A Holiday Gift
Have you heard the expression “Boots on the Ground?” Well our Live Dead Missionaries are the boots on the Silk Road. Here we’d like to take a moment and allow one of them to share part of their life with you. Some names and details have been changed, but this is a true story from this colorful, vibrant, and sometimes surprising region and those who God has called to work here.
Recently a friend moved from the mountains to the largest city in my country. I met “Noble” three years ago as an intern. He and I kept in touch a bit over the last three years, I’ve been praying for him by name ever since. Because he moved to the city where I was also now living, he wanted to invite me to his home for a traditional Eid (Muslim holiday) dinner.
I accepted and went with another girl from my team. As we traveled with Noble to his home, a severe thunderstorm began. We ended up getting soaked on our way atwhich point Noble exclaimed, “Don’t worry! My mom will have dry clothes for you. Tonight, you will be like my people!” And he was right. His mom made such a fuss over the sopping wet American girls and their very wet gift of baklava. She gave us fresh, dry, ethnic clothes. As the night progressed, cultural hospitality dictated that due to our wet clothes and the late hour, she insisted we spend the night in the guest room.
We had a blast getting to know this family as we sat on the floor and enjoyed a fantastic meal and treats from their home country. You see Noble and his family aren’t from the country we live in. They are an ethnic minority from another country in Central Asia.
Turns out, they are from a people group that has absolutely no known Christians.
As his sisters gave us henna on our hands, we started to have a conversation about how his family ended up here. Noble’s mom and brother showed us pictures from their homeland.
After a late night of bonding, we woke up the next morning to a wonderful breakfast made by Noble’s mom and then hung out on the floor couches and talked with Noble. Soon we were on the topic of religion. We talked about what we thought of other religions before he asked, “Does the New Testament really say that Jesus is God?” My friend and I said that we, of course, could give him an immediate answer, but what good would that do, when he could read the New Testament himself and look for the answer. He agreed, and my friend ran and grabbed the New Testament she kept in her purse. We then talked about how God draw nears to those who draw near to Him and had Noble read the story of the prodigal son in Luke out loud.
“Wow! He was accepted back!” Noble exclaimed.
We then asked if he believed that God still spoke to people today. “I have always wanted a dream from God,” he replied, “but I don’t think I am good enough for that.” We told Noble that we would pray that he has dreams from God and we told him about prophetic dreams we ourselves experienced. Noble gladly accepted the New Testament as an Eid gift and agreed to read it and look for Jesus as God.
Later that day, he posted a blurry picture of the rain storm and his open New Testament on his Instagram story. I was elated. This was three years’ worth of prayers I had prayed for my friend to draw near to God.
