Sara

This is my first week with my fifth teacher, Sara. During the first couple of days, she mentioned that part of her family is Catholic and part is Jehovah's Witness. She goes to a Catholic Church fairly often, but is not devout. She also has repeatedly told me how she thinks all religions are good and that all worship the same God. Today she was explaining to me one of the many Guatemalan Catholic holidays and mentioned that it is symbolic of when the mother of Jesus crushed the head of the snake. I paused and then very politely asked her where we could find that story in the Bible. She said that she didn't know exactly.
I opened my Bible and shared with her from Genesis 3 where God tells the serpent that the son of the woman will crush his head. Sara got a little excited and said that I was sharing the same story she had shared. I agreed that it was the same story but pointed out that there was one important difference; that it was the Son, not the mother, who would crush the head of the snake. Sara shrugged off this difference and said that it is basically the same thing.
I was grateful for the opportunity to share this through conversation but was saddened by her lack of understanding. A few minutes later our conversation led us to talk about the fact that God gave us freewill. She commented that she thinks freewill is bad because it has led to so much pain, suffering, evil, etc. in the world. I agreed with her that the sin in the world has horrible consequences, but I also went on to explain that the world is Satan's kingdom and that only through free will can our worship have meaning. She wasn't following my point on that last part, so I gave her the first analogy that "popped" in my head. I asked her to imagine a marriage that was arranged by someone else; she would have no choice in who she married, and the marriage would not be for love. Then I asked her to contrast that with a marriage with a husband that she had chosen to love. I told her that this is what I was trying to say aobut our worship of God. If He forced it, what meaning would it have? What joy would it produce? If we choose it, it is based on a loving relationship and has amazing results. She was very excited by this analogy and the image it painted in her mind. She explained to me the customs of arranged marriages that exist in nearby indigenous villages and how they are unhappy. I am in awe of God's faithfulness to provide the words that I did not know would make such an impact.
Please pray for Sara to see the Truth and for me to have the right words to say at the right opportunities. Also, please continue to pray for our weekly Bible study with some national friends, which now meets at 4:30 on Thursdays.