Have you ever been friends with someone and after two years of friendship realize that you have been
calling them by the wrong name? I don’t mean that you meet someone, run into them again two years
later and call them the wrong name. I mean that you hang out, share meals, visit their grandparents
house, inquire about their well-being when you talk to their mom, and stay in touch via messaging when
they go off to college, this kind of friendship. Welcome to a life of operating in a second language in a
saving face culture. Words are often mis-said and misheard and mistakes are too awkward for your
friend to point out. This happened to me within the context of a friendship with a Hui college student.
I’m glad she worked up the courage to draw this unfortunate mispronunciation to my attention and
equally glad that we were able to laugh about it together and move on in our friendship. However, this
story is not about a linguistic faux paux, rather about the subject of it: my Hui friend.

My friend and I met a little over two years ago. Her grandmother was my neighbor and had sent her
over to my house to bring me something. I was shocked when her first couple of sentences to me came
out in English. She was a high school student at the time, getting ready to graduate, and looking forward
to continuing her English studies in college. We quickly became friends, mostly because she mentioned
that she enjoyed running, and that’s my love language. So we began running together and this opened
up opportunities to have meaningful conversations. She was very curious about my life: marriage, job,
interests, family. And I was curious about hers as well. As we ran, we learned a lot about one another
and our cultures. Because Jesus is the foundation of my life, He kept coming out in our conversations, so
many topics kept pointing back to Him. One day as we ran, my friend thought for a second and said to
me, “I think what you believe must be true. It impacts every part of your life.” She went on to explain
that, growing up as a Muslim, she was well aware of the things Muslim do and don’t do. She said that
she sees all of these rules, but that there is no meaning behind it and that people’s lives are not
necessarily better for it. She said she wanted to learn more about what I believe, she wanted to look at
the Bible with me, and of course I agreed. However, summer had come to an end and she was accepted
to a university in another part of the country. I committed to pray for her and we agreed to meet again
during winter break.

When winter break arrived, her time to hang out was limited, however she did make time to study the
Bible with me. We read through the account of creation in Genesis and talked about how God is the
Creator of all things. Honestly, I felt a little discouraged, because it seemed that she left that day with
more questions than answers, and again it was time for her to return to her university. For me, I had to
be reminded that the Word of God is sharper than any two edged sword and way more powerful than
any flawed words that may fall out of my mouth. Thank you God, for exposing her to your Word, even if
for a moment.

Summer break came and it seemed that her interest in studying the Bible had waned, however we still
had many meaningful conversations as we drank tea, made cookies, and tried to help each other
improve our language skills. She shared about how her own thoughts were clashing against her culture,
especially as it pertained to marriage and who Hui people are allowed to marry (i.e., other Hui people).
When we said goodbye again, the hope of my heart was that God would be working in hers.

This summer our friendship took on a new dimension as we shared life together in a different way. We
traded in our running shoes and mall hangouts for tough talks around the kitchen table. We grieved the
loss of her grandfather together, participating in the funeral events and discussing the only hope we
have in life and death. She came alongside of me in this new season of motherhood and watched as I tried to figure out how to juggle cooking dinner, handling tantrums, and have adult conversations all at
the same time. Our conversations became a little more pointed as we struggled together to put meaning
to some of the more difficult things in life such as death, dissensions among family members, scary
world events, and ultimate purpose. We must have reached a new depth of friendship, since this is the
season in which she finally decided to tell me that I have been saying her name wrong for all of this
time.

I am convinced that my friend is legitimately searching for truth. As we sat around the dinner table,
talking once again about Jesus, she said, “Every time we talk it makes me want to think more about
these things.” However, there is still something missing in her heart: faith in Jesus. We agree that it is
important to love others and that being kind is an important quality to have. The disconnect lies in the
fact that, as Christians, we know that simply being a kind person or good person is not good enough. For
that matter, any work we do is not good enough to earn our salvation and repair our broken relationship
with God. As a girl who has grown up Muslim, my friend is probably a little more open minded than
most. The rules and actions of other Muslims in her life have jaded her and given her a disillusion
towards Islam itself. However, she is still stuck in the Islam state of mind, in that, doing good works is
the goal of this life on earth. Being a kind person, she says, is the most important thing any religion can
give us.

And here we are again at the end of another summer break. As a worker, I am in a non-stop wrestling
match in my soul, battling with the tension of wanting desperately to be faithful in this friendship to
point her to Jesus and knowing that, no matter what, I cannot save her, this is the work of the Lord
alone. I ask that you would join me in prayer for this precious friend. Pray that her eyes would be open
to see truth and that the truth would set her free: free from the bondage of Islam, free from the
bondage of trying to be a good person, free from the bondage of sin. Pray that she would meet believers
on her university campus who will love her well and continue pointing her to Christ. Pray that she would
call upon the powerful name of Jesus, and thus be given a new name; a name that no foreigner can
mispronounce, nor enemy take away.