Hannah Waited Eight Years

Lauren Plute, a former resident of Central Asia, now works with the ministry "Say Hello."

Lauren shares the story of Hannah, a Muslim woman, who after living in the US for eight and a half years finally heard about Jesus through a co-worker. Lauren emphasizes that anyone can share their faith, not just pastors or missionaries.

The "Say Hello" ministry offers free resources on their website to help Christians reach out to Muslims in their communities.

Transcript

Hannah Waited Eight Years
Guest:  Lauren Plute - Say Hello
S3, E16

Announcer (00:00):

Welcome to the DoorWays® Ministry Network podcast.

Ric Shields (00:12):

I'm glad you've joined us on this episode. My name is Ric Shields and I serve as both the host of this podcast and as the director of the DoorWays® Ministry Network.

(00:21):

Last week I interviewed Lauren Plute. She and her family lived in Central Asia for seven years before returning to the US for her to be a part of a ministry called Say Hello. Now this is a continuation of that conversation that I found to be especially helpful. I hope you found it to be helpful too.

(00:39):

So, Lauren, remind us again of what you're doing and why it matters.

Lauren Plute (00:44):

I'd love to. So really, if I was just to boil it down, right now, I work with a ministry called Say Hello. And what we do, it's Say Hello if we're just going to wrap it up really quickly, is we equip and encourage Christian women around the world to build genuine, respectful and Christ pointing friendships with the Muslims that God brings their way.

(01:05):

And so, we at Say Hello. We love Muslim people, we love Christian women, and we love help bridging the connection between those two because we believe God loves Muslims and we want Muslims to hear the truth about Jesus everywhere around the world. And so, everything that Say Hello does is about multiplication. We want to multiply God's heart and God's love for Muslims into the global church around the world so that Muslims around the world can hear the truth about Jesus and come to know him.

(01:38):

We've had so many people come to us and say, oh, I was so scared. I thought this was going to be so hard. But really, once I went up and said hello, and I started talking, I realized, wow, we actually have a lot in common. And it's actually a lot easier than I th

(01:52):

ought. Does that, I feel like the first steps are heart steps and understanding steps. And then really then it's like, God, help me, help me go say hello. I'm going to end in a couple of minutes when we're all finished here. I'm going to tell you a story that kind of illustrates this point. But really, you know, you don't have to have a Bible theology degree to walk in friendship with a mom. You don't, you don't have to be a pastor to share who Jesus is to you. And I think it's another reason that another tool that Satan uses to try to keep us apart from one another, to say, oh, well, you don't know enough yet.

(02:26):

I believe that if you walk with Christ, you walk with the Holy Spirit in your heart, that, and you genuinely love your Muslim friend. And as you're walking in friendship, there'll be opportunities for you to be like, oh, well, did you know, like this Bible story says this, and oh, God did this in my life. Not in a forceful way, but in a very natural way that God kind of provides that opportunity.

Ric Shields (02:46):

Lauren, you've had opportunities not to minister to Muslims and tell them about Jesus for the past several years. Yeah. What seems to surprise people the most about ministering to Muslims?

Lauren Plute (02:56):

Well, I think the first thing, and I've already touched on this a little bit, is are more like us than we realize. You know? And, and we kind of talked about that. When you start walking in friendship, you're like, oh, this isn't as hard as I thought it would be for the most part.

(03:08):

 The second thing that I tell people is, and this generally surprises people, is do not ever feel like you need to hide your faith, especially if you live in a western context like in the United States or Europe or Europe or you know, Latin America in any of those places. I make it a point in my conversations with Muslims to, in my very first conversation, to always share with them that I am a Christian, because that's important to me. And what people generally are surprised to find out is for the vast majority of Muslims, when you tell them that it will actually elevate you in their eyes, they'll actually, for the most part, and, and you know, not all Muslims are the same, just like, not all Americans are the same.

(03:52):

Right? I think this is kind of a side note, but it's important in all of this to understand that, you know, you can't go, well, what's a Muslim like any more than you can say what's an American like? Are you talking about an American in California or in South Georgia? Are you talking about a 20-year-old who lives in New York or a 60-year-old who lives in Tulsa, Oklahoma? Right? Are all those people the same? No, no. <Laugh>, they're definitely not.

(04:15):

And in the same way, when you're talking about a Muslim, what country do they come from? What age are they? Are they urban? Are they rural? There are so many different things. And so, I say, don't be afraid to hide your faith. Truly, that is something it's important to me because the earlier you bring that up, the more natural it's going to be to have conversations about Jesus or conversations about the Bible.

(04:37):

But with that too, be a learner of your friend's culture. Find out, you know what maybe they come from a more conservative background. Maybe they're, maybe they are more urbanized are, are you? Do you understand what I'm saying? But really don't hide your faith. And then I kind of touched on this earlier too, but the other thing that tends to surprise people is just, or not surprise people. because I think people understand this, but it's a good reminder that salvation doesn't rest on our shoulders. Our job is to love the Muslim. Our job. I mean, for me it's always, I want to point them, I want to tell them stories, testimonies from my life of what God has done.

