"Fear Not" Week: IMB missionaries in Central Asia reflect on first year

What would it be like to swallow your fear and go overseas to share the Gospel of Jesus Christ in an Asian Muslim country?  Missionaries "Forrest" and "Page" have discovered that feeling, as they round the corner of their first year in the field!

What they discovered is that in their country, religious conversations are expected rather quickly during discourse! Imagine how that is such a contrast to Americans. Here, it is a cultural  faux paux to mention God before getting to know someone very well! 

Forrest and Page also discovered that those conversations often led to broken relationships. These countries make sharing Jesus difficult. There is a stong familian and cultural bias against believing in the Bible!

It made me recall a conversation that I had with an Afghan judge. We were coaching him on how to impartially decide cases in a manner that Western judges embrace. He smiled politely and let us know that some day, we would leave his country and go back to the United States, leaving him there to impartially decide cases where corruption and partiality were common. We understood what he was saying - it would probably cost him his life if he converted to a Western understanding of justice. 

So it is in Asian Muslim countries. 

Pray for the continuing courage of our missionaries. They are the recipients of our Lottie Moon Christmas offerings. They need to embrace courage in times of dis-courage(ment)!

You can access the story of Forrest and Page by clicking --> here <--