Prayers and Praises!

Updates and praises! 

Thursday: 

(As in a previous post, you may recall...) One of the first days here I was riding the train with my discipler explaining to her my doubts and concerns about being physically able to do min here. Just then, a girl next to me tapped me on the shoulder, and we entered into this great conversation which ended with swapping contact information and hoping to hang out sometime. 

I took that as a sweet reminder that Dad knows what He's doing and how He wants to use me. 

Thursday, I got to meet up with that girl. It is beautiful that she bookends my trip here. She was my first conversation, and almost my last. It shows me Dad's love and perfect authorship as He intricately and intentionally weaves together every fabric and moment of my life into a beautiful masterpiece, his Masterplan. 

So, Thursday. My roommate and I headed to a cafe to meet up with my train friend! 

I did not want to go. I was tired, in pain, and weak but I knew I could do it.

My roomie and I were a bit nervous, so we prayed to Dad on the way over. We prayed that Dad would give us strength and energy, that He would prepare her heart to hear about Him, that Dad would open SO many doors to share the goods that we couldn't possibly miss it, and we prayed that even beyond our words, she would be able to see and experience Jesus and His truth through us. I also feel pressure, personally, to really connect with people. I was nervous about it, so I additionally prayed that Dad would allow us to connect easily. We saw God answer every single prayer in the most amazing ways. 

1. We IMMEDIATELY connected as friends. We had so much in common! Conversation never hesitated for a second once it began. 

2. She was ready to hear about Jesus. She said in the beginning that she's sick of surface level conversations and desperately wants to go deep with people and talk about real things. We were like, GREAT! 

3. So we did. We started talking about the brokenness of the world, we questioned what happiness was and its source. We talked about India and America's biggest issues and the hopelessness of humanity. Each, of course, we couldn't talk about without talking about God. :) and we did - for over an hour! She directly asked us, at least four times, questions that demanded things like our testimonies or the goods. 

4. One of my favorite moments: we were talking about the suffering in the world. She said she didn't want to take anything for granted. I affirmed. But she said she didn't know how, then she looked at me intently and asked, "if you know how, please, tell me. If there's anything you would like to say, I want to know." OKAY DAD. So I told her straight up about Jesus and the gospel and how they related. Boom. 

5. My other favorite moment: I got to share part of my testimony with her. I talked about death, and life, and Jesus, and my interwoven walk with each. In one moment I was trying to express my experience with Jesus and how His love has changed my entire life and I said, "I have no idea how to express this to you -" to which she interjected, "no, you are doing it perfectly." She looked to my roommate and said, "When Anna talks, you just want to listen. I like the way she talks. It's so genuine and real. I heard her on the train I was like, this is a girl I need to talk to."  What??  I can ONLY attribute that (whatever it is) to Dad's response to my prayer that she would see Christ clearly in us! She saw His honesty, intentionality, genuineness, and truth. 

6. My top favorite moment: the music in the cafe was very loud and we had trouble hearing each other. My friend asked the waiter if they could turn it down a bit, to which he said no. Then, out of nowhere (I have no idea why I did this, though I don't regret it by any means), I said out loud, "Dear God, PLEASE turn the music down!!" And after one moment the music went down!! I said, "YES, thank you Jesus!!" I beamed knowing that He answered that, and did so right in front of my friend. Boo. Yah. 

All in all, I saw God's hand throughout that entire night. Our conversation was filled with truth and love and Dad, and I can't wait to see all He does through it in the years to come. Amen!