A recent inconvenience reinforced the fact that we have a prayer-answering God! While we pray daily for many aspects of our project and the individuals we are working with, we sometimes forget to pray to meet new people. Recently, I began praying for God to connect us with someone new to whom we could minister. God answered sooner than I expected.

Our new team member Jeffrey Cheung recently moved into a house near the market to better facilitate his friendship evangelism. We asked the landlord to install mosquito screens on all bedroom windows. However, we found them on only some windows when Jeffrey moved in. This left him in a conundrum—either befriend the mosquitoes or sacrifice cross-ventilation. After some negotiation, the landlord agreed to complete the screening.

I was appointed as the babysitter for the house to await the screen installation while Duang took Jeffrey to run errands. Sitting in a hot, empty house without furnishings, I felt I was wasting my time. I could be home translating, I mused. However, this mundane task turned into an unexpected opportunity as it was God’s way of answering our prayer to meet someone new.

Friendly from the get-go, Khun A told me his life story as he installed the screens, pausing occasionally to show me pictures on his phone. “Last year, my father and only son died sixteen days apart. My father died of a heart complication, and my son hanged himself out of grief.” Khun A continued sharing until he completed the installation and left to pick up his niece from kindergarten. On his way home from school, he stopped by with his niece to introduce her to me.

We believe meeting Khun A is a direct answer to our prayers for new ministry opportunities. To nurture this connection, we plan to hire him to install screens at the house we are renting. As God has answered our prayer to connect with someone new, we now pray He will grow this connection until He brings Khun A into a saving relationship with Jesus.

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