LIGHT OF LIFE INTERNATIONAL

Missionary Irfan Abdullatif

P.O. Box 283 Hazel Park, MI 48030 586-817-2662 Irfan Abdullatif1@gmail.com

_____________________________________Reaching Muslims for Christ_________________________________

Dear Friends, Wow, what an amazing trip! I write this to you after having just returned home from a long, yet very rewarding trip to Iraq. I asked everyone I knew, whether in person or through the newsletter, to pray for the trip to Iraq and I believe that God answered those prayers in a mighty way. I arrived in Iraq on a Saturday, and after a two and a half hour ride from the airport, I was in the city of Duhok. The next day I was to begin my preaching in the local church. I was tired; jet lagged, and did not feel like preaching. A half hour before I was to preach I prayed that the Lord would give me strength. I spoke in front of the church for the first time and delivered a message that I thought was lackluster. However, half an hour after the service the Pastor introduced me to a Kurdish Muslim man who had attended the church for the first time. He was a professor in the local college who had been invited to the service by one of the members in the church. God used the message to impact him greatly. He told me it was something that he had never heard before, but it was honey to his soul. He approached the Pastor after the service, and while all the church members were drinking tea together, the Pastor was presenting him with the plan of salvation. That night he accepted Christ! It was an amazing way to begin the trip, the week of preaching, and evidence of Gods goodness and his power. Beyond preaching, my intent in visiting Iraq was to better understand what is happening, when it comes to the work of the Lord. Well, when I told Pastor Layth, the Pastor there in Duhok, that I wanted to see everything the Lord was doing in Northern Iraq, he took that literally. We burned many gallons of gas visiting as many of the towns as we could. We visited the big cities and the smaller ones alike, meeting believers and hearing how they are working to reach their communities. I got to lead Bible studies in many of those cities, and I was heartily welcomed by the small yet devout groups of believers everywhere I went. It was a delight to see their simple yet Christlike faith. I was especially impressed by those who are ministering in the smaller villages. I met several men who have moved their families to these smaller cities just so they can minister there. As you can imagine life in a big city in Iraq is not always easy, it is multiplied when you are in a small village and your household is following Christ, but these men are excited to serve God in those places despite the opposition. They spoke with great passion about turning these places into Bible believing cities. It was an amazing verification of the need of what we are doing in Iraq, God is working there! There is much more I want to tell you, but the page is running short. I will, I am sure have more to share with you in my upcoming newsletters. Yours in Christ, Irfan Abdullatif June 2013