Over the last few months, I’ve started learning a new language that’s widely used here on the Silk Road, especially among my fitness friends.

As I was talking to my local friend Marissa about learning this second language, she said, ‘Wow, you must really love learning languages,’ to which I replied, ‘Honestly, no, I really don’t. And I don’t think I’m very good at it.’

She said, ‘Then you must really love your friends to learn their language,’ and I could honestly reply, ‘Yes, I do.’

One way I try to live my life here on the Silk Road is to love my friends genuinely and authentically, with kindness, compassion and grace. As an imitator of Jesus, as I learn the languages and the culture of my friends here, it’s to understand them better and to be able to share the hope, joy and love of God with them in a way that makes sense.

As I teach English to teenagers and adults every day at our study centre, it’s to encourage joy, curiosity, and opportunities to make mistakes, to learn, to grow and to flourish.

As I attend fitness classes and go running or walking with my local friends. It’s not only to enjoy the physical challenges of these activities, but also to build deeper relationships.

When I celebrate friends’ new houses and jobs, weddings, babies and birthdays, and as I mourn with my friends, attending funerals and visiting homes after loved ones have passed, I do so to show love, compassion and care for the people that I love; people that God also loves deeply.

What a privilege it is to partner with God, and to live and love as imitators of Jesus! Thank you for your ongoing partnership with what God is doing here on the Silk Road. Please join with us as we pray for God to continue softening hearts, that they may be hungry for the good news, and for opportunities for us to share in ways that make sense to them.