Neighbor Update

Tuesday we brought over some muffins (let me be honest- a very poor homemaking attempt because they were just from a box) and some diapers to our downstairs neighbors.

These are neighbors we have mentioned before, they are from Yemen and are Muslim. They just had a baby and also have 5 other children ranging in ages from 24 to a newborn. We have a good relationship with them (despite us being horrible and noisy neighbors I'm sure!) because their 20 year old daughter has cerebral palsy and we are often waiting for the buses around the same time.

You may remember that last summer during Ramadan we brought them some food to break the fast with and they returned the gift by bringing us a LOT of food and explained the ritual of how they break the fast each night- it was a really special thing!

So... Tuesday, Will, Annie and I went downstairs to bring the gift and boxed muffins. Annie and I ended up staying for about 30 minutes and the family just treated me like a royal guest. We chatted about a lot of things, and I mentioned that Will was finishing up his PhD and also that he was a Christian pastor/ teacher. The wife started talking very excitedly in Arabic to her husband (she has limited English) and he translated that she said she knew that we must be Christians because there was a "kind light" in us that most people do not have.

Relatedly, a few years ago the organization called Global Gates came and did an evangelism training to our church on reaching Muslims and they said that takes on average 8 meaningful interactions with Christians for a Muslim to become a believer.

Then tonight around 7:15 I was getting the kids to bed (Will had just left to go meet with another church planter for dinner) and 3 of the daughters brought us some home-cooked Arabic food. It just shows a glimpse into their generous and thoughtful culture. Another little note is that I hadn't eaten dinner yet and didn't know what I was going to make for myself - this was God providing for me and blessing me!

So just wanted to encourage any of you reading - to just take the simple and boxed muffin steps to reach your neighbors, to build relationships with people. It is so important and you never know how God will meet your needs through the process, and how you will learn so much from people who are different from you.