houseguests

It's been a busy start to the new year for us....  sorry it's been too long since we've updated you here!

But we are finally feeling settled in our new place and into a mostly regular routine again.  We just said goodbye to a new friend who visited our city from the Uyghur province capital.  During her 5 day stay in our home, she joined in our meal-time Bible reading and prayer times, saw our love for/ discipline/ and sometimes tired impatience with our kids and heard again about the Gospel of Christ that we hope to adorn.  So glad it's not a message of our own goodness "Look how good we are, we're Christians!" but a message of the splendor of a God who would come to rescue dead sinners like us and give us life in Him...

She seemed to track with us as my husband explained "Yes.  You're right.  The law of Islam and the law of Christianity are very similar.   Some subtle differences, but lots of agreement.  The place where Christianity and Islam diverge, though, is in what the law tells us... does for us.  It doesn't make us holy.  We can never make ourselves holy by attaining to the whole law! The law is all that Islam offers....  But in Christ, we have a gift, a gift that we don't earn with our proud hard work, but must be received humbly, in faith.  The Gift of forgiveness and righteousness and certain, eternal salvation...."

She told me several times "you don't know what it's like..." to live as a minority in this communist nation that squelches her home culture, outlaws her language from education, bans books on her people's history, forbids conversion to any religion besides your parents'.

Precious Friend, you're right.  I don't know how horribly hard it would be to be under all that.  But I do believe God does.    "Their cry for rescue from slavery came up to God. ²⁴And God heard their groaning, and God remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob. ²⁵God saw the people of Israel—and God knew. (Exodus 2:23-25)  We are praying that she would know God's knowing of her...  and that she would have courage to leave all and come to Christ.

Would you please pray for this terrific young woman, "A" ?  She headed back yesterday morning on the train to her town, where we know a few Uyghur believers we could connect her with if she's interested.  Please intercede with us for her, like Moses did for the Israelite people (Exodus 32-33).  We're not asking for the Lord to save her because she's so good, but because she has no hope apart from him.

And for our kind-of cooky friend "N" who is staying with us now.  He's a fun, young student in town who chose not to return to his family for the semester break so that he could study more.  But the dorms are closed.... so he's at our place for about a month.  Pray with us that he would come to Christ in this time!  Oh the courage and humility needed for this miracle to happen!   Graciously humble him Lord.   Draw him to you.  May it be so, for your glory!!