Written by a Cafe 1040 Student.
Meet "Ryan"… (Gotta use code names). He’s a friend of ours that we met at the basketball courts. One day after playing, we were sitting waiting on someone and I just starting asking what we call "invasive questions" to start some religious conversation. I was asking what he believes, why, how he feels about it… all kinds of things.
As I asked, he returned my questions back to me. As the conversation went on, I was really able to explain a lot about Christianity and what we believe. As we talked I could tell he was processing a ton. At the end of our conversation he thanked me saying I had really helped him understand eternal life, which he had always wanted but had no one around to tell him.
So I just invited him to come read our "Book" with us to learn more. He jumped at the chance. The first time we read was amazing. As we read in Genesis, he was “ooh-ing” and “aah-ing” out loud, quite literally amazed. He understood the major themes easily and absolutely loved it.
He told us, "It’s amazing. After reading this and sitting here I just feel so much peace".
For us, that was a major victory. We pray regularly that our little apartment would be a temple for the Holy Spirit where anyone who entered would feel His presence and experience God. Ryan told us he wanted to meet and read every day after that. Which, as far as it has been possible, we've been able to do.
It's been fun to watch him grow. He really understands as we read and has grown in his knowledge of God a lot. We laugh a lot because, at this point, he talks and acts as if he's in the family. (i.e. at a wedding once, we began eating and he stopped quickly saying, "oh no! We never blessed the meal! And began to pray for it) But we don't really know exactly where he's at. He hasn't really accepted Jesus Christ as his savior and declared with his words. But he says he believes that it happened. According to our team leaders this is very common here. It just takes a while for them to understand what being a family member really means and it comes with a lot of reading, praying and time.
So, I'm super excited about that seed has been planted and the relationships that are forming between Ryan and our team leaders to continue to water that seed. As far as what's next—just to be praying that it does continue to happen and that God's word would continue to shape his mind, heart and soul. Glory to God!
