Meet Tricia Marcos

“I sleep with a Bible under my pillow every night.”  Those words reeled me in.  

I met Isabella at a “Practicing English” aperitivo (Italian happy hour) one evening.  We advertised our free service to help university students develop their English skills.  Knowing English is a big help as they look for jobs after graduation.  Isabella was an exchange student from Asia working on her Master’s degree.

As we chatted, she shared how she had an English teacher in high school who gave each student a Bible to use as a textbook.  For some reason, Isabella carried that Bible wherever she went even though she hadn’t thought about Jesus in years.  She thought it was interesting that we met about the time she had decided she needed to begin to consider Jesus.  Her favorite book was John, so I encouraged her to begin to read it again. She indicated that she would be interested in being a part of a Bible study after she came back from the summer break.

Her interest in Jesus was exciting to me, and after hearing about her background and our extensive conversation, I had hoped that she would immediately trust Christ that night!  She didn’t though, and it took a year of studying the Bible before she was willing to embrace the love of Jesus and receive His gift of salvation. 

How does this apply to me today? I am in a new city, new neighborhood, looking for new opportunities to get to know people and engage in conversations and become friends.  My hope would be that I could share the gospel quickly, and they would trust Christ immediately. Maybe that will happen. But, I know in today’s culture that would be the exception. I’m learning again to be patient and trust God that He is the One who draws people to Himself in His time.

I’m still praying for wisdom and opportunities to be a true friend who listens and hears what my neighbors think. I am again learning to entrust myself and those around me to Him.