Wow. Camden Town, London on Fri and Sat nights is like sin city without the gambling. Well actually, people were gambling everywhere in the spiritual sense: women gambling their bodies and health, desperate to be told they were beautiful, men gambling their money on women & alcohol, desperate to be told they were cool, wealthy, and handsome. People right and left gambling their state of mind to drugs, desperate to keep at bay their misery.
We were only 5 on Fri and 3 on Sat. They were thousands. And yet when it was so tempting for me to despair at the odds, the LORD had placed this comforting thought in my heart: we were His lanterns, just giant transparent vessels shedding piercing llight in every direction. The darkness scurries when the light enters. Where the LORD is present, and He was within us, even the darkness is as noon day. Job 11:17, Isa 58:10
Our crew included Luke & Frida, Landon, David, and me. I can't really express how blessed I was to be in their company, and the joy that welled up within me as I saw God using such ordinary people as us, with our fears and shyness, to convey His salvation and love to the craziest sort of people.
Please pray for these folks as you feel led! We encountered many more people, but these were the ones I could remember or was somehow a part of the conversation.
Ahad - a man from Bangladesh who received the Gospel. There was a major language barrier, but he was attentive and I was able to convey it with hand motions (charades!).
Andrew (I believe) - Landon shared with him, and he really truly was following along, agreeing in his need for Jesus as his Savior! He was about to accept Jesus, when his lady friend came by and began unloading a bunch of philosophy. She was definitely a distraction, but she also got the Gospel. Andrew was very interested in attending the Bible study on Wed.
Kelly - oh man, my heart was just punched around for this girl. Talk about a young woman who all but invited men to toy with her heart and then leave her. She believed in God and had a cold respect for Him as sovereign, but refused to hear that God was loving or that Jesus had done anything for her. She said God couldn't be loving if He allowed her to be hurt so often by men. She is 21, a single parent, and with a 5 year old son. She was out partying because her son was at the dad's house a few days a month. How I wanted her to understand that she and other sinners, and not God, had invited in all those times of being used, and that God wanted to rescue her from herself. But she wouldn't budge. Her pride hadn't been broken yet. She basically said, "I'm not a mean or bad person. In fact, I stand up for others who get bullied. I won't believe in this Jesus fellow or God being loving. If He was, then He wouldn't have made people so evil."
Amanda - yay Luke and Frida and David!! See? This is why each of us are vital to God. About 30 minutes before we ran into Amanda again, I had tried to speak with her, but she had cussed me out. But when these three spoke to her, she ended up wanting to get the directions to the Wed Bible study! God used Frida, Luke, and David to work through to her heart the way the rest of us couldn't. She was struggling a lot with how God could forgive her sins... she just felt so ashamed as she rattled off ones that she felt were unforgivable. It was so awesome to see the three not even phased and reaffirm to her that Jesus paid for her in full.
Trevor - for whatever reason, I don't feel like this is my story to tell. Please chat with Landon and David who can fill you in on how to pray for him and really, his significance in both of their hearts. Is is saved now, but please pray for his sanctification and hunger for the LORD.
Same goes for Rudy, a drug dealer that Landon and David had a great conversation with.
I was tagging along as an armor bearer, praying for each of them and for Trevor and Rudy.
Emma - ok this is going to have to be a separate post cause this was awesome and I'm way too tired. It's 1:30am right now, and I need to catch the bus into Edinburgh at 9am to walk the streets & pray to our wonderful and beautiful God, and be ready to testify of Him to whomever He has appointed to me. Plus, I check in with Room 65 Cafe tomorrow and dear sweet Christina, a tea shop owner I've been asked to encourage. Can't wait!
God bless you!
Shruti
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