Good morning! How are you? I hope you are well!
I
just wanted to write something short here to let you know I am working
on a longer letter. I feel like days go by and I have not been faithful
to tell you what is happening here. In some ways I have felt the
Lord's hand moving in ways I haven't seen Him move in the past (I know
He is always working, but sometimes it is a whisper, and other times it
is a roar!). Last night myself, Kayla, and Laura were in the home of
two girls from an IslamXic community that many of you have prayed for
for many years—Lamiya and Samiya. In fact, I have had almost a full page written about Lamiya in the past.
I
had lost touch with her once TIMO started, mostly because I became a
bit busy and she was busy with school. She is a young girl we spent
many hours with sharing the gospel narrations to over many years. She
knows a lot of deep theology as she had heard the chronological
narrations of the Bible multiple times as well as other lessons here and
there. The last time we had spent significant time with Lamiya, a bit
over a year ago, Laura and I sat with her and asked her if she was
believing in Jesus on a heart level. She said yes and we prayed with
her that day to accept Jesus into her life as her Savior. Laura and I
did not really know how deep this commitment was or if she was just
agreeing as many people here do out of respect to an elder. We have
been praying that the seeds that have been planted would take root and
bear fruit. So, to lose contact with her was a disappointment.
I
saw her a few months ago in her school and she asked me when we were
starting clubs again. I told her I wasn't sure. Well, to make a long
story short, her and her sister have been around quite a bit the past
month for girls club, a musicology seminar (where we wrote a song from
God's Word in one of her styles of music), for a prayer and fellowship
time with Benaaz and family (the family who seems to be turning their
lives to the Lord—more amazing stuff!), and time to just hang out. Her
sister, Samiya, was glued on the teachers last Friday (myself and
Benaaz) when it was time to talk about Abraham, the sacrifice of Isaac,
John the Baptist calling Jesus the "Lamb of God who takes away the sins
of the World", and more about our need for saving grace, through the
cross of Jesus. It was exciting to see her interest as in the past I
did not think she seemed very spiritually sensitive, it always seemed to
be Lamiya that was interested in Spiritual things.
We
love these girls and have a great relationship with them, but have had
little contact with their family. Until last night. Last night was the
first time we have ever been in their home. It was wonderful to sit
with their (new) mom and talk about life. At the end we prayed for her
and she had tears in her eyes. She asked us to come back! We have also
recently found out that their (new) mom is sister to Muffu (a boy who
used to come to our BAMBA camps and hang out with our interns A LOT!
Hearing about Jesus), and also second cousin to Mohammed and Hussein
(who used to consistently come to club). I used to write about Muhammed
and how we truly believed God was tugging at his heart. Is it a coincidence that we have had three different contacts with one extended family and we didn't even know that? I DO NOT THINK SO! It shows how an awesome God works without you even knowing it. :-) More to come soon.
Below is a picture from one of our song writing days (not the day Lamiya and Samiya came).
It was fun to try and write some songs about God's Word with a few different communities represented.
More to come on that in my upcoming letter.
In Him,
Kathy
