My First Missionary Trip Report

MY First MISSIONARY TRIP REPORT

by Rev. Sam Nasser

July 20^th – August 20^th, 2005

This was my first missionary trip. I am thankful to God that only His plans were accomplished and not mine! Isaiah 55:8, “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the Lord.

During my first week in The Netherlands, I took part in a conference called “222”, using
2 Timothy 2:2 as the theme verse, “And the things you have heard me say in the presence of many witnesses entrust to reliable men who will also be qualified to teach others.”

I gained a great amount of knowledge that will help me conduct leadership training seminars more effectively. I was introduced to many pastors, leaders and teachers who provided me with ideas on how to improve the Persian Ministry at Bayview Glen. I purchased a vast selection of Christian books and literature in the Farsi language for our library. I was also able to connect with Bishop Edward Hosepian Mehr who is a great resource person regarding ministry to the Iranian community. He visited Bayview Glen Church last year.

The second week of my trip took me to Germany, where I had the opportunity to visit with my sister. I had the privilege of preaching at her church with the help of a translator. They were very keen to learn about the integration process with other cultures in a church setting. During the third week of my missionary trip, I travelled to Turkey to conduct a five-day Leadership Conference. The conference began each morning at 10:00 a.m. following a time of prayer and concluded at 6:00 p.m.

The following summary outlines the format of the conference:

How to prepare your personal testimony.

How to use your testimony as a tool to share the good news with a groupor with one individual.
Seminar: Attributes of God
Seminar: The Importance of the Trinity (Father, Son and Holy Spirit)
Seminar: Introduction on Discipleship

What it means to be a disciple (Concept of Dr. Bill Bright)
One on one evangelism
Group evangelism
Qualities of a good leader
How to effectively present the materials at future conferences
How to create a leadership conference
Recognizing the spiritual needs of individuals

Leadership Training (Teaching from Dr. John Maxwell)

Developing and multiplying home groups (underground churches in Iran)

A total of 15 people participated; three from Iran and the remainder from Istanbul and Ankara. Twelve of the participants from Ankara and Istanbul are now trained to be part of a support base to assist with future leadership conferences to be held in Ankara and Istanbul. I was thankful that I had taken a supply of Christian literature and Bibles to distribute amongst the participants of the conference. At the end of the week, everyone expressed their thanks to God for being given the opportunity to attend and for the privilege of gaining so much knowledge about God and His Good News.

Each participant was astonished at the amount of information and material that was presented in just five days. They felt it was very beneficial and would help them with their leadership roles in their home groups (underground churches in Iran) or fellowship groups. Following the training, we took the opportunity to share the Good News with people on the street. The group noticed how the Holy Spirit draws people to me so I can share the love of Jesus with them. We talked with 22 Iranians and 19 Turks; each one received a Bible (Farsi and Turkish).

Let me tell you a few stories about the people we met and some of the wonderful miracles that God performed in their lives:

Thanks be to God for a lady who was inquiring about an address and stopped to hear the Good News and accepted a Bible.

While we were having breakfast in the Hotel Grand Madrid, a young Turkish business man approached us and listened intently to what we were saying about the peace and joy of salvation through Christ. He also accepted a Bible and promised to come to our meetings.

On our way to church, we met a group of people who were standing in the street.

I asked them for directions to the Persian Church. They acknowledged that they were Iranians and accepted our invitation to attend church. I told them I was a Persian-Canadian pastor from the Christian Missionary Alliance Church in Canada. Following my sermon, five Iranians gave their heart to Christ. Praise God!!

We shared the love of Jesus with the maid who was assigned to our room.We expressed how our lives were changed because of our relationship with Him.She was happy to receive a Bible and promised to read it.

An Iranian couple, residing in France, heard our group speaking in Farsi at a restaurant. They asked us if we would come and join them at their table. Following our conversation, they accompanied us to the hotel to get a Bible.

After dinner, as we were returning to our hotel, we had the opportunity to speak with a group of 12 Iranians. We felt sad that we did not have a Bible to give each one. We did direct them to a website where they could read the Bible for themselves in their own language. They seemed very interested.

We met a young man who was working in a restaurant. After hearing our testimony,he allowed us to pray for him and accepted a Bible.

