After our fast, we only had about 4 days left in Chiang Mai. We stayed in an adorable hostel called the Living Place 2 where we met travelers from all over the world who were friendly, engaging, and eager to swap stories with us. One girl in particular named Agniezka (Aga for short) was from Poland. She was staying in our room and had an excitement for life that was contagious. This girl was always ready for an adventure. One of the first few days we were there, we invited her to come to dinner with us at a night market. She said yes. We also invited her to go hiking with us the next day, to which she also said yes. We also invited her to tag along while Kaelyn got a tattoo. She said yes again. At this point, we had pretty much just adopted her into our team, so we invited her to pack up all her stuff and drive 4 hours up a mountain to go camping with us in the small town of Pai.
She said yes again.
Over the course of these few days we got to know Aga, and she got to know us, collectively and individually. She asked great questions and was on board with all our wild ideas. The night we camped in Pai, we built a campfire and made s’mores, which Aga had never even HEARD of until this week.
She was immediately hooked – “I can’t believe we don’t make s’mores in Poland!”
“Well, now that you know about them, YOU can bring them back to Poland,” I told her. She seemed like the trend-setter type.
A few minutes later while I was aimlessly poking at the flames, Aga asked, “Haven’t you heard that if you play with fire, you’ll wet the bed?”
The four of us from America awkwardly laughed. That makes NO sense. But Kate, our squad leader from South Africa, admitted that while the colloquialism doesn’t make any sense, she also grew up hearing it.
Huh? How is it that a saying with no basis on logic can make its way back and forth from Poland to South Africa?
The same way that a recipe for s’mores can.
And the same way the gospel can.
Each of these concepts (while varying vastly in their significance) is spread by word of mouth. How can someone hear unless he is told?
After the six of us were sufficiently stuffed with s’mores, we continued to sit around the fire. Since training camp, everyone on team CAKE has shared her testimony with the group except America – and Kate because she was only with us for this week. This seemed like a good time. The two of them shared with us the stories of how their lives had been transformed by Jesus. Aga listened intently and asked great questions.
I COULD tell you that after hearing the gospel, Aga committed to following Christ right there by the fire and skipped off to Poland with plans to plant a church, proclaiming hallelujah the whole time. Yeah, that is not what happened. But Aga heard the good news that night. And even though we had to say goodbye to Aga and this blogpost is coming to an end, it doesn’t mean the story is over. God is continuing to work in Aga’s life regardless of whether we are around to see it.
During training camp, this quote was shared with us: “On average, it takes a person 7 times to hear the gospel before they commit to following Christ. Are you willing to be number 4?”
Sometimes when we share the gospel, God blesses us by allowing us to see the ~fruit~ of our “labor”. But sometimes we don’t see any fruit. And sometimes we see a fruit that looks nothing like the fruit we anticipated. And sometimes the fruit comes in the form of s’mores 😉
Regardless of the presence of fruit, we are simply called to share the love of Christ. We do not have to hold the weight of the world on our shoulders. We are not here to convert anyone. We are here to let the people we meet know that they are loved and worthy of a relationship with their creator.
This is the calling of every Christian. You at home interact with people every day and I encourage you to share the love of Christ with others because if you have the Holy Spirit in you, then YOU CANNOT FAIL AT THIS. A little boldness goes a long way.
Romans 10:14
“How then will they call on Him in whom they have not believed? How will they believe in Him whom they have not heard? And how will they hear without a preacher?”
Currently learning to step out in boldness and to trust in the big picture of what God has planned rather than what’s merely in front of me every day. I’m praying for growth in this area for myself, my team, my family, my supporters, and you as you read this right now.
Thanks for reading. Now go be bold!!
