On a hot summer day, our field coordinator meets convert couple Saira and Zafar in a city in Central Asia.
"We've been looking forward to seeing you, thank you for coming, and thank you for your support," they say with warmth in their voices and smiles with gratitude in their eyes, referring to the Danish European Mission's support from intercessors and donors to persecuted convert Christians.
As we sit drinking tea, they start telling their story.
Zafar says: "We came to faith in Jesus over twenty years ago through my friend who had become a Christian. He told me the gospel of Isa (Jesus, ed.) and it burned in both my heart and Saira's heart. We both accepted Jesus as Lord and Savior. From that day on, we began to look at our city in a completely different way because we understood that God loves these people and that Isa died to save the lost."
"We like our city, which is an old historic city. Lots of tourists come here every day and there is usually peace and order. You don't see any churches here and everything looks Islamic, with mosques everywhere, but the Kingdom of God is growing under the surface and more and more people are coming to believe in the Jesus of the Bible."
"You just have to be patient and trust that God hears prayer and does his work."
-Zafar, Central Asia
"Saira and I have been serving Jesus for many years by telling people about Jesus, and we have planted many house churches in suburbs and villages in this area. It's not easy for the house churches as converted Christians often have to move from place to place when they hold meetings as there is a lot of persecution. Several of the cities we serve in are located in an area called 'the holy places'. It's a very religious area that Muslim pilgrims travel to on their 'Little Hajj'," says Zafar.
The 'Little Hajj' is a replacement for the Great Hajj to Mecca in Saudi Arabia.
"Practically everyone here is Muslim," says Zafar, "but we boldly tell them about God as he is described in the Bible. Otherwise they don't hear about Jesus the Savior. Often we ask them if we can pray for them. Many times we have experienced that they get a miracle or a healing from God, or a big problem that God suddenly solves, or a need that is met, and then they become curious and open."
"The vast majority of people don't immediately come to faith in the God of the Bible because they are reluctant or fearful of what others think and believe. We find that 80 % of those who come to faith are women. If a man comes to faith, he often faces persecution from day one if it becomes known. That's how it is," says Zafar.
Gender-based persecution
Readers may be thinking: Why are men converting to a religion other than Islam seen as worse than women?
This is because according to Islam, the man has the highest status, power and influence and is the sole head of the family. Therefore, the conversion of men to Christianity causes a bigger stir in society.
Jesus heals a mullah in a taxi
Zafar says: "I usually work as a taxi driver, everyone does that these days," he laughs. "Often I take a customer to one of the pilgrimage sites on the small Hajj and sometimes I have an opportunity to tell them about the Isa (Jesus) of the Bible. Not long ago, a Muslim pilgrim was riding with me. The man was a mullah (an Islamic scholar) and wanted to tell me about his pilgrimage. We got to talking about Isa as a prophet and I told him that Isa was more than a prophet and could also save, but he was not open to that. Then I asked if he had any problems in life that he prayed for. He said he was suffering from an illness, so I asked if I could pray for him and he said yes. Then Jesus healed him right there on the spot in the taxi and after that he was totally open to hearing about Jesus and I gave him a New Testament."
"Then Jesus healed him right there on the spot in the taxi, and after that he was completely open to hearing about Jesus, and I gave him a New Testament."
-Zafar, Central Asia
Football player healed by Jesus
Zafar: "Recently I prayed for a professional football player who had suffered a severe injury to his leg and the doctors had said that his knee was completely destroyed and he couldn't play football anymore and now he had no income.
He came to my taxi rank and I took him to a pharmacy so he could buy painkillers. I asked him: 'Do you think God can heal you? If so, can I pray for you?' He said, 'Yes, maybe He can, you can.' So I prayed in Jesus' name for healing and then asked him to go for a walk. He walked away from my car, looking alternately at his leg and then at me, getting more and more surprised. 'You have healed me,' he said.
'No,' I said, 'it's not me, it's Jesus who healed you.' 'Then pray for my head too, because sometimes I have seizures and I see spirits in my house.' Then I prayed for him and he said, 'I feel better now.' Then he wanted to hear more about Jesus. After a while he had to leave and he got my phone number and I said, 'You can always find me here at the taxi rank or call me.' Then he came again a few days later and invited me home and I was there praying for his home.
It's now four months since I first met him and I'm still in contact with him, and slowly I can see him coming to faith. It doesn't happen quickly, but little by little. You just have to be patient and trust that God hears prayer and does his work."
Bags of hope do their work
"Yes, that's right, you just have to be patient and God will do his work," says Saira, who has been sitting still for a long time, and continues: "I also often go with Zafar to the villages and we serve together. It's great because I love serving Jesus. I serve the women in the house churches and especially the new believers. Sometimes we hand out bags of hope to people who are in need."
Bags of Hope are large bags of food for families with children in need (Bags of Hope is paid for by donors of the Danish European Mission).
"These bags are just great," says Saira, "because they help people and open doors. We like to say: the bags do theirs, we do ours, and God does his, because people need both physical and spiritual food, and it's God who works."
"We usually say: the bags do theirs, we do ours, and God does his, because people need both physical and spiritual food, and it's God who works."
- Saira, Central Asia
"Not long ago we visited a family who had great needs and no food in the house, but we didn't know that. They are new believers, but still only had one foot in church! So we hadn't seen much of them. I had been praying for them and felt that today we should drive out to them with a bag of hope, even though they were not on our list of recipients. I had a bag left over because another new convert family had said they could manage without help. 'You can give it to someone who needs it more than we do,' they said. So I prayed and God showed me this family. I knew they were struggling, but I didn't realize how bad it was and that they had no food or money. When the family received the bag of hope, they rejoiced and said it was an answer to prayer from God. As a result, we now have a renewed contact with them and they have become more resolute in their faith in God. Praise God and thank you so much for your help," Saira says happily.
