When evangelising during the last week of February, I met a young man from India named Satya. I encountered him on one of the alleys in my normal evangelism route, staring at his mobile, so I handed him a tract and shared the gospel with him – and he accepted Jesus on the spot. He is studying at the University of Hertfordshire, which is based north of London, and comes down to London each weekend to work, so that he can cover his living expenses. He was waiting in front of the restaurant that he works at, a few minutes before his shift began, which was when I came across him.
Due to train times, he seems to arrive about 45 mins early to work. He said that he came every week, so I asked whether we would be able to meet him again at this place – to which he said yes. Generally speaking, not a lot of these promises get honoured when evangelising, so I wasn’t sure whether we’d be able to see him, but that following week, he messaged me first asking where I was, as he was waiting for me. These meetings continue on to this day. For the first month, he told us about his family. When he was young, his mother passed away. His grandmother mistakenly thought that her son-in-law killed her daughter, so reported him to the police, and so he was imprisoned for three years. During his father’s absence, he stayed at his uncle’s with his cousins. Since this was similar to my own youth, we were able to bond quite quickly.
The second time we met, I gifted him a bible; two weeks ago, we started studying the bible together with the English version of the B2 course book that we use at our church. I send him a copy of the text through Whatsapp; he reads through it beforehand, and I explain it when we meet. During our first session, I asked him if there was anything that he didn’t understand – he said that he didn’t understand what the numbers in brackets were. I explained that these were references to verses in the bible that support what the text says, and shared the meaning of chapters and verses, and the fact that the bible was largely divided into the Old Testament and the New Testament. After the meeting, I sent him an image setting out a list of the names of all 66 books of the bible. I also introduced him to the Holy Bible app, and he downloaded a version of the bible in his native language.
Every time I see him, he always seems tired, like hasn’t shaved for a while, and like he seems to be losing weight – probably because during the week he works near where he lives, and during weekends he comes to London to work. I asked him about his summer break, and he said that it starts mid-May, and that he was planning to work more over the summer, but that he would try to get some time off. So I promised him that I’d treat him to Indian food at a nice restaurant in central London when he comes down to London.
I met him not long after he first came to London. So he was poor in spirit but pure, and very intelligent – during one session when he wasn’t able to do the reading in advance, as we read through it together he asking really pertinent and sharp questions about those parts that weren’t explained fully. He also seemed like a very responsible, diligent person, judging by how he treated his work and how he always honoured the promises that he made to me.
While I don’t know how God will lead Satya, I really hope he finds a job after graduating, given that his father sold his land and other possessions to allow him to study here in the UK. We only meet for a few minutes every week, but I really hope that his faith continues to grow. Please pray for Satya with me!
