A bright orange curtain runs across the front of the café, covering our bright blue door and window. White and orange balloons line the sides. Stands of flowers hold posts with “Congratulations” signs. A simple, well-dressed crowd stands chattering in front of the café. Young women dressed in bright orange ao dais, the traditional Sinim dress, are running back and forth, helping us set up.

Seven months prior, God had led us to the building and location. From that moment, time was driving us forward to establish a company and begin the design, renovation, research, menu development, construction and ultimate creation of Seed Café.

Within those seven months, challenge after challenge arose. Whether having to go through three different companies to get our food elevator fixed or realizing the architect made a mistake on the design and measurements, various unexpected undesirables pushed our timeline back again and again, making it feel like we would never open.

At one point, while I was on furlough in America, our director had back surgery, leaving our team of locals, Nang, Violet, Bep, and Forest, to move the work forward without any of the main leaders. But that pushed them to stand up, take charge and work together to create and start the café.

When it came time for planning the grand opening, we knew we had to be different. One evening, almost approaching midnight, Violet, Nang and I thought of what to do.

“People have been watching us for four months, asking when we will open. We have even had some neighbors wonder if we were laundering money. We can’t have a ‘Lion Dance’ like the typical Sinim grand opening. It’s not going to be a big stage with booming music, but they have to know it’s a grand opening. It has to be relatable to the average Sinim. People look at us and have nothing to compare our style to. The typical Sinim has no frame of reference to compare our food to theirs. How we do the grand opening, we have to do something entirely different — outside of the box completely,” said Violet.

We prayed for God’s wisdom. Violet then said an image of the torn temple veil came to her mind during the prayer. That night, Violet began detailing our grand opening.

At times, I can’t believe that over a microphone and speaker, we openly stood before our storefront and presented a program where we nonchalantly talked about God and how He brought His blessing upon the café. We had prayer; then Nang blew a shofar seven times before the grand moment.

“One . . . two . . . three . . . ” Lewis River, Elisha Joy, our field director and I were told to pull down the orange curtain to reveal the bright blue entrance to Seed Café. Pop! Pop! Confetti began flying. Smiles were all around. We led the guests inside the café where Elisha sat down at the piano, Lewis picked up his violin, and I grabbed my guitar. Our church youth began to lead the crowd in singing “Shout to the Lord.”

To think of doing a very Christian grand opening ceremony publicly before our storefront in a closed country is something I would never have imagined when I first landed at the Sinim project more than five years ago.

When my mother looked at the pictures, she asked, “Why in the world did you choose that color orange for the curtain? It reminds me of the Buddhist ritual colors.” What a concept! In a country where Buddhism associates vegetarianism and veganism with earning merit — renouncing and saving oneself from the world and its desires — we hope that at our café we can introduce the laws of God written onto blue stone to bring people a knowledge of Jesus. It is only in Jesus that one can be saved. No amount of good deeds or goodness can ever save us, only Christ’s perfect gift of salvation.

What fitting imagery — pulling down that orange veil of Buddhism to reveal our blue entrance to God.

It is the unveiling of a new beginning. A group of Christians, not Buddhists, have opened a plant-based eatery in Sinim. How often guests have commented with surprise, “I’ve never known any Christians who are vegetarian.” It is the unveiling of a window of opportunity when we see God moving hearts and communities to be more open to religion and Christianity as time on earth draws to a close. It is the unveiling of the sprouting seeds of young Sinim people who are learning to become leaders of their generation, using all their talents and skills, not for their own ambitions, but to share the gospel. And it is the pulling down of all things that make us believe we can save ourselves by our own good works or deeds, revealing that true peace, purity, knowledge and salvation are only through Jesus Christ, the Way, the Truth and the Life.

Since our grand opening, life has certainly changed for our team. Early mornings and late nights are spent trying to run the business while trying to improve it. Every day, we pray and ask God to be the Director of our café, to bring in the right guests, and to provide us with what we need to keep things running. Already, some of the contacts and relationships that are starting to form have been amazing. One guest, on his second visit to our café, accepted a Bible from us.

Our local team has its challenges; we have had our disagreements, and every day is a sacrifice in one form or another, but our team keeps pressing on with their hand at the plow. They know they could be out in the world making much more money. But Seed Café has something that money cannot buy — a spiritual environment, knowing it’s a place of brothers and sisters who have a heart that loves God first and people second, above themselves.

Thank you for your prayers and financial support. Our vision would not have grown from a seed into Seed Café without the support you have given us all along. Pray that God leads guests to us with whom He desires us to meet, build relationships and share the gospel.

• Twitter