“Nigel!” I called loudly in the ER lobby. A tall young man wearing a ball cap over a mop of dark curls responded to my holler and followed me back to an exam room. I assessed his swollen, bruised hand. “You probably broke it,” I said. When the X-rays came back showing that his hand was indeed broken, I told Nigel that he would have to wait for a while because we would be transferring him to our sister hospital that does orthopedic surgeries.
At the end of my shift as I was moving Nigel to a different room to wait for transportation, I felt impressed to strike up a conversation with him. We connected over outdoor activities and our love of the mountains. “Well, I’m moving to Cambodia next year to be a missionary, so I won’t be stuck in Florida much longer,” I said cheerfully. Derek and I had just returned from AFM orientation the day before, so it was on my mind.

“Really?” Nigel said, “That’s super cool. Do you go to church around here?”

I told him about my church. “Do you have a church?” I asked.

“No. Since moving here for school, I haven’t found a church.”

“Want to come to church with us?”

The next thing we knew, Nigel was coming to church with us. He ended up spending the entire Sabbath with us, sporting a big purple cast on his arm. In the months that followed, we had several Bibles studies a week together and long discussions. Nigel became one of our best friends, practically family. He decided to be baptized on January 20, 2018 in the Atlantic Ocean!

We are thrilled to have Nigel as a friend and part of our family in Christ. It pains me to think of what we would have missed if I had ignored that urge to strike up a conversation with my patient.

Through this experience, God has taught me that He can turn our everyday routines into divine appointments. All we need to do is follow His promptings. We also look back now and thank God for allowing Nigel to break his hand so that he could find the truth he was seeking.

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