God at work

So tonight I was supposed to attend Melissa's Bible Discussion, but Adeleida switched with her so Adeleida would be tonight and Melissa tomorrow...and then Adeleida got burned (pretty badly, aww) this afternoon in the kitchen *grabbing hot pans is a bad idea* and so she asked me to lead it. So I looked at Ryan, and said "Ok, we're leading it together" haha, because I thought something like this would happen and had told him that on our bike ride to the Shelter. and it was true. So ok, we had Bible discussion in half and hour and nothing planned, but that's ok, cuz we're both in the Word every day and God is good, so we're not worried. In fact, we're playing Sudoku (it's addicting!). and as we were sitting there playing Sudoku and eating a really good dinner and chatting with the guests, one of the guests (Gwen) asked me if I wanted to go for a walk with her because supper was so filling. so I said "that's a great idea! we'll do Bible discussion outside!" and so we did. Also Martin, our new cleaner from Slovakia, came and so he and Ryan started chatting and Gwen and I did and we decided to do some street evangelism in Amsterdam. So we walk up to this store owner who was standing in his door and Gwen asked him if he knew anything about church or God or Jesus and we started a conversation. Good thing she speaks Dutch, because his English wasn't too good so it was nice to have a translator. We found out that he believes in God and God lives in his heart, but it doesn't change the way he lives, and he doesn't want to be religious. I asked him if he was hurt by the church, and he told a story about getting in trouble (smacked) as a 12 year old for not sitting perfectly still in a really boring church service. That's so sad that the imperfect church is clouding people's vision of who God really is. Hopefully some of that was cleared up tonight. He says that he doesn't have time for God, but I'm praying that the seeds that were planted tonight will take root and grow into a curiosity for and about God and he won't rest until he's filled. Amen.
Then we saw a man about to get on his bicycle and ride away, and Gwen told me I should talk to him, so I did. He thinks he's a Christian because he believes in God and tries to do good things and was brought up that way. I asked him what about the bad things he does sometimes? and he said they are good learning experiences, and he tries to be good. I hope he was able to understand that being a Christian is more than being a good person. we told him anyone can try to be good and live a good life, but it's Jesus' forgiving you that makes the difference. Anyways, we had a good conversation (and his mom called his cell in the middle, but we kept talking after) and I pray that he will actively seek God and not try to make it on his own strength.
I talked with Martin for a while on the way back and Ryan and Gwen talked with some other people. Martin was a Christian as a child and then fell away when he was about 12 and four years ago he came back to the Lord! He says he's here in Amsterdam because he wants to make God his number one priority and not be distracted by the busyness of life (he worked really long hours at home). Also he doesn't always feel the Holy Spirit and wants to be filled. Amen!
God is at work!
We talked to a man at a stop light and he was really uncomfortable...he says he doesn't believe anything and he doesn't want to. he took off as soon as the light was green.
Then we talked to some young teen girls. We asked them if they knew of a good church for us to go to. They pointed us to Westerkirk, and Ryan thought that that meant that they go there regularly (umm, Ryan, it's a huge tourist church...haha) and they said they had been before (as in to tour) and they went to church a couple times but it was really boring, so we told them about Zolder and said if they wanted to go to a church that was fun and wouldn't put them to sleep they could check it out because God is doing big things in Amsterdam. And there's so little hope in the world nowadays (haha, i just said nowadays!) and everything you try to fulfill you crumbles away and destroys you, but God will heal you and make you whole again and fill you up. So hopefully they'll think about that and Satan won't steal away the seeds that were planted.
Thank you Jesus for an awesome "Bible Discussion"!