Military: Soldier saved in Iraq

I wanted to share this encouraging letter from a serviceman that we know serving currently in Iraq. I had requested some NGJ materials for him, and he was able to pass the Bible onto a new believer, which you will read about in the letter.
—A Reader

“I’m so happy and am so glad to be here in Iraq right now. First, I had a conversation a few days ago with a fellow soldier. It was about heaven, hell and creation. Now, he was more trying to aggravate me maybe and it seemed like he was trying to attack what I believe. The conversation lasted for a while and then ended.

“My platoon is currently on force protection and I just got off the night guard shift. Let me just say that it was a very eventful night. First I was in the guard tower with my platoon leader. Suddenly out of the blue he said, ‘So I hear that you are religious.’ Well one thing led to another and before I knew it we were talking about God's plan of salvation. He didn't really seem to know what he believed as far as how to get to heaven or if there was a heaven or hell. So I shared some verses with him. The conversation ended when he had to go and relieve someone else but he did say that he needed to think about the stuff that we had talked about and he needed to go and read his Bible. That’s about how the conversation ended.

“Another soldier joined me in the tower. (Here’s where the first part of my story comes in) The first soldier I had talked to came over the radio and wanted to know where a set of keys were. When I told him where the keys were, he responded by saying ‘Jesus Christ,’ only he was using it as a swear word. I responded by saying ‘Where?’ His response was ‘Oh, sorry.’ The soldier who was with me in the tower asked me why he had apologized. I began to explain that I was a Christian. He then told me that his parents are born again believers. The conversation progressed and I found out that he is not a believer but his parents have talked to him in the past. I can’t remember all that was said but basically I asked him if he knew what would happen to him after he died. After a few minutes of thought he said he wasn’t sure that he would go to heaven. I then asked him if he wanted to be sure. There was an awkward silence that lasted for 5 to 10 minutes. Then he said yeah. He then prayed a prayer basically acknowledging that there was only one way to heaven and that it was through Christ’s shed blood on the cross and that he was a sinner and needed to be saved. He got saved! Right there in the tower at about 4:30 in the morning. Afterwards he said that he felt relieved and relaxed.

“Some time ago I got a box from No Greater Joy and it had a Bible in it. Anyway I already had a Bible so after we got off guard, we went to my room and I gave it to him. He definitely seemed relieved after all this. Anyway who ever says that good things are not happening in this country is wrong. Great things are happening.

“Please keep this soldier in your prayers, as well as the others that I have had the chance to talk to. We serve a great God.
U.S. Soldier, serving in Iraq