Written by a Cafe 1040 Student
While exploring the mountain villages, we had a trail guide named Sam*. Sam is in his mid-twenties and he’s been in the trail guiding business since he was 8 years old. He is one of the kindest, most genuine, and loving people that I’ve met so far here. He guided us through the mountains and villages for 3 days. In that time we had many meals together, told lots of stories, and even got a few self-defense lessons (he was involved in mma for 12 years). He is also one of the most positive and uplifting people I’ve ever met, always telling us that nothing is impossible and we can do anything so long as we set our minds to it. Also, the guy has taken 87km trips in one day and biked for 24 hours straight, so he backs up his words with actions. On our last day of backpacking as we were heading back to base camp, I was asking God for an opportunity to share with him.
Later that night after dinner, we were all sitting around and telling stories and people began to go to bed. Before I realized it, it was just me and Sam sitting there. I’ll be honest, I didn’t think my prayer would be answered so clearly, but I knew that God had provided this moment so I took it. I began to ask him different questions to prompt a discussion. I didn’t want to debate or try to convince him of anything, I just wanted to know what he believed. Eventually we began to talk about our faiths and the similarities and differences. I can’t remember exactly how it got brought up, but at some point music entered the conversation. What happened next blew me away. He told me “I listen to Christian music” and proceeded to pull out his phone and play “What a Beautiful Name” by Hillsong. Are you kidding me!?! He said that he loved the girl’s voice. He even knew the lyrics!! We sang that song together and I got to explain to him the good news and why we believe that the name of Jesus Christ is so beautiful, wonderful, and powerful!
It’s so amazing to me that God was already working in Sam’s heart before we even got there, and I know that He’s working in his heart right now. I fully believe that Sam will come to know God, and I ask you join me in praying right now that His eyes will be opened and He will know Jesus Christ.
*name changed for security
