From our correspondent
2 minute 51 second read
My ministry team may be unique across the Pioneers mission family. We were friends before we moved to North Africa. We had all met at university and went to the same fellowship as students. Together we had heard about unreached peoples and the Lord called us, together, to this particular part of North Africa, which is very popular with tourists.
We had arrived with a blank slate and were exploring what the Lord would have us do; we did not have any preconceived ideas.
We arrived just before the pandemic started, with the same heart and vision from the very beginning. As far as we’re aware, we’re the first team in this region to be in a place where there are three people groups living and interacting with each other, and the number of Christians can probably be counted on one hand.
For the first couple of years most of the time was spent learning the language and the culture, and networking with other people. Five days each week there would be four hours of language study, three mornings each week we would meet as a team to pray; there was a lot of prayer and prayer walking. I found it hard to embrace the couple of hours in the middle of the day when everybody would be taking a nap – I wanted to go out and hang out with people; I had to learn quickly!
We had arrived with a blank slate and were exploring what the Lord would have us do; we did not have any preconceived ideas. We wanted to get out there and try to find people who are interested in spiritual things.
The pandemic delayed some things – for one thing there were limitations in the number of people we could meet – but for me, I became interested in setting up an English consulting business with one of my teammates as an avenue to connect with people in the community in meaningful ways. And we have now been open for a little over a year.
The majority of our clients come to practise and improve their English in conversation groups. I facilitate these, and pick a topic for the clients to discuss, providing correction and instruction where it’s needed. We also provide other one-on-one consulting services, and depending on the client’s goals, will give them instruction or help to see them achieve those goals.
Every day is different – you could say the daily schedule is flexible and fluid. Whether it’s a client cancelling a language lesson at the last minute, or a friend showing up at my house half an hour late, time is relative and is not as scarce a resource as it is perceived in my home country! I had a friend describe to me that they believe this is the biggest difference between our two cultures. Here, if someone runs into a friend on the street on their way to an appointment, they must stop and talk – even if it means they will arrive late! This has been hard for me to get used to and can sometimes feel like I’m wasting time waiting on people. However, I am learning to appreciate the value of relationships and flexibility and want to become more open and ready for interruptions and delays in my days!
One of my friends is Youmna*. We are reading God’s Word together every Thursday which is a real answer to prayer. We have been working our way through Genesis, and it is amazing to see how the Holy Spirit is impressing things on her heart through His Word. Please do pray for her.
Please pray too for us as a team as we have recently welcomed some new teammates. Pray for their transition to the culture and for our continued unity as a team as we adjust to their arrival.
Please also join with us in praying for more workers in this region. There are several people groups here with hardly any gospel witness. We are praying that more people would catch the vision of reaching the unreached, and join God in what He is doing in North Africa at this time!
*Names changed and library images used to protect identities.
