it is God who opens those doors, and for various reasons you may not be able to share the verbal Gospel, yet there are other opportunities to show the love of Christ to someone, or to serve them in a physical way…or maybe you spend an entire month building relationships with Muslim girls before you can say a peep about the Gospel. I trust that God uses acts of kindness and service to reveal His character and nature to non-believers, but on the other hand, I do recognize the weight and responsibility we have to share the verbal Gospel, because as Paul says, “But how can they call on him to save them unless they believe in him? And how can they believe in him if they have never heard about him? And how can they hear about him unless someone tells them?” Romans 10:14. So, whenever God opens the door for me to share the Gospel, I will take that opportunity with boldness and a glad heart. But if He doesn’t, I will serve and love and build relationship and share as much truth from the Bible that I can. And I trust that He will use it all for the glory of His name. All of that to say, I hope that you can hear my excitement when I say that God opened many doors for me to share the Gospel with girls in a Muslim country. I’d love to hear your thoughts on this tension if you want to comment.
Some friends my team mates met at the university, some of whom we got to see several times.
One of the best ways to do ministry in Casablanca was simply building relationships with people, loving them, and waiting for opportunities to talk about Christ.
I met one of the girls on the bus on the way home from the University, and her home was actually around the corner from our apartment. We ended up grabbing smoothies together, and had a fun talk about music, boys, America and Morocco, and other interesting things. Honestly, our conversation was all over the place haha. At one point we talked about pigs, and she asked me what pig meat was called (she had a lot of questions about many random things lol). I told her it’s called pork, and she wrote the word down. Then, at one point we were talking about American politics, and I explained briefly the difference between capitalism and socialism, and she wrote down “capitalism” as a new English word that she learned. At another point, we talked about Yellowstone, and I told her about the buffalo there… and again she wrote down “buffalo”. We also talked a lot about Morocco, and her favorite things about Casablanca. At one point, the conversation turned to religion, and I told her about Jesus and what He did for us. We talked for a while about the differences between our faiths, and then the conversation turned again, this time to pop music. At one point, she excitedly blurted out “Pork, capitalism, buffalo!! I love these new English words!” Haha, it was the funniest thing.
We had to say goodbye, and as I was walking home, I was thinking of how amazed I was at the way that God opened a door for me to tell her about Christ even through a somewhat silly conversation like that, after we talked about pork and buffalo lol. I love the way that the Lord has His heart set on individuals, and if we are willing, He will use us believers to reach them in any way possible.
Until next time,
Elaine
