DS DISPATCH

In an online Zoom class, girls from all over Afghanistan joined an ESL session led by Miss Sara from Canada. They discussed fears and how to overcome them. One girl shared, 'I will pray. The prayer is asking God to forgive us,' as a way to cope with the fear of death.

Curiously, another girl asked Miss Sara if she ever feared death.

Miss Sara then shared that she finds comfort in Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross, where He forgave all her sins, likening it to a sacrificial lamb. This revelation was new and intriguing for the girls, who listened intently.

Hasina then inquired if this forgiveness available to everyone, to which Miss Sara warmly affirmed, offering hope to them all.

Safora has been a guiding light in my life, despite the miles between us. She lives in the UK, while I'm here in Isfahan, Iran, but she's taught me that true friendship knows no distance. We connected through Digital Strategies.

When my marriage faced challenges, especially with the struggles of infertility, Safora was my anchor in turbulent times. Our problems seemed unsolvable. My husband's family encouraged him to marry another wife to have a baby for him, and we didn't know where to turn.

Safora suggested the story of Hannah from the Bible, who desperately wanted a child. At first, I was unsure about taking her advice, but her encouragement to express my feelings and seek help gradually brought comfort. I started to explore the Bible and confided in her, finding strength in Safora's unwavering support.

Together, we prayed, and she helped me find my way. She encouraged me to pray in my own language, which was unfailing for me; I usually pray in Arabic, which is not my native language. She also invited me to call on Jesus, which became my turning point and changed my life.

Even as my husband and I faced challenges, Safora stood by me, offering comfort and solidarity. When doctors said having a child might not be possible, her constant presence gave me hope during my darkest times. Now, we joyfully pray and wait for God's will and grace in our lives, embracing our identity as God's children.

Safora isn't just a mentor to me; she's like family. In tough times, her unwavering support reminds me that I'm never alone in this journey called life.

Mia, a young adult student in Georgia, US has been struggling with self-harm since February and has been very suicidal - she actually called emergency for help and felt no one really cared for her.

The mentor has been walking alongside her and encouraging her to consider surrendering her life to Jesus: This is what she said last week to her mentor Joan: "I have never said the sinner's prayer inviting Jesus as my personal Savior could you lead me?

She prayed the prayer, the mentor is now discipling her and she is also seeing a therapist. This is the faithfulness of God!

We are working with over 80 partners, actively involved in 125 countries around the world. Some are small, but others like the Jesus Film Project calculate their stats in the millions and billions. We are setup to provide the follow-up for people who watch the Jesus Film in Hindi and want to talk to someone after.

So far the engagement hasn't been overwhelming but we are learning things as we continue to make adjustments.

Over the last few months we have been creating a new feature for TMM.io that will allow our websites and those of our partners to have live chat.

We are testing it live on Issues I Face and The Life now. This story is from the very first chat I (or anyone) had with a person other than one of our tests with a staff member.

James, our Technical Director who wrote the live chat program, was following my conversation with Jen. He wrote this soon after to send to his ministry partners.

My boss Sheldon (the director of our ministry) was the first to give it a try as a mentor. In less than an hour Jen (not her real name) popped up asking “i cant get in control of my life”.

Sheldon introduced himself and invited Jen to share more about the issues she wanted to talk about. As they chatted, Jen was able to open up about some of the struggles she is facing. She shared that she is in Botswana and found our site because she went to the Internet searching for help.

Throughout the hour and twenty minutes they talked, Sheldon was able to turn the conversation towards faith. She shared that she was a Christian but hadn’t been to church in a while. She allowed Sheldon to pray for her and to offer some suggestions for dealing with the issues she was struggling with.

This was such a cool conversation to have as our very first chat interaction. Near the end Jen shared “i really love this website, its the first live chat that was really helpful”

As we continue testing this system, we are evaluating every aspect of it, from the user interface to the latency between our systems. The thing that we really love however is that these conversations are able to help people know Jesus and experience his power to change the world.

Even though my conversation with Jen helped her confidence and encouraged her, the most exciting thing for me was helping her understand the role of Holy Spirit in her life.

Interested in having conversations with people in Botswana? Bolivia? Bangladesh? Many of the same things we struggle with in life are global issues. Being able to offer some guidance into her life helped me realize why I do what I do, and why I think you should all consider becoming a mentor!

One of our mentors recently shared this summary of a recent conversation with someone in Europe:

Annie* wrote in as a new Christian seeking assurance of forgiveness. Several months pregnant, she was finding it difficult to bond with her expected child. Memories of 2 abortions she had nearly forgotten were haunting her. She asked why she was finding it so difficult to receive God’s forgiveness and to forgive herself.

