God gives me strength…
God makes me bold…..
God protects me….
God’s spirit gives me the words!
This is Yani, Bulgarian….and I made him cry.
1 Corinthians 15:58 NIV
Therefore my brothers and sisters, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know your labor in the Lord, is not in vain.
I was sitting in the square as I find myself doing most early evenings. I was reading a youversion plan which lead me to do a little writing. Blue, the smaller of the black cats, and my buddy, came to visit me. I reached down and petted him. As I was doing this a man approaches and watches us. The man spoke. I think he asked me if I wanted coffee.
The thing I have come to learn, is that when someone approaches and asks if I want coffee, it turns into a solicitation for sex.
The first time this happened I was shaken to my core! Now… I usually just find a way out. ( wearing ear buds is my go to, mind you there is nothing playing through them!). But that bothers me too, because I am always trying to find a way that I can help someone, to plant a seed of Christ in their life. I find it’s hard not to try to engage back with someone, even with such language barriers. So on that evening……I tried to communicate. I can only say that I felt God calling me to do so.
I was sitting on a bench and he was standing, facing me. We tried hand signals, like playing charades. We finally settled on food. I wasn’t really hungry, thirsty actually, but food I thought meant public. I followed him. He said a word I recognized which was the name of the Bakery I always go to for their free internet. We walked there.
Once inside he picked out food and pointed me to the coffee bar. I ended up with a thick frozen chocolate coffee and it was quite delicious! He paid for everything and we left. I thought we’d just sit out side, but he kept walking, back towards the square. He pointed for me to go one direction and he went another after handing me the bag of food. I walked down some steps and set the food on a table ( no chairs at it) and waited. It looked like he headed for the public bathrooms. He came out then went into the corner store , so I waited more.
He finally emerged with another bag. We began walking in the direction I usually go to get to my flat ( he didn’t know that though.). He turned right onto a small street I had only been down once before. It lead up in an area I have walked and gotten lost in once…ok twice! But I get lost alot! It was shortly after the turn as we walked down the narrow street that I began to pray. “God, please! ( I didn’t feel in danger at all, that was not the issue) help me find a way out of this God.” I prayed that over and over as we walked.
But that wasn’t the the prayer I needed to pray. So I prayed ” God, help me find a way to communicate with this man!”
Earlier, in The bakery, I tried to use Google translate, but I set it to Greek and that whole situation in the bakery went so fast there was no time. No time to figure out that he was not trying to speak to me in Greek!
We walked and walked, fortunately the streets were familiar! We ended up at an apartment building I had passed before to get to a park I visited. This place was not far from where I lived. He stopped to check a mail box, number sixteen. After that we went up stairs and down a corridor to door sixteen. He unlocked it and we entered.
It was a drab , one roomed place with a tiny balcony cluttered with stuff. God had by now placed a calmness in me, so when I saw the bed in the one room I did not freak out! I asked to use the bathroom. I had only wanted to wash my hands. He kept hand signing me if I wanted to shower. ( I learned that in this culture woman shower before sex, (so pretty sure that was what he wanted me to do) just washing my hands I told him. Don’t think he understood.
He busied himself setting up the food that was in tin foil containers, washing forks and setting them out. I sat at the end of one of the two sofas , he had me slide to the left , then he sat next to me. He squirted lemon juice ( another cultural thing) all over my chips ( fries for my American friends!) and meat. I believe it was pork ribs. After all the food prep was completed, I prayed and thanked God for the meal. Yani saw this, and NOW the door was open for the conversation! ( I love you God! You always find a way!)
We ate and struggled so hard to talk with one another. We finally ascertained that I was Colleen and he was Yani. Also figured out he was Bulgarian. My prayer was still in the back of my mind, “God please help me communicate with this man.” I checked for wifi….there was none. So we struggled again. I showed him a picture of my friend from Bulgaria and with some rudimental hand signals tried to explain I was going to Bulgaria next.
Then, it dawned on me…..mostly because I knew I had to figure out how to communicate or this could go all bad! So I turned my phone off airplane mode. ( so sorry mom! This charges the phone bill ten dollars for twenty-four hours of use. I just couldn’t think of another way!)
Once I got a signal I pulled up Google translate. This is when I found out he was communicating in bulgarian because thats the language he had me select. Now, I could type a message for him. However, once I tried to reverse the translate settings, the keyboard was in English so it did not work for him. And the microphone part was not working ( hey Google….fix that! Lol).
My first message thanked him. Then I told him I was a Christian. ( I had managed to tell him this in our sign language) I wanted this to be very clear! My next message was to tell him that I knew he was searching and God sent me to let him know God loved him…..this was where Yani teared up. I told Yani a bit about me, that I write, YouTube with my Bulgarian friend. I told Yani that I read the Bible and write when he sees me in the square. I kept telling him he was a kind man and thanked him for the food. I told him how much I appreciated him, his kindness in sharing his time with me. I told him I enjoyed his company and that Jesus says it is good to break bread with one another. Yani was very emotional. I think it was because he was lonely and needed to feel someone cared, and I did and God does! He hugged me, but he did get a little fresh. So I kept bringing up God. I also made it very clear…I wrote…I live a pure life. I DO NOT have sex without marriage. Then my phone dimmed, my battery was at five percent. This meant it was time to leave.
Yani was trying to say something, and I do believe he was offering money. I quickly typed in, “whats the money for?” It turns out he was making one last play….he did try to touch me inappropriately and I quickly made my exit.
So I hated the way it ended, but…..I do believe that I did get a seed of Christ planted. God kept me protected, found a way for Yani and I to communicate and although I did not write exactly all that was said I assure you the spirit had given me a very powerful messages to give to Yani…he did cry! His emotions were genuine, I can tell he was touched. So if in someway God used me to get through to Yoni…it was all worth it and I am glad I listened when God called!
Psalms 16:7-8 NIV
I praise the Lord because he taught me well. Even at night he put his instructions deep within my mind. I always remeber the Lord is with me. He is here, close by my side, so nothing can defeat me.
Colleen Moore
Works Inspired in Faith
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