Wednesday, August 20, 2008

Care2Share

I realize I already posted once today, but I wanted to share an experience that happened to us on Sunday. Our church has started a program recently called Care2Share. It's basic purpose is to bring evangelism more the forefront of our minds. It is equipping us to share our faith in everyday life and look for opportunities that God brings our way. Sunday, we had our second outreach event. We were all supposed to take a picnic lunch to different local parks and just be available to talk to people. The church had printed up over 500 frisbees that had the church name and website on the front and the steps to salvation on the back. Tyler and I took 4 frisbees and went to a park. We were both a little nervous and didn't really know what to expect. We ate our lunch and decided to walk around the park. We found a court for a sport that we had never seen before. So, we talked about what it might be, and finally saw a sign that indicated it was for "bocce." We still had no idea how to play, but decided to go on our way. As we were walking off, a guy came up and asked us if we know what the courts are for. We said no, we didn't really know. He then proceeds to tell us how to play bocce ball! He was very friendly, and he and Tyler started talking about other things. Come to find out, this guy grew up in Africa near where Tyler grew up! They had so much to talk about concerning the differences between life in Africa and the US. Then, we found out that he's in school learning how to be an engineer! So, they talked about that for a while also. Tyler did actually get a chance to give him a frisbee and share the gospel with him at one point, but he didn't make any declarations. He had grown up catholic and most recently had been attending a LDS church. We're pretty sure he is not a Christian, just based on the answers he gave us to the questions we asked him, but anytime the gospel is shared, a seed is planted. As our pastors said, if we hadn't been able to talk to even one person, they would still count the outing as a success because we were available to be used! It's almost that decision to be available that is so hard and scary. Anyway, just wanted to share how proud I am of Tyler for stepping out there. It was also really cool to see who God brought our way and how much he and Tyler "just happened" to have in common. Amazing...

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

that's really cool Gill. good work. let me know if he ends up comin to church. did you get a name and some way to keep in touch with him?

mama giles said...

What a cool story!--quite amazing really! I know that was encouraging to the both of you. Curious as to what area he was from and was he African. Be sure to update if anything else comes of your meeting.

Tyler and Gillian said...

Jeannie, he was African. He was born in Sudan and then moved to Kenya and lived in Ethi for a while.

Ronnie, he did tell us his name, but we couldn't really understand it. We didn't exchange phone numbers or anything, so who knows what will happen from here...

Anonymous said...

I am so proud of the both of you for being brave enough to step out and share. Keep on sharing--God's word never returns void! What a cool experience for Tyler to have. Hmmmmmm! Coincidence? I think not!