From Russia- with love?

We arrived at our set-up site (Holy Rosary Rectory) early to begin making coffee and hot chocolate. Shortly after we arrived, we were joined, unexpectedly, by a team of Russian volunteers. We quickly taught them what they were supposed to be doing and then sent them out with some of our team members to show them around.

The cultural difference was immediately made known. They asked if they could "preach at" the people after they gave them a cup of hot chocolate. I explained that "preaching at" would not be received very well by the people we were trying to minister to. Vancouver residents are very warm and welcoming and accepting of many things, which is good and bad. One thing that turns them away is the approach our Russian friends wanted to take. They couldn't understand that at first, so I told them to just hand out the hot chocolate and engage the people in conversation and see where it leads. When one of them passed out a cup of hot chocolate, he looked at the lady and took a tract from his pocket and said, “Here, you need to read this.” She immediately turned and walked away.

I explained to them again the importance of staying within the guidelines we were asked to work in and that there is a reason for it.

Eventually, three teenage girls walked up for some hot chocolate. One spoke with a British accent, but her American friend quickly pointed out that she did that all the time to see if people would be able to tell if it was a fake accent. I asked the American where she was from and she answered Washington State. I said I am from the States too and she thought I was joking because she didn’t pick up on a Southern accent. When I said I am from Greenville, South Carolina, the friend with the former British accent, got really excited and asked, “Is that near Sovereign Grace?” (A church in the Greenville area.) In shock, I said yes, my church is not far from there at all and asked how she knew about it. She has friends there. It turns out that she and her friend who likes to talk with an accent are Christians!

This is where it gets fun. The third friend, April, is not a Christian and thinks there is no physical evidence to support the claims of Christianity and the life of Jesus. Remember, our Russian friends are watching all of this unfold before their eyes. One of them chimes in and asks, “Who do you think built the pyramids in Egypt? It was the Jews,” April responded, “Well I know it wasn’t aliens.” I didn’t know where the Russian was headed with his evidence, so I literally and quietly prayed, “God, please shut this guy up.” I know that sounds terrible, but his approach was not getting anywhere with April.

So, I looked at April and I asked; “What kind of physical evidence are you looking for? She said just physical or scientific evidence. I knew she wasn’t going to immediately accept Biblical evidence, so I said, “Let’s look at governmental histories.” She said ok, so I started with the Roman Empire. It was the first world power to encounter Jesus. We know that Jesus lived because Roman history records how it dealt with Jesus. She accepted that. You can’t doubt the existence of someone who Rome proudly admitted they crucified.

April then admitted that Jesus lived, but she thinks He was a really big fraud that deceived a lot of people. There were some background comments she made that to include would lengthen this blog beyond the length you’re willing to read, so to jump to the point I knew of a statement I could make that would blow her away. (I had already quietly asked God to guide our conversation.) Not all of you will agree with what I said, but the West Coast view of the church is that all we do is try to force religion on people. With that in mind, I looked at April and asked, “What was Jesus’ message?” She said she didn’t know. I told her about the woman at the well and that Jesus’ message was simply that He loves us, regardless of where we are, but we need to be forgiven of the wrong we have done. She admitted that people sin, and said “look at society.” Here is what I said that I told her would blow her away; “The church at times has really messed up the message of Jesus and some have taken an approach that have pushed more people away from Jesus rather than bring them closer to Jesus.” Her eyes opened wide and her jaw dropped. She said, “I can’t believe you said that, wow. I don’t what to say.” A huge wall came down after that statement.

I asked her, “What do you have to lose if what you believe is wrong?” She said she just thought the purpose of life was to die, and go back into the earth, but there was no overall purpose, maybe to be happy. I asked, “Why is it important to be happy, with no greater purpose?” She didn’t have an answer, so I said, God’s purpose for our lives is to have a relationship with Him and He was so set on that purpose that He sent Jesus to die on the cross for our sins. She said, “Yeah, that’s what my friends always tell me.” I said, “Do you know why they tell you that?” She answered, “Because they don’t want us to die and them go to heaven and me go to hell.” I said, “Exactly! They are telling you that because they love you.”

“Why doesn’t He just make us worship Him, if He’s God?” she asked. “Because that wouldn’t be relationship, He wants us to choose to worship Him,” I said. The story about Adam and Eve in Eden helped her understand and she said it made sense, but it was still hard to understand. She said the part of her that thinks she is right is larger than the part of her that thinks she’s wrong. She admitted that the part of her that thinks she is wrong scares her. I told her “That is because you have a lot to lose if you are wrong.” “Yeah, my friends have told me about hell and what is it, eternity?” she asked.

She made a comment about her mom going crazy if she knew she was talking to someone from a cult. I laughed and said, well, we’re not a cult. She laughed and said she knew that, but her mom has the same view of religion. (Pray for her mom not to be a barrier to her accepting Christ.) As the conversation was winding down and I sensed the Holy Spirit was really working in her, you could tell she was struggling. She asked what day it was and I said it was Saturday. She asked, “God, why is this happening today?” I looked at her and said, “Because today is the day God wanted to tell you that He loves you.”

Her friend, who had been standing with her the whole time, put her arm around her. April said it was just too easy to believe in this stuff. I said, actually it is the hardest thing to do because you constantly have to confront all of this stuff that you have been dealing with.

I asked her friend to help her with the Bible April told me she had been given by her. I said take her through Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, answer whatever questions she has. I asked April to look at it objectively and that the truth would reveal itself.

I recommended a book she should read that speaks to people exactly where she is. I even gave her friend the money to buy it and they went to the book store to look for it.

I know without having been there to personally observe this hour long conversation, parts of the story don’t make sense, like me buying a book, but know that God is doing something in April’s life and she needs a lot of prayer for Him to do what He is trying to do. It was an amazing experience and even though the trip isn’t over, I feel it was that exact encounter that God brought me here to have.

Our Russian friends took in all of this in amazement and went away with a better understanding of how to interact with people. I told them they had free reign when it came to speaking with Russians because no one else would know what was being said anyway. They laughed and were happy with that freedom.

If you have read this far, thank you! Please pray for April and the two Christian friends God has placed in her life. Keep the team in your prayers and pray for the opportunities we have yet to experience.