A slight dread pulsed through me. It was the first day back to school after the Christmas break, and my brain did not feel up to par with the Croatian language. I was also running a couple of minutes late. I walked into class, and my instructor greeted me with a big hug and a very cheerful, “Sretna Nova Godina!” (Happy New Year!) Okay. Focus, Nikki, you got this.

I felt sluggish throughout class. When it finally ended, I was packing up to leave when my instructor excitedly came up to me with a story she could not wait to tell.

Two months ago, I shared my testimony with her, including why we were here, and the testimony of our former foreign exchange student. My instructor and I had a long conversation as she walked with me on my way home. She shared that she had been raised an atheist but wanted to believe there was a God.

When I asked how I could pray for her, she asked for time to consider. She wanted to think of something that, when the answer came, she would know for certain that God really existed. She wanted to believe all my stories. They sounded so amazing, but maybe a little too amazing.

A week later, and still with no request from my teacher to pray over, I decided to ask her to pray for me. Little by little, I started bringing her my prayer requests. I later learned that when she heard our cat, Kiki, had gotten sick, she started praying for her—without me even asking!

Now, two months later, my instructor began sharing how, for Christmas, she and her husband had given their four-year-old son a Lego set that included a tiny Yoda figure. He was constantly misplacing it throughout the day. “Gdje je Yoda, Gdje je Yoda?” (“Where is Yoda, where is Yoda?”)

Later that night, as they were securing their son in his carseat for their ride home, they heard the dreaded words, “Gdje je Yoda?”

Oh no, my instructor thought. The little boy started to cry. It was dark as his parents started searching. They retraced their steps to the house where they were visiting. They returned and searched the car seat, the floor of the car, and even under the car. Yoda was nowhere to be seen.

Then my instructor remembered my stories. In desperation, she silently cried out to God: If you are real, help me find Yoda. She then started searching with renewed fervor. She now HAD to find Yoda. God’s existence was on the line. But little Yoda was nowhere to be found.
She sat in the passenger seat, feeling confused. Maybe God does not exist. . . . N-o-o, surely he must . . . She wanted to believe, but was not sure. Trying to convince herself and overcome her disappointment, she began to feel that, if God did exist, He certainly let her down. Maybe it was too fantastic an idea to think He would answer as He did in Nikki’s stories.

As she mentally struggled with the Almighty’s existence, she suddenly heard the sweetest sound coming from the back seat. “Evo Yoda!” (“Here is Yoda!”) Her son had found his little toy tucked in his car seat.

My instructor was flabbergasted. She had torn that seat apart looking for it. Then she started to sob!

Her husband looked at her, confused.

She told him her story. Her story!

She now has her own testimony, which I feel honored and blessed to share with you. Please continue to pray for my language instructor, that her faith will continue to blossom as she encounters the presence and love of Jesus. Please also pray that her family will join her in this incredible journey.

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