Because of a ‘Bless You’

On our first full day in Karakol, my teammates and I were hungry and tired from jetlag, so we ventured out in search of food and coffee. We looked up a local coffee shop that had been recommended by a Racer who had been here previously, and it was about a 20 minute walk. Plus, it was freezing. It’s winter in Kyrgyzstan and we are right at the base of some beautiful mountains, so there was snow everywhere and the air hurt my face. (Just like home.)

When we got there we found a table for the 5 of us, sat down and ordered. The coffee shop has a wall covered in a giant map of the world, and lots of cute touches throughout. It was a peaceful place. It was nice to sit and take it all in.

At one point one of my teammates sneezed, and from a table behind us a Kyrgyz woman responded, “Bless you,” in perfect English. That immediately caught us off guard and quickly led to her coming over to our table and talking with us.

Her name is G and she and her husband and kids are newer to the area. She asked us all sorts of questions and was shocked that we were planning to stay in this small town for 6 weeks. She then explained that she has been working a lot so she hasn’t done many of the tourist things here yet. She also said she’d love to go do them with us! We exchanged contact information and then returned to our meal.

I was blown away by how quickly the Lord brought us a new friend here who spoke great English and wanted to hang out with us. She was eager to set something up and make it happen. He is so evidently moving and opening doors wide. And this was on our first day here!

Since then we’ve been able to hangout with G and share about our faith. She’s not religious, but her husband is Muslim. She asked a few questions and then the conversation veered to other topics. We run into her often at the coffee shop, but haven’t been able to nail her down for another international outing yet. We hope to do that in the coming days.

This is just one example of what He’s been doing here since we arrived. He’s been working here long before any of us got here, but He is giving us the opportunity to partner with Him. What a gift!

And, the coffee shop where this happened was started by local Brothers and Sisters who wanted a place to serve others. So even if we aren’t able to meet with G again, we know He is working and that there are others around her He can use.