In the course of our conversation, we talked about how guilt (feeling bad for the things we have done) is different from shame (how we feel about ourselves because of things we have done). Guilt finds its solution in Christ’s death for us. Shame finds its solution in God’s view of us as his beloved children.

I invited her to discover more about her identity in Jesus by studying Ephesians with me. Every day, she would send in observant and poignant summaries of how God was freeing her from both shame and guilt. After Ephesians we studied the Gospel of John together.

In the course of a few months, she went from being weighed down by guilt and shame to worshiping God with a heart filled with joy.

In mid-November she gave birth to her first child. The birthing was difficult, but she was able to rest in Jesus and trust that all would be well. She continues to grow in Christ, seeking to show his love to her child and to her husband.

*name changed to protect confidentiality

One of our newest mentors is Brad, who speaks Russian and English. The very first message he received was from John, a neuroscientist and medical researcher working at a large university.

In his first letter, John explained that not long ago, he was despairing of life, facing a metastatic return of cancer. God sent a Christian his way to encourage him to persevere in his treatment and to try praying to God.

John ended his message this way: “I have never been a man of faith, but I believe those short prayers at the cancer centre saved my life. Why did the Lord choose this path for me? Why did He save my life? I don’t know what the Lord wants me to do, but I am intent on figuring it out!”

John’s story deeply touched Brad. God was so clearly at work in this man's life! Over the course of several letters, Brad joyously shared the Gospel, carefully explaining what it meant to be a Christian. Once John confirmed that he had truly committed his life to Christ, Brad encouraged him to walk in the Spirit, deepen his relationship with Christ through Bible study and prayer, become involved in a church, and participate in Christ’s mission.

Just recently, John shared: “I have been looking into different ministries for ways to reach out to more people [...] Instead of putting all my energy into earthly work and letting God have whatever is left over at the end of the day, I am being directed to do the opposite and start with God’s work. What exact shape or form that will take is not clear yet, but I am sure He will show me a path forward.”

Every day, God is at work around the world drawing people to himself in amazing ways, just as he did with John. It is such a privilege to be part of that process!

*names changed to protect privacy

Fatima* and her family immigrated to Germany from a Muslim country when she was just 13. Now 15 years old, she still felt isolated and alone in this strange new land. In a few days, she would be returning to school, the isolation period imposed by Covid-19 now over. She dreaded it. 

When she saw a Google ad for our Issues I Face site in her mother tongue, she wrote in to talk with an online mentor, Anna*. In the next two days, more than 80 messages would go back and forth between them.

That mentor, an immigrant herself, manifested compassion by talking about the hurdles this young teen was overcoming: a new country, a new language, and new beliefs and customs. She encouraged Fatima to discover the positive aspects in the situation, mentioning that God had created her with unique gifts, talents, and interests that she could draw on to find topics of conversation. Anna also shared that love is like a light that shines in the darkness and brings people close. When we choose to love others, they often respond in kind.

At that point in the conversation, Fatima asked, “How can I have this light, this love, this motivation?” She wanted to change, but really had no idea how.

Anna decided to start talking about spiritual things by sharing that God invites us to change and become a new person, to be born again.

She recognized that she had two feelings fighting for supremacy in her heart: love and hate. Her emotions were not constant or stable. How could she change by tomorrow?

The mentor responded that this change does not occur overnight. After talking with her about God, generally, she decided to tell Fatima she was a Christian, and sent her links to Christian music videos. An hour later, Fatima wrote back to say that she was listening to the worship videos, she was praying, and it was giving her comfort and peace. She asked to learn more about this religion, Christianity.

Anna seized this opportunity to share the story of her own faith and send a link to an explanation of the Gospel in her own language. When Fatima indicated making a commitment, Anna replied, saying she was there for her to help her grow. She prayed for her and talked about how the Holy Spirit would help her and strengthen her. They are continuing to correspond with one another, and Fatima is experiencing the joy of seeing God answer her prayers about school life. 

Please pray that Fatima’s parents will not object to her desire to know more about Jesus, and that she and Anna will continue to develop a fruitful mentoring relationship as Fatima discovers more about her new life in Jesus.

*names changed to protect privacy

Originally posted on P2CDigital.com

UPDATED July 2 with new numbers.

With hundreds of new mentors already approved in the last few months and mentor applications still coming in from around the world every day, we have another pressing need. Each mentor needs to have a mentor coach to help them!

The mentor coach is trained to guide people that may not have shared their faith before, disciple them spiritually, and answer any questions their mentors have.

Our goal is to have a mentor coach for every ten mentors so we need many more to join us.

Qualifications are a solid Christian that wants to help others grow spiritually.

If this is you, apply to mentor with us and let us know you'd love to coach mentors as well.