Mark Gillmore: Hello once again, I’m Mark Gillmore, missions traveler and trainer. 

One of the things I enjoy most is putting a world vision before young men and women that inspires them to imagine what their life would be like in service to Jesus, especially when we think about the unreached regions of the world. One of the young men that I’ve had opportunity to spend time with and train is here with me today. 

Ben, thanks for sitting down for a few minutes and sharing what God’s been doing in your life. Now, how old are you now? 

Ben Sikma: 24 years old. 

Mark: All right, 24, young man. You and I had an awesome privilege to take a three-nation trip to North Africa and the Middle East in the summer of 2018. Could you just summarize that trip?

Ben: Yes, we went to Morocco, North Africa, first. We flew to Casablanca, and we took the train to a couple different cities, visiting different missionaries.Then we  flew across North Africa over to Cairo, Egypt, and we went to a conference between Alexandria and Cairo before flying up to Lebanon, where we went to the Beqaa Valley and saw a ministry there with Syrian refugees. 

Mark: What experience in that trip touched you or changed you the most? 

Ben: I’d say just being in Cairo, driving through, I remember being in the van, just driving past the streets and the stores, and just being in that big, bustling, dirty Muslim city and just feeling like, you know, “This is where I want to be.” And I remember seeing the view from the top of the hotel, just seeing the city, and you can hear the call to prayer, and just being aware of the need. 

Then I also remember flying into Morocco, and I had got rejected with my first visa. It wasn’t a big problem, but I just remember beingーyou had gotten through, I was back on the other side, they sent me over by the police officeーjust that sense of fear. That was a new experience. So that was good. 

Mark: Well, I’ve had both of those experiences myself. I remember the first time I went into Cairo. Those streets just lined with the massive population of that city. And it’s a dirty, grimy city, and you sense the Islamic stronghold.

You know, you mentioned how you felt, like: “This is where I belong.” That’s an incredible response. My initial response was almost the opposite. I felt like, “Oh, what am I doing here? How do I reach thisーyou know, this kind of a Muslim city?” And then God changed my heart as well. 

But it’s really neat to hear how you felt that move of the Spirit of God inside of you saying, “This is… I made you for this; this is where you belong. 

We took that trip, really, because God had laid on your heart for some time a specific burden for a Gospel ministry. Could you describe what that is and just how that all began? 

Ben: Sure. Around junior high I surrendered to ministry; gave my life to Christ to serve him. And then I remember being aware of a Muslim need at that time, being aware of a country that was a large percentage Muslim and thinking about that country. 

And then also as I finished up high school, the Lord more refined that towards the Muslim world, the need of the Muslim world, the need of reaching maybe the unlovable. Loving those who maybe who we tend to be afraid of, or something. 

And then as I went to college, took an important step of surrender there, and the Lord just ignited my heart as I started college with the opportunity, and even gave me opportunities. 

I remember sitting in an apartment of Saudi Arabian men while I was in college, talking to them about the need for the sacrifice, the blood to cover their sin, the sacrifice. And I remember walking away from that apartment that afternoon thinking like, “This is what I want to do with my life.” 

So between just the Lord working my heart in settings like preaching, then also just stepping out, the Lord just really, really affirmed what He was doing in my heart. 

Mark: Unbeknownst to you, and to all of us, as we came to the end of that trip, God had quite an amazing opportunity awaiting when we arrived back home in August. We had traveled the world, looking for God’s leading in your life, and yet God had something waiting for you right back here in Milwaukee. 

Ben: Yeah, about a month after I got back, I was on the south side of Milwaukee, and I was getting some Turkish coffee at a Palestinian restaurant down there, and I saw on the corner of the strip mall there, a sign that said: “Rohingya Bazaar.” And I’d heard of the Rohingya earlier that year with the college project. All I was aware of, was that they were in Southeast Asia. We had these little prayer cards that talked about the population in Bangladesh. That’s what I knew about them, but I knew the name Rohingya. So wow, that nameーlet’s go there. 

So the next time I was down there, I went there with a college friend. I walked in, I guess, on a meetingーa leadership meetingーthere, of the Rohingya community. There was the community center director, and then there was the store owner, the Imam… just a group there, and they were talking about the soccer event that they had coming up two days later, and they wanted a ref. 

