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Slicing tomatoes, sharing Jesus, and other Iceland stuff


So when I pulled up blogger to type this, everything except what I am typing is in Icelandic...

 And I'm in Reykjavik, Iceland by the way, in case you were unaware.
...Also, I don't really want to come home...all that awful heat and humidity...blegh.

*Pronunciation Guide: Reykjavik = Rehk-yah-vick

Anywho, normally I wouldn't exactly list evangelism at the top of my skills list...in fact, it makes me feel super nervous and awkward. (Which I've decided is actually pretty stupid when you consider the totally sovereign God in charge of the whole universe and everything in it.)  So not to be debby-downer, but I wasn't particularly looking forward to today's task.

The good news is that I was not in control of the entire day's goings on, and it turned out to be really awesome. After prayer walking this morning and a nutritious lunch of PB&Js, we split into groups, and divided up to conquer some coffee houses in downtown Reykjavik. The first coffee house Joe, Lauren, and I headed into wasn't looking super promising.  There weren't a lot of places to just sit and chill inside with people, we couldn't read a lick of the menu (almost everyone speaks english, too bad nothing is written in it), and figuring out how/when to pour up the tea I ordered was just a struggle.  Cool story though: we ended up meeting a girl headed home to California from Germany and she hung out with us the rest of the day and we were able to really talk to her a lot about the Lord. We still were able to talk to some Icelanders too (two awesome old guys in this super cool antique shop where there was a dining table that could fit 16 people), and explore the city.




It's low 60's, the sky is blue, and the grass is green.
Basically, it is glorious. 

Tonight we made ham & cheese melts with tomato, grilled cheeses, and fruit salad for supper.
I was in charge of cutting the bananas for the salad, and the tomatoes for the melts. Now, sharp kitchen objects and I tend to not get along very well...not the most handy with a knife.  When I said something about my uneven cutting skills (those tomatoes were looking rough) to the others in the kitchen cooking, Joe says: "But the more you slice, the better you get."

And that's when I heard Him. 

"The more you slice, the better you get...the more you share, the better you get."

The more I share, the better I get.  I went into today almost dreading having to come up with something to say to someone to start a conversation, and once  I started it how was I supposed to bring up Jesus?? And what if they said no? Or what if I didn't explain it well? Or what if they asked a question I couldn't answer???????

(I could mentally feel Edna Mode slapping me with her rolled magazine..."PULL. YOURSELF. TOGETHA!")

The more we talked to people today, and the more I talk out loud in general about Jesus, the easier it becomes for me.  And another cool thing is that even when I don't explain things perfectly, or end up being asked a question I don't know how to answer, God still moves, still works, still rescues people, and changes their lives.

The gist: despite my unevenly chopped tomatoes, He still makes a great sandwich.


P.S. Please pardon any typos...it's 2 a.m. here.

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