Uniquely Tailored

I love living in New York. I have to admit, I didn’t always. At least not knowing the value of why this city is such an amazing place. Yes it’s crowded, expensive and noisy. Yes, there never seems to be any break from the busyness and stimulation and yes even parts of it smell… but there is no place like it in the world. It didn’t hit me till a few years ago how blessed I was to grow up in the City of Nations. In a city of 8.4 million people, you have just about everyone from around the world here. I grew up in a school system where I had friends from African, Middle Eastern, Latin American, European and Asian descent, all sitting within the same classroom!  Some of my childhood best friends came from Columbia, China, Dominican Republic, Philippians and Jamaica – which was no big deal.  I was and am surrounded by people of ethnic descent.  Recently, it hit me again how amazing it is that I live here, serve and get to share with the love of Jesus to people from all over the world.

A week ago, while handing out clothes at Tompkins Square Park, I had what I would like to call a pretty "funny moment". Since I was in charge of the clothing table that day, I was helping the ladies that came up to look for things. That day, it was pretty quiet and so certain ladies hung around more. I took that as an opportunity to try to converse. Of course, while trying to talk, the lady only spoke Spanish. So, I took advantage of my limited Spanish (I took Spanish for 7 years school but never feel confident enough to try to speak it).  Then out of the blue, two more ladies come by the table, I hear one of them speak WenZhounese (my parent's native dialect) and the other Mandarin. Ironically, for some of you that know, I struggle to be confident in my Chinese speaking abilities but I spoke to them in both dialects of Chinese. So in the course of a few minutes, I was trying to converse in three different languages (all of which I am not fluent in but can understand/get by).  One of the Chinese ladies even asked if we were from the church. I found this encounter to be laughable (at least to me anyway) cause I so sense the delight of God over it.

This whole encounter caused me to realize one thing… I’ve been so blessed to have been exposed to so many cultures and languages, especially knowing that I have somewhat of an ability to communicate it.  God has uniquely tailored my life in such a way where cross culture evangelism is right in my door steps and I’ve grown up being exposed to so much. NYC is home to over 200 languages and being in the midst of so many people groups, means more opportunity. Once again, I stand in awe of God’s amazing grace in how He desire to make His name known among the Nations and choose to use us in the midst of it. Please pray for us as we continue to minister on the streets and especially for me to continue growing confident and being faithful with what He has given me.

Beautiful One Update - Melissa: I Want to Follow God

We came down the stairs to the small, dirty, basement massage parlor one Thursday night to find that all the ladies we knew there were no longer working there. Slightly disappointed to not be seeing our friends, I began to pray and ask the Lord what He wanted to do that night. One by one, all the ladies received a customer except a woman we'll call Melissa. We made small talk for a while, and then I told her that we were there not just because we love her but because God loves her. Her eyes opened wide, and she exclaimed, "You're here to tell me about God? Tell me the story from the very beginning!" She had heard the Gospel once before while she was visiting Shanghai, and God had been using the seeds sown at that point to stir some serious hunger in her. We spent over an hour with Melissa that night sharing testimonies from our lives and helping her further understand the Gospel.

Every time we would explain that God loves her personally and wants to do the same miracles in her life that He's done in ours, a huge smile appeared on her face and she got chills. God was touching her! At the end of the night we prayed for her, and she said, "I feel different, like lighter!" Then we invited her to the English classes we've been offering, and she said, "I'd love to learn more English but will the classes have enough time to discuss the Bible? I really want to learn more about the Bible!" Throughout our time with Melissa, we were blown away by her responses and her hunger for the things of God. That very night, she was on the verge of converting but was afraid of what her family, who are all Buddhist, would think of her decision. We lovingly explained that it is her choice, but to follow Jesus means to give up Buddha. She went to church the following Sunday, which happened to be Easter, with our translator. Just a few days ago, we received word that Melissa quit her job at the massage parlor because she wants to follow God!

She is taking real estate classes, and I cannot say enough how thrilled we are at what God is doing in her life! Please keep her in your prayers, and we'll keep you posted!

~Testimony written and copied from Mary Anna's (Beautiful One's Coordinator) newsletter~

Gifts and bookmarks for the ladies