Words cannot express how thankful I am for the opportunity to participate as a member of Northland International University’s mission team in Central Asia for five weeks this summer. Leading up to the departure, our team spent significant time preparing ourselves with language study and prayer with hearts excited to see how the Lord might use our time there. Our purpose and desire was to reach Muslim people with the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Many of our contacts and friends were made from university visits, bus rides, and even online. From the outset, I was amazed to see the friendliness of the Central Asian people and their desire to spend time with us.
Each morning our team would meet together for Bible study, prayer, and language lessons. This was always a great time and looked forward to by all. The time we spent working through the book of Galatians was especially a blessing to me. Paul’s letter to the churches of Galatia challenged and guided my focus each day to have a mind singularly centered on the one and only true Gospel, which is, that of Jesus Christ. It always provided a renewed energy and excitement to reach Muslim people, blinded by sin and darkness, with the only way one can be made right with God.
After our team meeting we would take off to connect with our friends. The Lord continually exceeded my expectations by providing multiple opportunities to share the Gospel with Muslim people and display His power and presence in different ways.
There was one young man with whom I had developed a good friendship through conversations on Skype since January. After several days in his city, we finally had a chance to meet. Yet, my hope to share Christ with him was instantly shattered when I learned that, even though he wrote well in English, his speaking skills seemed poor. Although my heart was doubtful, throughout the day his English immensely improved, and the Lord provided a great opportunity to share the Gospel with him. In addition, he proved to be much more devoted to the Islamic faith than I had realized, and he was very interested in understanding the Gospel and what made it so different from Islam.
Another big project our team took on was to perform the biblical story of Joseph and communicate it completely in another language. We performed it once for an unbelieving Muslim lady who lived near our meeting place and again for some believing ladies from another Central Asian country. These ladies enjoyed the presentation and were particularly encouraged by the faithfulness of Joseph in the midst of extreme temptation. The project was much more difficult than it appeared at first glance, but we put forth our best effort and had a blast working together. Although it wasn’t perfect (unless Joseph really slipped on a rug and wiped out while he was fleeing from Potiphar’s wife and unless his brothers looked suspiciously similar to college-aged girls), it was encouraging to see the Lord bless our efforts and work through the truth of His Word.
For the final five days of the trip, our team traveled to a small village. Our time was filled with great Bible study, prayer, and fellowship. We made a few good contacts and saw what small, Muslim village life was like. Afterwards, we spent one final day meeting with some of our best Central Asian friends and then traveled back to the United States.
The Lord used my time in Central Asia as a great learning experience and for significant spiritual growth. He opened my eyes to the great need for Christ in Muslim nations. The Lord also stretched my faith to believe that He is always able to accomplish His will through His power in spite of my weakness and doubting heart. He used my conversations with Muslim people and my growing knowledge of Islam to constantly remind me that the depth of His love is incomprehensible, and the power of His Word is immeasurable.
It is clear that the needs of this place are very great and the commitment to Islam runs very deep. Pray that the Lord continues to send and use believers in Central Asia to share the message of Jesus Christ—the only hope for salvation.