“Joshua! You‘’re back! We‘’ve missed you,“” the old grandma said as she grabbed his hand, a huge, toothy grin on her face. After chatting for a few minutes, we continued down the village road. ““Hi Joshua’‘s”” emanated from nearly every stilted village home. Little do the villagers know that Joshua Hooker is a miracle.

Last spring, the AFM missionary family working with the Great-River Project returned home. Normally that would spell disaster for a project, as it takes a couple years at best for a new career family to fundraise, be trained and launch to the field. However, God in His providence provided a miracle in a somewhat unexpected form—student missionary Joshua Hooker. Really, I guess you could say that all student missionaries are miracles. But Joshua is a special miracle. You see, Joshua grew up in Cambodia when his AFM missionary family planted a church among the Khmer people. He knows Khmer fluently and is quite at home in this Southeast Asian environment. So when his missionary host family returned home last year, he willingly agreed to take the reins of the project while the Clay family finishes fundraising with hopes to launch there this Fall.

When we visited Joshua in January, we were very impressed with how he has been holding things together. He lives on the edge of a village and has become a valued member, not just in his village, but in a neighboring one as well. Everywhere we went, people told us of how he has positively impacted their lives. He teaches English, buys rice for poor families and those affected by last year’s flood, visits the sick, holds old grandmas’ hands, plays with kids and chats cordially with the village elders. In short, he has endeared himself to the Great-River people.

And when he’s not chatting or eating at someone’s house, he’s busy maintaining the missionary house and vehicles, learning the Khmer script, studying the local dialect, creating audio recordings to email to the Nicholaides family so they have a head start on language learning, translating evangelistic materials the previous missionary emails him, hand washing his laundry (he only has enough solar power to run a few lights and fans at night), and putting together puzzles with friends and students who frequently drop by.

“You know,” one sweet grandma told me, “I love Joshua more than I love my own children. In fact, if he were my child, I still would love him more than the others!” And shouldn’‘t she? After all, God sent him to them, just as He has sent other student and short-term missionaries (STMs) to other projects and people groups.

Have you been part of the miracle of sending an SM or STM to the field? If not, it’s not too late! We would love to have you become part of the miracle God is working for unreached people through AFM’s SM/STM program.

We praise God that the Nicholaides family has accepted the call to come serve as missionaries for the Great-River Project. But they need more monthly supporters before they can launch to the field. Would you consider becoming part of their support team? Joshua is waiting for them, and so are the Great-River people!

• Twitter