I never thought that I would ever enjoy street evangelism, but apparently I do… The first time we did it, (I think I already wrote something about it in the last blog, but in case you missed it…) I was put in a group that had an English speaking leader. When we first went out I expected to just stand back and look pretty. I mean, I can’t speak the language, I don’t have much experience doing this sort of evangelism, this is something the youth do regularly here right? So they don’t need my help. Well, the first two stores we walked it were a brief conversation in French, and then we left. I thought my theory correct, and I was prepared to dutifully follow along, the white girl, the conversation starter… Well, when we got to the third place things changed a bit. Apparently the first two places all claimed to be Christian already, so there was no need for witnessing to them. But the third place we stopped was run by a Muslim man. After the usual introductions the leader of our group turned to me and said, “Ok, you witness to him now, I will translate.” I froze. I tripped and stumbled over my words, not even sure what I was trying to say to him. I felt like I failed. But on the bright side, I thought, now they know how horrible I am at this, there is no chance they will let me try again. But again I was wrong. We spoke to a man selling wooden bed frames- a carpenter. Again, after the usual introductions, John turned to me and told me to start witnessing to the carpenter. After a deep breath and a quick prayer, I started asking him questions. Suddenly his face went from playful banter to squirming in his seat to dead serious. In the end I led him in a prayer to accept Christ as his Savior! WOW! The rest of the time we walked around and had conversations with people, none quite as powerful as the one with the carpenter, but God was definitely working with us!
The next time we went out was different. I was again nervous, so I decided to choose a different group this time. I was hoping that I would find a group without an English speaker so I wouldn’t have to say anything. I was successful. But at the end I was so disappointed. We followed the group around, noticing when they pointed to us, saying our names, but nothing else. It was so unsatisfying. In the end they had two people accept Christ, and we prayed for them, but no translation was made, so I doubt that they understood what we were saying. I can’t believe I would ever think this, but I wish I would have gone with the same group I went with the first time! Yeah, it was a challenge, but God showed up!
Note to self: Next time go for the hard stuff. Playing it safe isn’t as fun as you think.
