a new friend

another visit to his stall

jane and i wandered into the new market community the first weekend we arrived in kolkata to get some Indian clothing.  it's a rough and frustrating area to shop in because they target tourists and follow you around and ask you forcefully to go and buy from different stalls... it's just annoying.. and they don't take no, get away for an answer.  several times i've lost my cool and just told people to shove off.  too bad it never stops those guys from continuing to follow us and bug us.  forgive me.

but that first weekend we arrived, we happened to wander by this young man's stall.  we got to know zaheed, our new friend, about 20 years old if not younger, who sells scarves, wall hangings, and all sorts of other things.  we liked him right away because he offered decent prices and just seemed like an honest lad. we got to know him, and would visit him whenever we did any shopping at new market.  when the rest of the team arrived, we stopped there again... several times... to buy more...

we got to know his story... he comes from a muslim family.  his father passed away when he was just a young child... i think he said when he was 8 or 9 years old... after his father passed away, he stopped going to school because he wanted his mother to stay home and not have to work, and so, he rolled up his sleeves and started working himself to bring in income for his family.  and so, since then he's been working.

joining us at church!

so on saturday we stopped by again to pick up some gifts for friends, and well, invited him to join us at church... and while we're used to people either saying no, some do say yes but often they don't really mean yes... but he said yes, and he came!  as we walked into the church, he said to me: "i am a muslim, and now i am going to church."  i was so encouraged to see him, to sit with him at church, to see him get to know some of the older boys from the boys home.  i couldn't help but just feel pure joy and excitement... that God was going to save him and do an amazing work in this kid's life.  we weren't sure if he enjoyed it or not as he had to run afterwards back to his stall to sell...  but on monday, jane and albert went back to the market to pick some things up.  zaheed actually said he enjoyed Church, pulled out the songs that we sang from his pocket and showed that to jane saying how much he enjoyed it, and asked jane to take a photo of him and share it with our boys so that they would know him when he goes back to visit!!  PTL!!!