In this line of work, you usually have more questions than answers. How does culture affect Christianity? How does where you were born impact your faith? Is it even possible for every people group to know Christ?

I had always assumed that going to North Africa was for heroes and newscasts covering political unrest and religious restrictions in the area just heightened my assumptions. I did not consider myself a hero, but I was willing to go to an unreached people group. How could that actually happen? Who was going to teach me how to go? Who was going to prepare me to live life in such hard places?

Sometimes words only get in the way. Check out this month's views from our overseas missions mentorship. 

“How did I miss this?,”a recent grad asked himself in response to his time living in Southeast Asia with Cafe 1040. The question wasn’t a matter of missing a “call” to missions but missing the reality that God’s prevailing purpose from Genesis to Revelation is to bring people to Himself.

Do you ever wonder how to share your faith? Have you ever wondered how you may share your faith in a place where you maybe aren’t supposed to or it’s frowned upon if you do? Here’s a real life story from one of our staff members of what living among the unreached looks like and the opportunities that come to share the story of Jesus where it’s never been heard.

It was 5:30 am and still very dark outside when the 6-passenger taxi arrived outside of our house. I wiped the sleepiness out of my eyes as we tossed our strategically packed bags into the back of our ride and thus began our trip.

The team and I just got back from exploring a Berber village. Here’s a quick background on the Berber people. Before the Arabs came over to North Africa, the Berbers were already here as the original inhabitants and their history goes back over six thousand years. 

I’d never been inside the 10/40 Window before. While I could imagine the things that I would face during my 12 weeks overseas, I never thought homesickness would be the one thing that shook me to the core. But, it did.

An inside look at why Cafe 1040 exists. Written and told by the Founder and Executive Director of Cafe 1040. 

At Cafe 1040, we spend a lot of time telling stories. We believe that storytelling is one of the best ways to communicate to ourselves and to others what God is doing in our midst. The following is a recent story and update from a graduate of our Overseas Missions Mentorship.

I sat on a flight that lasted roughly 12 hours, had a few hours to kill in an airport and tried not to fall asleep, and then another short flight later. I arrived in our base country bubbling with excitement. I kept peering out of the taxi window and commenting on how pretty all of the buildings were to my coworker. I was immediately enraptured.

Our Sunday fellowship is made up of people from all over the world. There are many from the US and Australia, of course, but also people from Korea, the Philippines, and other Southeast Asian countries. On a recent Sunday, we sang in the local language and then came back to the chorus in English, which repeated: “Worthy is the lamb who was slain.”

t was dark as the call to prayer rang out across the city in Arabic. Close your eyes and listen and you might think you are in the Middle East or North Africa. But open your eyes and look around. There are rivers and jungles and houses on stilts. You are definitely in Southeast Asia. 

One of our mentorship teams recently had the opportunity to have lunch with some missionary workers in our base town. This couple has been here for almost two decades and they have many stories to share. However, it was one of the locals that captivated the room with his own story.

As I sit here on the patterned carpet, bare-foot, and leaning up against the patterned couch, my heart overflows with love for these women. I long for the ability to communicate with them on a deeper level, yet I am depending on my smiles and my few Arabic words to convey everything I cannot express with complex words.

As a integral part of the program, Cafe 1040 uses homestay visits as a way for students to get unparalleled insights into the culture and life around them.  This story is from a Spring 2015 Cafe 1040 Graduate.

We landed in a very small Muslim village among an unreached people group. I was a bit nervous hearing that we were stepping into a place like that. The sound of the prayer call from the Mosque filled the streets when we first arrived

Hospitality – in the states we associate this with words like inviting, welcoming, and understanding. It is such a simple word. I would have never thought one word could hold so much depth – that one word could dictate a culture. Living here in Southeast Asia has redefined my view of what it means to be hospitable.