VALENCIA, Spain – When we first arrived in Valencia, Spain, we spoke with many of the local church pastors about our heart to reach the lost. One of those pastors introduced us to another couple from Valencia who had that same desire. After we met with them and prayed together, we found another Spanish couple who longed to spread the gospel among the people of Valencia. The six of us began Friday-night evangelistic Bible studies, which grew, and God blessed us tremendously by bringing … [Read more...]

SOUTH ASIA – Our translator asked the women to stand if they believed in Jesus. It was the second day of our evangelism training for women in South Asia, and to our surprise, one of the women who had said she was a Hindu the day before, stood on this day. The translator asked when she became a believer, and the lady responded, "Last night." She said she had never heard the story of Jesus before our first training session, but after hearing about him all day, she went home that night and … [Read more...]

DELHI, India – Delhi is full of worshipers. Delhi is full of people living in fear. I was recently in Delhi and prayer walked with two other Christians through a historical area of the city. As we walked into a centuries-old fort, individuals and families made their way to the far end of the compound. We followed. The top floor of the seven hundred-year-old structure has the remains of a mosque that is still in use today. The bottom floor used to be a jail and is where the jinn are … [Read more...]

KHARKOV, Ukraine – It was still dark outside as I rose to go to prayer. A chill in the room told me that it was going to be a frigid mile-walk to the square. I wanted to crawl back under the covers, but resisted. “I’ve been doing this for only three days while my Ukrainian friends have done it every day for five years,” I rebuked myself. Leaving the hotel, I picked my way around frozen piles of ice and deep muddy puddles, bent my head away from the wind, wrapped my scarf a little … [Read more...]

CHIAPAS, Mexico – "I have been feeling such thirst, and I don't want to be thirsty anymore," Eugenio told me after our Bible study at breakfast. Eugenio and I were introduced by a local language school to help us learn each other’s language. We hit it off well and discovered that we had much in common. We were close to the same age and shared similar experiences in business. We were just two men talking about life experiences, trials, and life in general. We drank a lot of coffee, shared … [Read more...]

I first met Khalid* through an online follow-up request, a way some people seek answers for their troubled souls. We have seen our opportunities to share the gospel in our area gradually change over the past couple of years, with a new openness that has not been present for many generations. We are now increasingly having open conversations in coffee shops, malls, or while sitting on park benches, about the hope that lives within us and how that allows us to live and serve with … [Read more...]

EASTERN EUROPE – Natalia* is the only evangelical believer among the staff at the Eastern European school where she teaches English. She’s raised her own children in this border town populated by Muslims in a country of nominally Orthodox “Christians.” The reality is that most of the people she knows, Muslim or Orthodox, try to earn God’s favor through good behavior. For years, Natalia has taken every opportunity to share God’s love with those in her school. She remembered Jesus said … [Read more...]

CENTRAL ASIA – Ruslan’s* ritual Muslim prayers, which he performed five times a day, brought no relief to the ugliness he felt in his heart. He was a tough young man. He angered easily and was a troublemaker in his village in Central Asia. But when he first heard the gospel from relatives in the big city, he couldn’t sleep for days. On the fourth day, he visited their church and heard the truth about Jesus again. In tears, he repented and believed in Christ for salvation. Ruslan began … [Read more...]

CZECH REPUBLIC – Tears of joy flooded Stan and Abbey Wilcox’s* eyes. It had been years since these IMB missionaries lived in the Czech Republic. Back then, the spiritual darkness had been so overwhelming at times. And now— Were they hearing this correctly? Were two people they had never met thanking God publicly for leading them to start a church where Stan and Abbey had prayed nearly a decade earlier? Eight years ago, Stan and Abbey took a volunteer group of US teens to see what God was … [Read more...]

It's the little things, the mundane, that cause me to fail as a cross-cultural witness. On the other hand, the catastrophes and emergencies—these events are catalyzers for my witness: A colleague has been kidnapped. A believer is undergoing severe persecution. When these things happen, my husband and I call our prayer networks. We fast and pray as a team. We pour over Scripture and cry out to the Lord. The body of Christ comes together in unity and it bonds with stronger cords of … [Read more...]

INDIA – Things were going as planned until the day we all arrived in India. Two trainers joined me on this trip—one from South Africa and the other from America. The city where the church planting training was to take place had two major problems. First, there was flooding. I was shown a video of the building that was provided for the meeting. The street was like white water rapids. In the video, I saw three people swept away while others on the sidewalks tried to save them. I didn’t see … [Read more...]