Now that things are opening up a bit, I have been able to go out to the coast a couple of times and to my surprise I found hundreds of my focus people hanging out there on the weekends. I was in shock to see so many. I have also ventured into the neighbourhood near my apartment where I know these people hang out and for the first time since last winter I spent the evening just talking with guys. They were so happy to talk and spend time with me and my friend. Two days later they called me again and begged me to come back to spend time with them. I went back and had an awesome evening talking and getting to hear some of their stories. Something that was interesting from that evening was that I had brought a poetry book in their language to show them. As I showed it to them, I was surprised that they weren’t interested in the book. Something began to dawn on me, none of these men knew how to read. I grabbed my notebook and began to show them a few things and they seemed really intrigued by my scribblings. I then asked them their names and showed them how to write it. One of the guys began to glow as he leaned in and pointed at my writing. “That’s my name?” “Yes,” I said, “this is your name.” He grinned from ear to ear and pulled out his phone to take a picture of it. They asked me to come to their home from time to time to teach them English and said that they would also love to help me continue to improve my language. Sounds like a pretty sweet deal to me. What a joy it is to be with these guys. This group of men are from an area in Central Asia where there is virtually no way that a foreigner would be able to go safely, and here I am in this country able to spend hours with them. Praise God that He has brought them here and now they can have an opportunity to hear the Good News of Jesus!
A Sweet Deal
