Ring. Ring. “Hello?”

“Would you come to share the Christmas story with my neighbors?” It was just three days before Christmas last year, and the call came as a surprise. It was Pii Sun. She was eager to have us come on December 25 to make the Christian holiday special for her village friends.

I agreed to discuss it with my husband and perhaps a couple of other people and get back with her. As the discussions developed, we decided to adjust our plans and spend the evening at the Thai-Buddhist village, where interest in Christianity was growing. We then found a Thai SDA hymnal and copied a few Christmas carols from it that they could sing in Thai while we enjoyed singing in English.

That Christmas, we showed up with a portable keyboard and a couple of violins. Pastor Bruce shared the Christmas story appropriately interspersed with carols. Two of our student missionaries had changed their plans and brought along a young Thai friend who had not been to church in quite a while. The evening air was filled with music that could be heard throughout the village. It was not long before we saw one little Thai lady after another make their way up the driveway to join in the festive occasion. We ended up with a good-sized group of about 30 people.

The Lord really blessed, and everyone, with happy smiles, shared in food and drinks.

Sometimes the impromptu celebrations turn out to be the best and come with very low stress.

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