Sometimes it takes two hours just to get groceries. A doctor’s visit will most likely require Google Translate at some point. Air pollution skyrockets during winter months. Language learning is not for the faint of heart.
And yet, showing up is more important than saying the right thing. Children are magnets for meeting people. And, even when it takes three hours of tea to get to a gospel conversation, making Christ known is worth it.
These are just some of the hard-won pearls of wisdom International Mission Board missionaries Forrest and Paige mulled over one evening as they reflected on their first year overseas.
When they moved to Central Asia last year to work among Muslim people groups, Forrest and Paige knew being flexible was a requisite for the work of missions. But, they revealed one thing that surprised them most of all.
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“In Central Asia, there is an expectation for you to have spiritual conversations if your faith is important to you,” said Paige, explaining how, unlike in the U.S., religion and spiritual matters are not taboo topics. “If you withhold your faith until later in the relationship, people are surprised that you waited so long to talk about it.”
One day, when a new, Central Asian friend brought up God early in their conversation, Paige was caught off guard but excited. Her friend remarked that someone had told her to read the Bible and asked Paige what she thought.
“And from there, the remainder of our conversation was spiritual,” Paige recalled. “We talked about the grand narrative of Scripture and the gospel. We opened the Bible and read it together, and I asked her what she thought about it.”
She had a similar experience while meeting another new friend at a coffee shop. After Paige shared some of her testimony, the friend pressed for more information. “So, who is Jesus and why did He die?” They spent the rest of their conversation reading Scripture together and sharing deeply about the gospel.
But even while social norms facilitate open conversations about faith, Forrest and Paige have found talking about Jesus often leads to loss of relationship. And, though the government isn’t openly hostile to Christianity, local believers, especially, face cultural and familial persecution when they share Christ.
Part of their work, Forrest explained, includes coming alongside the local church as they count the cost for sharing the gospel with their friends and family, and empowering local believers to take the gospel to places where missionaries can’t go.
Forrest recounted a recent conversation with one local believer who had never considered his access to regions and countries where missionaries are unable to gain entry.
“He was like ‘Oh, I never even thought of that,’” Forrest said. “It does require casting vision and training people to catch that spark.”
Steadfast missionary presence
As they consider the remainder of their first term and beyond, Forrest pointed out the importance of steadfast missionary presence.
“I think something I’m learning is that it takes long-standing faithfulness to see fruit,” he said. “When you’re doing the work, consistently showing up in people’s lives and being there really, really matters.”
Though the work of missions hasn’t always looked like they expected, Forrest and Paige expressed their gratefulness to God for exposing the idols of convenience and control in their hearts and teaching them to go with the flow.
“Sometimes it feels like I’ve had three hours of tea just so I could get to a five-minute conversation about the gospel,” Forrest said, “but I’ve realized sometimes three hours of tea is the work.”
“On the hard days,” Paige agreed, “all of it just points to the worthiness of Christ.”
Some names have been changed for security.
EDITOR’S NOTE — This story was written by Kristen Sosebee and originally published by the International Mission Board.
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