Text Messages from my bouncer friend J, after tea outreach tonight:

J: Thank you so much for the Bible that you gave me.

Me: My pleasure, J. I've found the promises and character of God that I read about in the Bible very comforting when I've been in hard situations. I'm sorry that things are so hard right now. I'm praying for you.

J: Thank you for your kind words. I just feel I may have sinned past the point of redemption and feel like my own worst enemy tonight, so I could definitely do with some guidance.

Me: I have been there, and I know that you are not past the point of redemption. That is why we need Jesus. Check out Romans 5 and 8 when you can tonight. Would it to be helpful to meet for coffee to talk more? I can bring my church minister, so that it is not awkward for you.

J: No, it wouldn't be awkward at all. I just need some sort of advice or guidance or something lol. I don't even know myself lol.

Me: Okay, when would work for all of us to get together this week?

J:I really don't know yet. Maybe we could discuss it Wednesday [WHEN OUR SKEPTICS STUDY MEETS!]?

Me: Okay, sounds great! Praying for you.

J: Thank you so much.

Dear Praying Friends, I know that there are groups of you that pray specifically for the people we meet at our Saturday night tea outreaches. Please PLEASE pray for J this week. He told me tonight at tea that he is about to lose his job because of a mistake he made a few years ago, which he feels horrible about. He looked like a mess and was tearing up while he was talking with me. He said that he has been praying to God, but God doesn't seem to be answering. I bought him a Bible and gave it to him tonight (praise God for the timing!), and encouraged him to start in Romans and John. He asked me when our next skeptics study is, and I said Wednesday, and he said that he would be there. Please pray that he turns to Jesus Christ. I don't think it's a coincidence that he was asking all of those questions last week and just got this bad news about his job. The man is getting to the end of himself. Please pray that he would run to Jesus. Thank so much for praying!! God is really blessing our tea ministry!

This is what my team leader wrote to his supporters, which I'm just going to copy:)

But wait, there's more. As the women were leaving, someone knocked on O's door. It was a guy our team had met on the streets several weeks before. He had prayed with C and O, and for the first time in his life had acknowledged that Jesus was Lord and the only way to come to the Father. That day he was drunk. Last night he was completely sober. He had a crumpled flyer for the Jesus study in his hand, and a question for O burning in his mind. He has been sober since C prayed for him, and he has felt alive and eager to tell people about Jesus - and he wanted to know: What has happened to me?! O explained that when we put our trust in Jesus as Lord, he comes and lives in us - what he was experiencing was the presence of God's Holy Spirit in his life! He now wants to become part of the church and be baptized. How awesome is that?! Rejoice with us and with the angels that one of God's lost children has been found - and also pray for O and all of us in Lysan as we welcome this guy and grow together as disciples of Jesus.

Someone we've been spending time with just accepted Christ and wants to get baptized!!!

My flesh is really screaming at me this week. I am so tired of the ways that I feed my insecurities- wanting to buy more clothes, comparing my body figure to other women's, wanting guys to notice me, seeking affirmation like mad (Jeremiah 2:13). I've been thinking a lot about the verse in Psalm 127 that talks about "feeding on the bread of our anxious toil". I'm eating a lot of bread right now, and it's not life-giving and satisfying. My flesh is kind of like the shrieking eels from the epic film "The Princess Bride" (that'd be a good book title- "The Screaming Eels of our Flesh" :). And yet God is so merciful to me, and so faithful, when my heart is so quick to go wayward. That's why I'm called to a Lifestyle of Repentance... Not to beat myself over the head, but to acknowledge that I daily need the Holy Spirit to do a turn-around in my wayward heart, and bring me back to the living, life-giving Bread of Jesus. I'm feeling very thankful for the Gospel message this evening.

Aslan is on the move...

MY MARKET FRIEND CAME TO THE SKEPTICS STUDY TONIGHT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! And she said that she'll be back next week! And I got a text from my bouncer friend (love having friends who are bouncers!) J, who said that he couldn't make it tonight, but was wondering when we'd be having another study, and said, "Have fun saving souls." I was really encouraged by that, even if he didn't come, since he initiated contact with me and knows that we're meeting to talk about the Lord. I got to share the Gospel with him last Saturday night (see post below).
Thank you so much for praying, guys!! V was 30 minutes late, and we didn't think that anyone would show, and it was okay. We weren't that bummed this week... I think we're learning that we are called to be available, and that God is in control and will bring those He wants to bring. So I was pretty ecstatic when someone actually showed up.

I was thinking this morning about how great a blessing it is that I moved into this new flat in March, which has a spare bed in my room. Since coming here, I think someone's been sleeping in the extra bed at least once a week. Especially lately, it's really come in use for serving others who need a break or a place to stay. Last night I got a phonecall that there was a mix-up in the hostel booking for our dear female summer intern. She got back to her room last night to find all of her stuff put into garbage bags and hauled out of the room... Not fun. So she's staying here for a few days, which is so great! It's just been a good reminder to me of how God has blessed us with certain resources for a reason, even things as "small" as an extra bed. Sometimes I really need my downtime and space, and I think last year I would have really had a hard time with people coming through all the time. But it's been really amazing to experience Him working in my heart and really becoming a lot more chill, and growing in me a heart for hospitality, even in close quarters. That's something I'm thanking Him for today.

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!