Sunday, May 10, 2015

Dear Friends,

As I write, I am looking out over a sky so blue and a sea even bluer that make the white buildings that stud the rocky coast startling in their brilliance. It is beautiful. The kind of beauty that almost hurts to behold, and it is so hard to reconcile with the evil that we have seen in our world.

It is a great privilege to minister here in Greece with Lee and Terry Heyward of BrookLink to Iranian and Afghan refugees. Actually, it has been a complicated trip, and we barely understand ourselves who we have been with! Lee and Paul have been primarily with Iranians who live in Europe now, having come to know the Lord from Muslim backgrounds. But there are also Armenians from Eastern Orthodox background. All have been blessed to learn more of the Father’s character and love as Lee and Paul taught from Luke 15, the story of the Prodigal son(s).  Paul taught on characteristics of the Father from the lives of Moses, Noah, and Joseph to describe mercy, long suffering, and faithfulness. He was blessed to lead the closing communion.

Terry and I have been working with a different group. Every day after worship with the main group that Lee and Paul worked with, we left to go to another building close by to work with women currently living in the refugee camps. Every day we worked with Afghan refugee women, Muslims, who had come to Greece via Iran and Turkey, by land or sea. We taught them about the Lord’s love for wounded women, and how He values women using the stories of the Samaritan woman, the woman with the issue of blood, Mary, and the anointing woman. We thought this would be a good subject for them, but had no idea how hungry they were, nor how oppressed by men they had been. We ended our time together by learning how to dance in an Afghan way! At least 2 of the 13 had come to the Lord, and others are on the Jesus road.

Much to our surprise, 15 Muslim men asked if they could come for counseling. Although they did not all know each other, they agreed that they all came to learn more of Jesus, being hurt and disappointed in their own faith. I shared the gospel with them, taught on grief and trauma, and encouraged them to continue to follow up with the 222 Ministries staff.

I met individually with Iranian and Armenian believers as well as Muslim Iranian and Afghan refugees. Such an honor, as people opened their heart of pain, often for the first time, to share the Lord’s love and comfort. Strangely, everyone had had a suicide attempt, several escaped death narrowly. I heard stories of imprisonment, beatings, killings, rape, incredible abuse, abandonment, betrayal, and such grief.

One of our great joys was being part of a team with Lee and Terry and with the different 222 Ministry workers, crossing barriers of many kinds. We finish our time humbled by the Lord’s goodness to use our “broken bread and poured out wine” to do His work here.

Love and gratitude,

Lisa Sinclair