Joshan, a student in Econometrics shares about his experience with the International Navigators.
“Being an international student away from home for the first time with no friends or family around, I didn’t really know where to look for a community of any kind, so I was very lucky to be invited by one of the staff who I met at my church. As I am a bit introverted, I was initially nervous about the fact that I was going to meet a lot of new people and didn’t know what to expect and was unsure if I would even fit in such a space.
But when I walked into the meeting place, I instantly felt the warm welcome of the group and more importantly was very happy to have found a group of people who are very serious about the word and were open to discussing and praying over it. Even though the group had people of different ages, from different backgrounds and foreign experiences it was so easy to have deep connections with these people who I might’ve just met a few minutes ago. This really encouraged me and helped me put into perspective of what heaven might be like with people of all nations and backgrounds together in unison worshipping God.
I was also fascinated by the evangelism the staff would conduct and expected there to be a lot of push back from students but speaking to the staff, they told me that they have great conversations with a lot of students, and that they are more open than I would expect. I was very blessed to experience this by going out on campus myself a few times and had great conversations with random people hanging around the campus. This really opened my eyes and taught me a lot on being intentional with my own friendships sharing the gospel with them.
Overall, my time at the Navigators has molded me and I have received so much and at the same learnt to contribute by leading Bible studies which I never thought I was capable of doing. I believe God has helped me through my time in Amsterdam in significantly shaping my faith and set my heart to reaching out to people wherever I am and proclaiming the gospel in any capacity.”