(05:17):

I want to look for opportunities to pray for them. Like this surprises people like most Muslims, if they, you know, if your friend's telling you about a difficulty at work or difficulty with a child for a Christian, if you're to say, oh, you know what? Like can we pray right now? Can I pray for you? Can we ask Jesus to help you with this? I've never had a Muslim tell me. No. Ever. Never once. You're not to it. Once they always, yeah.

(05:40):

And, you know, be sensitive. If your Muslim friend says, no, I'm not comfortable with that, then, then don't, you know, pray for them silent. You know, say, okay, well that's fine. I'll pray for you at home. But our job is to love them, to point them to Christ, to pray for them. I try to point them to scripture and give them a Bible soon as I can because I've seen just Muslims who are curious start to read the Bible and the Holy Spirit changes them through that. But at the end of the day, salvation doesn't rest. Their salvation doesn't rest on our shoulders. That's the Holy Spirit's job.

Ric Shields (06:11):

I know you and your team at Say Hello have been hard at work developing materials for people to study and to share with others. Where can people go to find out more?

Lauren Plute (06:20):

Yeah. So, we have a website that you can go to and it's called it's at www.sayhelloinfo.com. We've been doing this for almost, I think it's almost 15 years. I haven't been on the team the whole time, but the team's been there. And we just develop resources that it's what we do and we try to give all of them away for free. So, we have videos, study guides, articles, and a blog. We have so many different things. And most recently, in the last couple of months, we have released a free online course, an online video course called Your Say Hello Journey. That pretty much, there's 25 kind of mini lessons, video lessons that people can walk through. And there's a guidebook with questions that you can either journal yourself or you can do in a small group context or in family devotions or however you want to.

(07:13):

 But that is all accessible there on our website for free. We just wanted to give it away. The only thing we have right now that you need to pay for is if you, you can get a hard printed copy of the guidebook on Amazon, but pretty much that just covers the cost of printing. It's not even something we really do is like a money maker. because really our heart is just to get the Say Hello message out to as many, you know, we are a women's ministry to as many women as we can, but at the same time, really, essentially guys can do it too. So, it can apply, you know, and guys need to do it for anybody who wants to. Exactly. You know, the, you know, with, especially within Islam, I think it's probably wise in lots of ministry, most of the time, women ministering to women and men and men ministering to men in most circumstances is, is a wise thing to do.

(07:58):

 So that's kind of why we kind of say women's ministry. But, but yeah, those are, you know, just quick ways that they can go.

(08:04):

I would love to end on a really, I forgot I was going to say it a second ago, but I'd love to end on a quick just testimony story.

Ric Shields (08:10):

Please do that.

Lauren Plute (08:11):

Hopefully just kind of encourages people and kind of illustrates some of what we're talking about. We have a friend and I'm not going to put her name on here, we'll call her Hannah, that's what we'll call her. That's not her real name.

(08:25):

But Hannah grew up in the Arabian Peninsula in one of the countries there in a very, very strict Muslim home. Her, you know, she used to do these Quran kind of, you know, how we have bible bee, you know, like a lot of kids, or at least we used to do Bible bee or Bible quiz or these things. Essentially it was like that except for Muslim kids. And so, they would learn like entire surahs of the Koran.

(08:51):

And once she would tell the story that she came in second out of all of these people, and her dad wouldn't talk to her for three days because she didn't, you know, come in first. And she went to Mecca when she was a kid and she saw the beheading of women. And it was just, you know, this is she, when I talk about how she's, honestly, she's in a very much more orthodox, she comes from a much more orthodox background than most of the Muslims that, that most, you know, people in the Western world are going to run into. Right.

(09:23):

But this was Hannah's story, and Hannah and her family came to the United States on vacation one year because Muslim families like to go on vacation too. And so, while they were here on vacation war broke out in their country and they could not go back. If they went back, then their whole family would've been executed. And so, they were stuck here in the States.

(09:46):

And Hannah was just about to go into high school at the time. So, they got her in school. She finished high school, she went to college and got a college degree. She got a driver's license. And she, the way she tells the story is she started driving by churches here in the United States. And she would just wonder, huh? What did they believe? <Laugh>? She never met a Christian when she was here. Right? Or like, at the least at the beginning. She, and she was just curious, what do Christians believe what happens in their buildings?

(10:15):

And she had graduated from college and she was in one of her first jobs. And while she was at work, she found out that her grandmother had just passed away and she loved her grandmother. And so, she was just crying at work and sad. And there was a woman at Hannah's work who saw what was going on and came up and gave her a hug.

(10:35):

And Hannah tells it this way. She says that this hug, she said, I've had thousands of hugs in my life, but this hug is, was different than any hug I had ever experienced. She said, when Paula hugged me, it gave me a peace that I had always wanted, but a peace that I had never known. And so, you can imagine that Paula was a Jesus follower, right? And so Paula just asked Hannah and Hannah's covered, you know, and in her hijab and all the things, and she said, do you want to come to church with me? And so, Hannah ended up going to church with her, and that was the first time that she heard the story of Jesus. And the pastor gave her a Bible and she started going to church there. And she says this, she said, when I went into the church, I didn't know how they would accept me because I was covered in my covering, but she said, they looked at me with a love that I had never known. And they said, you know, they welcomed her in. And that whole, you know, it took a couple of months, but Hannah ended up giving her heart to Jesus and is now passionately telling other people about Jesus.

