A double wave of joy and concern swept over me. There was Dida, newly baptized and beaming; and there was Eve, raising her hand in response to Pastor Krit’s appeal, “Is there anyone else who wants to follow Jesus and be baptized?”
I have such high hopes for this twelve-year-old girl who has taken to the Bible, who is memorizing Psalm 91, who prays for her alcoholic grandmother, who takes care of her younger siblings while her parents work in faraway Bangkok. Toom tells us that Eve used to be very hard and quick-tempered with the other kids, but over time she has been softening as the Holy Spirit has been working on her heart. I plead with God to give her the same gift He has finally given Dida—her parents’ permission to become a Christian. Eve’s parents have encouraged her to attend the little Adventist church in the Non Gluay Hom (NGH) village about 30 minutes from Khon Kaen. They like that she is practicing English and learning to play the ukulele. “All religions teach good values,” they tell her, but they remind her she was born a Buddhist and will always be a Buddhist.
Dida’s parents, on the other hand, had no appreciation for anything Christian. When they sent his older sisters away from Khon Kaen to study abroad, they never imagined they would end up in Adventist schools, embrace the Gospel, and come home and evangelize him. They were very opposed to their children being Christian, but this completely changed when Shaeny, our music school partner, connected with Dida’s mom in a meaningful way.
What will it take for Eve? From a human perspective, the challenges are huge. Eve and the other children from NGH need daily rather than weekly nurturing. There is one Adventist in their village and three in a neighboring village. Our calling now is to work in the city of Khon Kaen where there is no established Adventist church, and right now there are no Bible workers available to go to NGH. Still, these young people keep coming, and there is evidence of spiritual growth. My concern dissolves into joy as I reflect on Dida’s journey and claim once more the promise that God will finish the work He has begun. How grateful I am that our family can be a part of it. You can be a part of it, too, through your prayers and support.
