from one Afghani to another...

Last Wednesday, here at The Oasis, it was a joy to have a visit from a refugee friend of ours from Afghanistan, "Reza"* who has now been here in Austria for over three years. Reza became a follower of Jesus here in Austria, received approval to stay, found work at a restaurant in Vienna, and has been faithfully attending a Farsi-speaking church all this time and is growing in his faith.  He made the effort to visit us and help out last Wednesday, and even went out for a walk, on his own initiative, to pass out invitation flyers and personally invite refugees to visit The Oasis that night! There was one young man from Afghanistan who accepted the invitation from him, and attended the Bible lesson we offered an hour later! "Abdul"* listened intently, stayed for some tea with us afterwards, but humbly admitted that he did not get to finish school in Afghanistan and therefore never learned to read very well.   

Thankfully, he also returned the following evening, for our "coffee house" program, and after having a cup of tea with us, he accepted the offer to watch the "Magdelena Movie" (the Jesus Film, just shorter) in Farsi. Later, having seen the film, he was 

eager to learn more about Jesus, and while we would normally offer the New Testament to read, in this case it was not possible. But thankfully, we had on hand an "audio Bible stick" from Faith Comes by Hearing, in Dari (the language of Afghanistan). He was very thankful to receive it, and we showed him how it works and tried it out with him. He confirmed that he could understand it very well, and thanked us profusely for it before heading back to the refugee camp to sleep.  

Please pray that Abdul listens to this audio Bible of the New Testament again and again. May the Lord confirm His Word in Abdul´s heart!  Pray too that Abdul returns to The Oasis this week, to hear more about Jesus and spend more time with us.  

Sometimes people are denied the opportunity to finish their schooling because of ethnic or religious discrimination in their home country, and other times it is simply because of genuine financial hardship. In this case, we do not know, but we were so thankful that Abdul humbly admitted his inability to read well, and we were so glad to have something to offer him which makes hearing the Word of God possible for him. 

Praise the Lord for how He worked through the step of faith that Reza took, too. It is so exciting to see people who come to know Jesus serving and stepping out in faith to be used by God to bless others. 

blessings, Ken     *names changed for safety and security purposes