Hi guys, I pray that you all had a great Easter, and that you had a great time reflecting on our risen Savior. Recently the Lord opened up the doors for a sister from C.C. Philly to get an opportunity to travel to Central Asia to visit one of our CC Philly Missionaries serving on the field there. She was able to encourage her, as well as help out with the various ministries there. I asked Lilly to write a little synopsis of her trip which I will post in two parts. What are we doing with our free time ? Here is a little glance at an awesome way that the Lord used Lilly and her free time to bring comfort and encouragement to missionaries serving in a lonely land.
“My workplace decided to gift me two weeks vacation, which is very atypical. I was really hoping to visit some family that I have in South America but unexpectedly the opportunity to do that was gone. The more I prayed about what to do with my time, the more I became certain in my heart that my time off from work was not only a gift from God but it needed to be invested into eternity in some way. After hearing from Carlos that there were several opportunities to go serve abroad, I prayed about what to do, and started to have peace in my heart to go to this country – a place where I hardly knew anyone, or the needs that could be met. What I did know is that I was being called to serve my God there in whatever opportunity presented itself.
The culture that I was surrounded by was amazing. It was a beautiful mix of Russian and Persian culture. There is a predominant Muslim culture arising from the people, but many of the people here claim Islam as their root heritage but subscribe to no real religion. There are some strict cultural rules of behavior, such as when it is appropriate for a woman to look up at a man, who gets to sit on the bus, how to behave in public, and what times of day it is appropriate for a woman to be out of her house. There are laws that forbid anything that might resemble proselytizing to anyone under the ago of sixteen. I stayed in the capital city which was very busy, booming, overflowing of people and cars, dusty, and extremely environmentally unfriendly. I have never been so close to so many oil wells, rigs, and tankers in all my life. Driving down the highway, on both sides of the road for miles on end are oil wells pumping oil twenty four hours a day. The ministries that I was involved with are multifaceted and work independently of one another to help protect the people that are out serving on a long term basis. There is an NGO that helps run a home for girls that are too old for the orphanage and who want to be trained to become part of society. The love of Christ is poured out into their lives and some have come to know Him and some are learning about God for the first time. The ladies who run the home do not impose anything religion onto the girl’s lives, thus allowing the home to continue as an NGO, but they consistently and constantly shower the girls with God’s love and life skills. This “aroma of Christ” is very effective in presenting the Truth. Also, being that these girls received an extremely limited education, I was given the chance to teach several classes on health and the human body.There is also an English language teaching program here as well as a small medical team here, all of which participate in multiple activities that are focused on simply sharing the love of Jesus by their deeds and sometimes by their words. “
Please check the blog in a couple of days for the conclusion of Lilly’s summary of her trip. In it, she’ll write about what she was able to do there, as well as what the Lord showed her through all of this. We’ll be informed on how we can be praying for the people there, as well as the missionaries that are pouring out their lives for Jesus, and for the sake of the gospel being spread in that area of the world.