Ploughing ahead

Some of our team spent yesterday afternoon sitting along the canal, playing music and talking to people who stopped by. When our two interns stopped by my flat for dinner later on, I asked how the rest of their time there was. K said that she really felt like we were sitting among some very broken and despairing Camdeners. People were dealing drugs right next to us, smoking up, and getting drunk on whiskey, while our team talked with them. She said that it is so easy to feel like God is not at work here in Camden, and that she could see why it can get so discouraging. "How do we reach these people with the Gospel?" she said.


Last night we all met up for our weekly tea outreach. Like every Saturday night, I ventured over to The World's End pub to hang out with my bouncer friends. J, who was manning one of the doors, gave me a big hug, and I asked him how he was doing this week. He said that he has been pretty sick this week and was in the hospital. We gave him his tea, and I asked if I could pray for his ears. He said, "No one has ever prayed for me before. I feel kind of weird about it. How does it work?" I said that I was just going to talk to God outloud and ask Him to heal J. He let me pray for him, and then something really amazing happened. J said, "May I ask you guys a question? Are you Catholic, Protestant, or born again? I know that there must be a God. I look out the window and see the trees and know that Someone had to create it. I have so much brokenness and have messed up so much, so does that mean that I'm going to hell?" I HAVE BEEN HANDING THIS GUY TEA FOR ALMOST A YEAR, AND I'VE BEEN LONGING FOR THIS DAY FOR SO LONG!!! And it finally happened! He finally opened up and I got to share the Gospel with him and talk about the cross and God's love and forgiveness towards J through Jesus Christ, and that he just needs to have faith in Christ!!! We talked for so long and he kept saying, "I'm sorry, I have another question." I said, "J, don't apologize. I`ve been waiting to have this conversation with you for a year!`` Thank You, Lord God! We exchanged numbers, and I invited him to our skeptics study, and he said to please text him this week to remind him of it. I left jumping up and down. The soil here is so hard, and I get so discouraged, but what a reminder that God is at work. He is able to break through the concrete. It might take a year and 50 cups of tea before someone starts opening up, but it is happening!