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Testimony By Tami Medler
Recently I was led to go to Spain with three others, all Village members/family, to hand out free gifts to European people heading to Morocco. Nervousness does not begin to share the feelings I had about this trip. Since becoming a Christian and attending Baptist churches, surprisingly enough, I had never been a part of an evangelistic team to share the gospel. I have had the privilege of sharing Jesus with many people, but it was in a much quieter and controlled atmosphere; my control, my comfort zone. This however was not the case in Spain. Not only was I completely out of my comfort zone, but the majority of the people we encountered were of the Muslim religion and did not speak English. Though there were some preconceived ideas of how we might be received, I remembered what a friend had told me about the nature of the Muslim people they encountered after 9/11, how wonderful and sweet and concerned and sorrowful they were for what had taken place; so I thought, "No problem, who wouldn't want a free gift?" And these were nice gifts, too! These packages consisted of many items such as a VCD and VHS Tape of the "JESUS" film, the New Testament, a book on the "Carpenter", cassettes, and other booklets about the Christian faith. I should also mention that these packages were in four different languages in order to reach as many as possible for the Kingdom of God. It amazed me how many would turn this gift away. Yeah, they did not want it. I found I had to daily walk in prayer that God would give me the power and strength through His Holy Spirit to do what He has called me to do. Rejection is never easy and always takes so much out of you. It can zap your strength especially if you walk in your own. As we went through the week, there were many things that God revealed to me. One was the fact that we were giving a "FREE" gift. We were not there to convince anyone; we were to just give a gift to those who would receive it. Is that not like the gift from God, the gift of Salvation is a "FREE" gift from God to those who will receive it. Yet so many rejected us as they do the Father. On an up note…Many also received the packages with smiles on their faces especially when they found out it was in their native language.
One encounter I would like to share was with a gentleman and his daughter. The man was, what I came to understand, a fundamentalist. This is one who is deeply rooted in the Muslim religion. A religious man they would say. We, one of the missionary students whom I was privileged to work along side and myself, engaged in conversation with this man. He was kind but very firm in his belief of Mohammed. He spoke somewhat broken English; however, his daughter of 8 years of age spoke English and understood it well. As we shared about Jesus he became more vocal that only those who believe in Mohammed would go to Paradise and those who do not believe will go to hell. We shared that he had some of the facts correct but he was misinformed about a crucial fact and that it is only through Jesus Christ that any of us can get to heaven. Those who do not believe and know our Savior will truly spend eternity in hell apart from God. We could see that there was no turning this man from what the enemy has deceived him of. My heart became very heavy and I was doing all I could to hold back the tears. As my partner continued to talk with this man, I was given a vision. The vision was of flames of fire, bright orange and red, all up and down the right side of this man. When I questioned the Lord as to what I was seeing, He told me of this man's destiny, but also shared with me that our message was not for this man but for his daughter who was standing on the left side of her father listening to every word we were saying. As I looked at the daughter, there was an angelic smile on her face and I can still remember the beautiful sky blue garments she had on. She did look like an angel. The Lord told me the message was for her. My heart ached at the deceit that has been indwelt in the lives of these beautiful people, but at the same time, I rejoiced that this child could hear the truth and that as we walked away and prayed for her, we knew that God would continue to water the seeds that were planted. We remembered in Isaiah 55 that "His Word does not return empty." As I continued through the week, I prayed for God's compassion and love for His creation to burn within me. He is ever faithful! Throughout the week, as I requested that prayer from Him, He would remind me in special ways how to love them. One such way was a memory of a special and dear man He introduced my husband and me to when we started Sunday school at Village. He reminded me of this man's love for Jesus. It was so pure and real that it could not be missed. He was contagious. That is what I wanted, to be contagious for Jesus. It became easier every day to share Jesus' love. It was such a blessing to be a part of this mission for Christ. I hope and pray that this desire to be contagious for Jesus will never be lost. And I pray that all the gifts that went out into many hands will increase to spread the love of God and what Jesus did for each of us. And as His Word, His love is spread many will receive Jesus Christ as their personal Lord and Savior.
-Tami Medler
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