Once we got to The Oasis, he asked if we had shoes and some clothes for him... I had not even noticed until then, for I had not looked at his feet, that he was walking around in slippers, without socks! That day, it was warm enough for some of the snow to melt, but it was still cold out and we have been having some really cold weather here lately. There were many people around the room, playing chess, checkers, and Connect Four... people from Somalia, Afghanistan, Iran, Iran, Pakistan, and one lady who even made it here from Columbia (I have yet to hear her story, but she did share with us that she is a believer). Anyhow, I went downstairs to rummage through our shoe boxes and tried to find something his size, and met with him personally in the next room. As he tried on five or six pairs, looking for a fit, he shared with me about his long journey from his home in Morocco. And as I sat with him, I couldn´t help but notice that he basically smelled like a homeless man.
It turns out that it was his very first day in Austria, he had arrived on a train that morning. The smell, it turns out, was the smell of old smoke that had sunk deeply into his clothes, from standing around a fire, trying to stay warm in Serbia. And the clothes on his back was all that he had. From Morocco, it had been a long journey, one which took him nine or ten months all together. He was so thankful to be here in Austria. As for his shoes, praise the Lord, he did find a nice pair of boots that fit, good quality ones in fact, so that was great. After that, Jeremy showed him some pants, and he was able to find a pair of pants and a good sweatshirt that fit. He was humble and appreciative.
Meanwhile, I felt like I had to offer him an Arabic New Testament, even though we had not yet really talked about matters of faith. Thankfully he graciously accepted it, with what seemed like a bit of hesitation but also a kind of "well, sure, why not?" attitude. I included a self-study question and answer booklet about how to have a relationship with God, also in Arabic, so please do pray that he goes through that booklet and searches out the Truth, and grows to have more interest in The Word. He carefully tucked the small New Testament and booklet into the folds of the sweatshirt, hidden, and placed it into a bag, underneath his slippers that he was of course no longer wearing. He thanked us kindly, left the bag in the clothing room, and then joined the eight or nine other Arabic speakers who were already watching The Jesus Film in Arabic.
Pray for Hamir, that the Lord would speak to him clearly, and that he would be inspired to visit us again. (I have not seen him since then, but perhaps he was simply transferred somewhere else in Austria... pray he would read the Word and hear from the Lord clearly). thanks SO much for the prayer support, Ken
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