So here comesーthe stranger walks in and they, for some reason, why not me? So sure, I played soccer… Never reffed soccer. Had watched soccer. So I went to Walmart, got some whistles, and I went off to the park that Saturday and was able to be with them. Went to the mosque afterwards for a meal, and the Lord continued to open up opportunities with teaching English to their adults. 

And then also that Christmas I had the opportunity to present the Gospel with a Christmas pageant in the basement of their mosque. And the Lord had brought many of the ESL students to that outreach, and I got to share the Gospel with them through an interpreter. 

Mark: That is an amazing divine moment where you walk in as a stranger, and they connect you to this event, this soccer outreach. Now you are going to ref for themーa total strangerーand yet that was God connecting you to the Rohingya. If you look at a list of the neediest Muslim people in the world, the most unreached, the Rohingya are on that list. And God connected you to the very burden and the opportunity for that burden, right here.

Ben: There’s over two million of them in the world. They are in Malaysia, Indonesia, Bangladesh…of course, Myanmar, India, Saudi Arabia, England, Australia; but the largest population in the US is just a stone’s throw from where we’re sitting right now. Thousands of them, families, refugees that have been brought to Milwaukee. 

Mark: That’s just amazing. Put yourself back in your teen years. That really wasn’t so long ago. With the lessons you have learned now, what advice or insight could you share with young people to step into the opportunities to engage unreached people around them? 

Ben: I’d say just be adventurous and take risks. If it was giving you a heart for Hispanic people, look at Mexican restaurants in the area, go there and go start talking with them. If you don’t know the language, use Google Translate. Just try new things. 

Actually, a little while ago, I was in the largest mosque in Milwaukee, and the tour guideーgave him a trackーI was talking to him. Just try something new. It’s really exciting. Be adventurous, take risks. Don’t be afraid of rejection. Don’t be afraid of failure. They will love to have you stepping into their culture. They will be blown away when maybe, after a few months, you’ll walk up to some of them and greet them in their own language. They’ll enjoy that. And so, just be adventurous, take the opportunities. Let God use you. 

Mark: Are you glad for the steps of surrender that you’ve taken in your life? 

Ben: Absolutely, I can say that. I feel alive when I’m in the Rohingya store talking to the men. 

Mark: In fact, something right nowーhere you’re at 24 years of age; something really special is happening in your life. 

Ben: Mhm. Absolutely. At the end of 2020 I got engaged, and me and my fiance are getting married this June, and we’ll be moving to the south side of Milwaukee working with the people that I met.

Mark: And she’s joined you in this burden. 

Ben: Yeah, absolutely. Over Decemberーend of Decemberーlots of the Rohingya have a January 1st birthday( with the UN and the refugee situation), so we threw a Rohingya birthday party and had about 20 come out, and we were able to talk to them about the Lord. 

Mark: You must be more thankful than ever for the surrender that you’ve committed your life to the Lord, and that sense of the goodness of God, that peace you have when you’re in that ministry. You’ve got a life partner now who’s joining you. You’re overwhelmed with the gift that God’s given you in this young lady as a wife, and you’ve truly got so much to be thankful for. 

Ben: Absolutely, absolutely. I can say I’m so, so satisfied in the work of the Lord and serving Him. 

Mark: Well… young people listening here today, God’s got the same reality waiting for each one of you. I don’t know what God’s touching your heart with, what He’s calling you to, but yield to that. You’re going to be overwhelmed at the goodness of the Lord. 

From our last podcast, I’d love to hear from you, how God has led you to reach out to those around you, maybe from different world backgrounds, maybe stories similar to what Ben has shared. It’s an exciting, often surprising, step of faith. 

So I’d love to hear from you. Contact me at GoMission at theegeneration.org. There’s the email: gomission@theegeneration.org. I can’t wait to hear from you. Even if it’s just a few sentences, fire it off to me, I’d love to hear what God is doing through you. 

Remember, the only way to stay at peace in a world of turmoil and uncertainty is to stay on-mission with Jesus in His GoMission.