Throw-back to Nepal….
Yesterday, our ‘tour guide’ took us to a restaurant here in the city the kind I’ve never been to before.
It’s a place where men can go to buy food or tea but they can also buy the waitresses that work there.
Two of my teammates and I went with ‘Miya’, a lady who is involved with the ministry of women at risk here – but ‘officially’ our tour guide. We sat and bought tea so we could have time with the ladies who worked there. One of the ladies (we’re going to call her Miriam) had met Miya before and I could tell she felt safe with Miya. Miriam sat close to her and looped her arm through Miya’s as we asked her questions about her life and what she likes to do in her free time. We learned Miriam has a son and she proudly showed us photos of him. She was a small lady and had such a beautiful smile.
Her friend (who we’re going to call Esther) came and sat with us as well. She had lots of questions for us and we found out she has a cute little boy too. She listened to the testimonies of my two teammates and told us she’s thankful they were willing to share with her. She asked about why we came to her country and we had to skirt around the real answer of being missionaries to simply state that we took a year off to travel to a few countries volunteering at organizations alongside teammates we’d only met a month before we started the journey. (When you put it that way, most people will shake their heads and wonder at these crazy people.)
Esther kept looking at me and smiling and I knew she wanted to ask me something. Finally she said, ‘You’re so quiet. Do you have a story to tell?’ And to be honest, I had hoped I wouldn’t need to talk much at all during this visit because I didn’t think I’d be able to connect or relate to these women. We had also been told to try to steer clear of directly sharing the Gospel unless specifically asked, or to use the words ‘Jesus’ and ‘Gospel’, or even to close our eyes when we’re praying. So I told her, ‘I don’t have a testimony like my friends that relates well to your story, but I can tell you a happy story.’ To which, of course, she said ‘Yes!’
So I told her about the time God spared my sister’s life when she was younger and almost drowned. I got to add that I prayed a lot and God heard the prayers of me and my two sisters as we locked ourselves in our room and cried out to Him. I don’t know exactly why God put it on my heart to share that story or why He even made an opportunity for me to share it. But I do know that we got to plant a seed in her heart and she agreed to a coffee date the next day.
My two teammates went with Miya to meet Esther and drink coffee with her and got to hear more of her story. I haven’t gotten to hear more of that story (sometimes stories like that are hard to repeat) but I do know I think of her quite often and keep praying for her.
Would you pray for ‘Esther’ and ‘Miriam’? Their life is hard. They might have been tricked into living and working at restaurants such as these and now they don’t know that they have an option to leave.
And pray for ‘Miya’ too as she gets to meet the ladies only a few times since they like to visit there only when foreigners come so they can keep up the guise of going in as a tour guide.
Esther and Miriam (and many like them) need your prayers!
Photo credits to my teammates, Emily and Julia!
