As I watch Zafer, I often think about Jesus choosing His 12 hard-working, uneducated helpers. He chose men with coarse hands, strong jaws and a latent ability to turn the world upside down. Zafer is that kind of man.

Zafer is a 35-year old Muslim who speaks fluent Russian and is learning English. He is an accomplished electrician and has traveled around the world by ship. These accomplishments are remarkable given that his father told him he would never amount to anything and pulled him out of school when he was in fifth grade. “You will be a field laborer, and you will stay in our village,” he told Zafer. He gave Zafer’s older brother better food, a full education and every other advantage. He gave Zafer field work and a place on the floor to sleep. Today, the older brother is unfaithful to his parents and gives the family endless trouble. Zafer is of noble character, cares financially for his aging father and shows no trace of bitterness. He still does farm work. His biceps bulging, he smiles broadly and says, “I love hard work.”

When Zafer was young, he began to have trouble with his vision. His father opted not to spend the money to treat him, so today, Zafer has only about eight percent of his sight. He is legally blind.

A few weeks ago, when I was visiting Zafer in his whitewashed stone farmhouse, he brought out a stack of books. We sat under a grapevine trellis, and he told me humbly but with a glimmer of pride that he had just finished the sixth grade and was working his way through seventh- and eighth-grade textbooks. He is aiming to complete elementary school and high school. (There is no provision here to test out of the work.) Reading is a real struggle for him. He must hold each page inches from his face and study it carefully.

Zafer and his Ukrainian wife found our group through the Internet and have faithfully attended Sabbath after Sabbath for the last eight months. They surprised us when they showed up that first Sabbath having traveled nearly three hours on their tiny moped, quite a feat for a blind driver and a pregnant woman. They repeated their harrowing journey week after week, and I couldn’t convince Zafer to let me pick them up in our car. But, as his wife’s belly got bigger and bigger and she had to start sitting behind the seat on the cargo rack, they finally consented to let me drive them.

Esther and I were honored when Zafer and his wife invited us to be with them at their son’s birth. At the hospital, Zafer greeted us grinning from ear to ear. He had dressed in his finest clothes, polished his shoes and sprayed himself from ankles to eyebrows with cologne. I enjoyed watching him study his new infant’s face; his squinting eyes taking in every shadow and curve.
One Sabbath, we had communion at our home. Zafer didn’t take part in the foot washing because he wasn’t baptized. After potluck, I went to the kitchen and found that Zafer had washed all the dishes—a total break from cultural norms for a Turkish male. While we had all participated in a ritual of service, Zafer had washed all our feet in a very literal way.

“I have searched the world for the right religion,” Zafer told me, “and I think Islam and Seventh-day Adventists are closest to what is true.” He has thrown his energies into helping us prepare a suitable place of worship. His honesty, careful work habits and clever handyman skills have made him the key figure in preparing our house of prayer.

May God watch over this disciple in the making. I believe God’s hand is directing this man. A more determined and honest soul would be hard to find. When Jesus saw young fisherman John, did He envision that man’s preaching and pen reaching Ephesus and Asia Minor and the ends of the earth? What an improbable probability. Today, Ephesus and Asia Minor must be re-reached. Does Jesus see it happening through a half-blind, uneducated electrician? Probably.

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