Before the Night Begins

Before the night begins the sound of moving tables below was a sign to me that set up for coffee bar was under way. An Afghan volunteer had arrived and started setting up the tables. 3 long tables against the window, 2 against the wall and one long table that is used as our drawing table. The middle of the room is filled in by the smaller square tables, the secret is to make sure that there is enough room to get around the tables to serve the coffee and pick up the empty cups. The chairs are then put around the tables, freshly cleaned by the visiting Short-termer who have taken pride in getting all the gum off the bottom of the seats. Left over chairs are placed in rows of four in the back room to be used for a place were the visitors can sit and watch the Jesus film, on this night it was to be used for the Dar language of Afghanistani. The coffee and tea pots are filled with water to their brims, both will be empty before the night is through. The cups are pre-sugared to help speed up the making of the coffee when the demand for a hot drink is high when the doors are first opened. The games of Chess, Checkers, Connect four and whatever other games that we place on the vacant tables, are set up. 100 piece puzzles are popular and a few of them are left in their boxes on the tables, if the refugee wants to challenge his brain and spend the time putting the puzzle together. We meet together at 6:45pm to pray for tonight's coffee bar, our Afghan volunteer and the 3 Oasis workers. As out Afghan volunteer prays in Dari we hear the footsteps and the talking of men waiting in the cold to be let in. As we finish praying for the evening that God will use the Jesus film video's, that God will use the tracts on our wall, that God will use our conversations with the Refugees to bring them one step closer to knowing him. Tom goes over and unlocks the door and welcomes in the first few people of our coffee bar evening.