One evening we met a lame man who was begging. I offered a small donation to let him know that I cared. As I was walking away, the Holy Spirit prompted me to return and find out a little more about this man. He permitted us to pray for him and he accepteda Bible. As I was leaving, I turned and asked him what we could do for him? He stated that his wheelchair was broken and he needed a new one. We promised to buy him a new wheelchair the following day.

On another occasion, we stopped at a flower shop to take some pictures. As we thanked the shopkeeper, we started to talk about the beauty of the flowers. This let into a conversation about the love of God and creation. We spoke with him for about20 minutes and gave him a Bible. As a thank you, he gave me a beautiful rose.

On the last day of the leadership conference, I was filled with the joy and blessing of the Lord for giving me the opportunity to provide training for my brothers in Christ. In my excitement, I forgot about the promise I had made to the beggar to buy him a new wheelchair. How would I ever find him?

The wheelchair shop, the only one in Istanbul, was close by. After purchasing the wheel chair, I got a taxi and proceeded to find the beggar. The taxi driver asked us who the wheelchair was for? We told him the whole story. Even though I was in a hurry and seemed sad that I might not find the beggar, I tried to share the love of Jesus with the taxi driver. All he wanted to talk about was Mohammad but at the end of the ride he seemed to have listened. When we got to the street where we had first met the beggar, he wasn’t there. My friends and I began looking and finally found him. He could not believe that we had kept our promise.

The particular chair we had purchased was not suitable for him, so we asked him to come with us to the shop and choose one for himself. The taxi driver was watching all the time with total amazement. Since there wasn’t the specific model of wheelchair in stock, the shop owner was willing to refund the money and allow him to purchase one when it became available. The taxi driver then asked for the address of a church and accepted a Bible in the Turkish language. Another lame beggar on the street, who saw all that was happening, also accepted a Bible and asked for the church address.
Many spectators on the street gathered to thank us, and stayed behind to hear us share about the love of Christ.

We baptized a lady named Shabnam and her husband Kouresh. Also, a father and daughter, who work in an internet café where we often go to copy tapes and CD’s, listened to our testimony and received a Bible from us.

My missionary trip now entered the fourth week as I traveled to Dubai.

An Iranian couple, who came from Iran to teach and train leaders, introduced me to their relative, a wealthy businessman both in Iran, as well as in Dubai. He lived in one of the best hotels. I went to visit him and shared him my testimony for about half hour and then talked to him about my Savior, Jesus Christ. He was shocked and had tears of joy in his eyes, and at the end of my time with him, he asked me for a Bible. I gave him a Bible and a copy of the book, “More Than A Carpenter”.

The next day he told his Arab partner about our spiritual meeting and he was keen to see me. We met in a restaurant and said he had heard a lot about me from his friend. You are a saint and I wanted to meet you for myself. There aren’t very many people like you in this world.
I started to witness to him and gave him my testimony. He was deeply moved and wished he could see our church in Canada. He asked for my address so he could visit me if he ever came to Toronto. When I was getting ready to leave Dubai, he came to say goodbye and hugged me. I told him I had a heavenly present for him, and gave him a copy of the Bible. I expressed to him that the message in the Bible was the reason I became a pastor after serving as a civil engineer. He laughed and thanked me for it.

I was able to purchase a new translation pocket Bible for everyone in my congregation. When I was packing my suitcase to come home, I asked God to give me another ‘fish to catch’ while in the airplane. God answered my prayer.

While the man in the seat beside me was speaking to a lady next to us, who was from Czechoslovakia, I detected an Iranian accent. I found out this man was an Iranian doctor.
They were talking about the book, “The Purpose Driven Life”. Since he seemed to be very interested in this book, I told him that I would arrange for him to receive a copy from our church. I gave him my testimony and he was deeply moved. As I was bringing this report to my congregation on Sunday, August 21^st, the Iranian doctor was sitting in the congregation.
Many were blessed with the details of my trip and commented that it wasn’t a report, but a sermon about what it means to share the love of Jesus with the world. Three people gave their heart to Christ. Thanks be to God.

I am thankful to God for the many people He sent my way during these four weeks in
The Netherlands, Germany, Turkey and Dubai. I am especially thankful for everyone who donated their money to make this journey of a lifetime possible. I have faith and believe to this scripture:

Therefore, my dear brothers and sisters, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain. 1 Corinthians 15:58