Fatima still has the same vibrant smile and enthusiastic manner she had when we first met her as an 8-year-old girl. One day we were visiting our new teammates for worship not long after their arrival in Albania. Fatima’s family lived next door to them, and she boldly asked if she and her playmate could join us. She didn’t understand much of what was going on but she enjoyed looking at the pictures in Bible storybooks and smiled as we sang songs.

From the beginning, she was attracted to everything about Jesus. We knew her father was Muslim, but at that time we didn’t know that her beloved grandfather, who lived in the same home, was an imam. I can only imagine what interesting tales she told her family about our worship. It was very different from anything they had experienced, yet her stories seemed to draw them toward Jesus.

Fatima was overjoyed when her father began to study the Bible with Sean and when her family began to worship with us. Our families spent a lot of time together, and I began to tutor Fatima and her mother in English using the Bible. Sean and Fatima’s father became close friends. Their love for the Bible and for Jesus continued to bloom. One of Fatima’s happiest days was when she was 12 and she and her family were baptized in the river that runs through our town.

Fatima is in high school now, and her love for Jesus hasn’t dimmed at all. She has become very popular at her school because of her kind, compassionate heart and her natural leadership abilities. Her dream is to introduce as many people to Jesus as possible, and she is excited about learning more about how to do that.

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