(11:38):

But what we love about that story to Say Hello, is that Paula wasn't a professional missionary, right? Paula wasn't a pastor. Paula was just a woman working her job, but Paula had Jesus living inside of her, and she was willing to go up and give Hannah a and invite her to church, right? Just share simple, like share the gospel the best way that she knew how. And here Hannah, after eight and a half years of living in the United States of America, eight Christmases, eight Easters, Hannah finally heard the truth about Jesus.

(12:11):

We don't think about unreached Muslims being right here in our cities, but they are. And so that's probably that's one of my favorite stories that just kind of illustrates why we so passionately want Christians to come to a point where they can walk across the room, give a hug and say hello. How I, you know, Muslims can know who Jesus is, and we get to become more like Christ along the way.

Ric Shields (12:35):

Lauren, that story of Hannah, that's pretty remarkable. It's both wonderful and really sad at the same time. The opportunities we have to share with people right here in our own backyards, but sometimes because we're afraid or because we don't have the right tools or no one's ever taught us how to do it. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative>. We just have a tendency to ignore those people and how amazing it would be if the Lord would help us to, to open our eyes and help us to open our hearts so that we can reach more Hannahs.

Lauren Plute (13:13):

Yeah.

Ric Shields (13:14):

And that they don't have to be here for eight and a half years.

Lauren Plute (13:17):

Amen. I know, right? They don't

Ric Shields (13:18):

Have to go through eight Christmases and eight Easters and eight whatever before somebody takes the time to let them know that they're loved. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative>. And that, and that Jesus loves them too.

(13:30):

Pray for us, if you will, Lauren. We want, we want Jesus to use us, as you said in the previous podcast. We want to go from being a Saul to being a Paul. And pray for us that God would just use us to do the right thing so that we can touch people with his love and his grace and his mercy and his joy. Would you pray for us?

Lauren Plute (13:53):

Yeah. Absolutely. And I'm, I'm going to read a scripture, just a little two verse scripture real quick before I pray. because I'm going to pray along these lines.

(14:00):

In Acts 17:26 and 27, it says this, it says from one man, he made all the nations that they should inhabit the whole earth. He marked out their appointed times in history and the boundaries of their lands. God did this so that they would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him. Though he is not far from any of us, there's another version that said, God's decides exactly when we should live. And God decides exactly where we should live.

(14:31):

And so Holy Spirit, God, we thank you that you are in all powerful God. We thank you that you are a God who is in control, A God who decides where we should live and when we should live. You've planted us in our cities, you've planted us in our neighborhoods. And God, because we believe that you can do whatever you want. You have allowed for so many of us Muslims to live in our very city. And Lord, I pray that, that this scripture, this Acts 17 scripture, would be true for each of us. God, that we would be able to reach out to the Muslims that you have brought our way, that God, that we can believe that you have handpicked them. That they're not just random, but you have handpicked the ones who are ready, God, to hear about who you are.

(15:22):

Father, will you give us an Aninia heart and Aninia type of boldness that isn't maybe superhero boldness? God, maybe our hearts will still pound as we walk towards the Muslim feeling nervous, but God, will we do it anyway? Will we obey and put a smile on our face and go up and say hello and reach out with a genuine kind of love that only you can give Father, so that the Muslims in our city will become worshipers of you, God, that you'll take entire communities who maybe used to go to mosque together, God, and that they would become a church in, in, in the cities, in the US and Europe and South America and Africa.

(16:06):

God, wherever it may be, Lord, will you raise up Muslim people just to be leaders, God, to become appalls, to share your word across the world. God, we love you. Thank you that we get to do this. Thank you that we get to be a part of this journey. We're so thankful we love you and we pray this in your name. Amen.

Ric Shields (16:28):

I'd like to take just a minute to follow up on Lauren's conversation. There's a lot of material available on the Say Hello website. If you visit, sayhelloinfo.com, you'll find a video curriculum. There are some booklets that are available, some book recommendations for you to learn more about ministry to Muslims. There's a blog and even Materials for kids. And by the way, much of the information is also in Spanish, so you can share that with friends who may not speak English as their first language, but who may have a heart to reach out and build caring relationships with Muslim women. Again, that website is sayhelloinfo.com. Just spell it out, sayhelloinfo.com, check it out, learn, and then put it into practice.

(17:18):

I hope you found this podcast to be helpful. If there's someone you think may also enjoy your benefit from this episode, please consider passing the link along to share with them.

(17:28):

If you'd like someone to pray for you, drop me a note at info@DoorWays dot cc. I'll pray for you. And if you'd like, I will share your note with others who will pray and believe for God to work on your behalf.

Until next time, may the Lord bless you as you'll follow after him. Thanks for listening.