Your neighborhood … your mission field

Every Friday night we eat together with neighbors.  We never know what is going to be for dinner (when it’s not at our house).  This however, was yummy.  It’s called something like Kloese with a green sauce containing lots of parsley.  MMMMMM

We have always made it a priority  to pray for and reach out to our neighbors.  According to Acts, God has an ordained place for each one of us to live.  (Also, Jn 4:1-20 Jesus went to Samaria to reach one lady, who reached the entire town).  In each house we have lived, I believe there has been not only a reason…but a person that God wanted to reach.  Well, in this neighborhood his name is H.  H was born a twin.  As a young child, his mother decided to give him up and keep his twin brother.  His best friend died just two weeks after we moved here last August.  He violently broke his leg a week after that.  Since he couldn’t work, it put stress on his marriage.  So, his wife left and took their two young girls eight hours away…and he can’t afford to travel to see them.  Then, he moved in with his best friend’s widow because he couldn’t afford rent.  Needless to say, he needs a friend right now. 

It’s not always easy reaching out to your neighbors when there are so many things that we need to do.  But, sometimes it just starts with talking to them while doing yard work.  There are so many ways that your neighborhood can be your mission field. We have had street parties, Easter eggs hunts, street and park soccer games, birthday parties, dinner invitations and our biggest evangelization tool has been our trampoline.  We even saw God do a miracle when we got to pray for one of our neighbors for her inoperable brain cancer.  We just told her about how good God is and asked if we could pray for her.  We have made so many friends from those that live around us.  It’s so great to experience life with other people that are so very different from ourselves.  We’ve learned a lot. 

I don’t know how many of our neighbors have actually given their hearts to Christ, but we know they’ve heard through our words and our deeds.