The Vision
During a time of individual prayer during Training Week, the Lord gave me a beautiful picture in my mind of Jesus heading out the door and walking down the street carrying a briefcase (not sure why haha). I asked Him why He was leaving, and He said, “Don’t worry. It is better for me to leave. So that the Spirit may come.”
Then a colorful butterfly began to fly around me. It was a very playful picture of the butterfly circling and dancing through the air. The butterfly filled me with it’s spirit while also flying near me as I walked.
I thought, what a gift to see John 16:7 played out; Jesus says, “But very truly I tell you, it is for your good that I am going away. Unless I go away, the Advocate will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you.”
After seeing this sweet picture, I prayed and asked the Lord to reveal Himself to me through a butterfly as it had represented the Holy Spirit.
Training that day had been on how to share Jesus in any situation. It was an awesome teaching and demonstrations/scenarios that we got to see acted out. We even played a game of how to relate LITERALLY anything back to Jesus…it was a lot of fun!
Then we broke for a dinner break; I wasn’t hungry and felt like just going to continue to read my book, “The Wind in the House of Islam” by David Garrison (AN AMAZING READ by the way- I highly recommend it).
Pumpernickel Bakery
So I made my way to Pumpernickel Bakery and ordered a cute small pot of coffee and began to read. I felt the Spirit was prompting me- that He was going to do something, but I wasn’t sure what it was.
So what did I do? I just prayed…prayed over the establishment, over the employees, and for their business to continue to grow. I thought that the Spirit was going to prompt me to talk with the store manager–a friendly Nepali man that I had exchanged greetings with several times. But instead, the Lord had other plans.
I kept reading my book and taking detailed notes- because again, it is fantastic!! It is about how the Muslim world is having movements to Christ like never before in history. It is full of stories and ways that the our Muslim brothers and sisters are coming to know the one true God. Check it out here!
Then a man sits down next to me…and asks how I am enjoying my book! He could tell I was intensely reading and soaking it up, so he asked what it was about. I told him, it is about how people all around the world are finding Jesus! He then introduced himself, his name was Prabin, and I of course introduced myself with my normal – “Hannah” like “Henna”. 🙂
Prabin told me he knew a lot about Jesus for he had gone to a Jesuit boarding school in India. He said he was a Hindu but that he was open to all religions! So just as we had just been trained on how to ask questions and lead the conversation back to Jesus, here was my real life scenario right in front of me of how to share the Gospel.
In the moment- I chuckled to myself and prayed- “I see you, God.” It is incredible how He works. He equips us, and then He sends us. Sometimes even right after haha! He teaches us then gives us opportunities to put what we have learned into action.
Our conversation flowed naturally; I felt the Spirit speaking for me in many moments (which I am very grateful for). I asked him about karma and how he knew if he was doing well in this life to be able to move up in the next. He said you never really know- but you can feel it if you are doing good works.
I said I was very thankful for Jesus, because I know that I am saved by Him. He makes it easy 🙂
We both laughed when I said I am glad I don’t have to keep track of my good deeds.
We talked about Jesus being God and dying for all of us so that we can have eternal life with Him. The conversation continued, and then he asked if I would be able to come to his office and continue our discussion and coffee over there!
I prayed for discernment in that moment, so immediately I asked Prabin about his family and if he had any kids. I wanted to discern if his intentions were pure. He talked about his wife and twelve year old daughter…I felt peace in that moment and knew the Lord would provide a way.
On our way to his office – which wasn’t too far away from the bakery– I kept praying for extra assistance (just in case – for protection). And then almost instantly, I see two of my squadmates, Hannah and Laura Leigh walk by. I introduced them to my new friend and then invited them to come along with us; they caught my hint and came with us!
We walked into his office which was located right next to what would become one of all of our favorite restaurants in the area! He gave us his business card and told us about his business called Caligo Travels & Tourism. Caligo is a type of butterfly he said–and there it was, a beautiful purple butterfly! In that moment, I felt complete confirmation that the Spirit lead me right where I was supposed to be.
We had milk tea altogether- then Prabin invited us to all come back for a dinner party at the restaurant the next night. I invited the whole squad, and we ended up having over a dozen of us come and dine with him! We have been able to build a wonderful relationship with Prabin.
And one of the coolest parts is he has met several other World Racers through the years, so he had already heard of the World Race. He mentioned a few names of Racers and people that work at Adventures in Missions that my leaders even knew (seriously God is the coolest). Jesus continues to place Racers in positions to plant seeds, water them, and see them grow. He is such a good God, who continues to chase after the one.
Today
So fast forward, we have now exchanged books- he gave me a few books on philosophy, and I gave him a Nepali Bible (then we exchanged it for an English one because he feels more comfortable reading in English). I recommended for him to begin reading the Book of John first (this has been a theme for my team so far on the Race, every seeking or new believer, we have begin in John).
It has been an on-going friendship! We have had multiple lunch and dinner parties with Prabin. He even invited us to his home, and we as team got to share an afternoon with him and his family! He is even helping us book our travel around Nepal and to India.
We continue chatting and meeting more with him! Please pray for Prabin and his family to come to know and accept the King of Kings and Lord of Lords, our sweet Jesus! Pray for his continued friendship and connection with the World Race for years to come and a blessing over his business!
This picture is from the rooftop of Prabin’s family’s house! He gave full permission to let me use his name and picture for this blog! 🙂
