Since moving into our new house in Kewa village last year, we have been blessed with a new group of 30 to 50 people, mostly women and children, meeting regularly under our house on Sabbath mornings. We often wish we could increase the number of men in attendance, but we’ve been thankful for the precious people we do have.

One Sabbath morning a middle-aged woman showed up in church with three young children. After church we greeted the woman and discovered she was a baptized Seventh day Adventist who had just moved here from the border of Irian Jaya where her husband is still working. Her name is Sabayato, and she has many relatives living in Kewa. Although none of Sabayato’s family is Adventist, she is a very active church member and soul winner. She brought her prayer requests to church asking us to pray for her father, mother, sisters and brother as well as her nieces, nephews, aunts and uncles, most of whom live within 10 minutes of our church. From time to time, she would bring a few children to church with her. But the majority of her family stayed home. It remained that way until one day something happened that changed things.

It was Friday morning when we received the tragic news that Sabayato’s father had died suddenly and unexpectedly in the village. Sabayato asked that I speak at the funeral, which was to occur later that day. I prayed for wisdom and guidance.

Due to a misunderstanding of times, however, we missed the funeral service. When we arrived, many people were gathered in the family’s back yard where the burial was taking place. The crowd was so big that I was having trouble finding Sabayato. Young men with spades were already throwing dirt into the hole and tamping it down with their feet. I found the pastor who had conducted the funeral service standing near the grave. He was an evangelical pastor from another village who just happened to be visiting Kewa for a few days. He invited me to speak after the men were finished leveling the ground. He quieted the crowd, and our family along with Sabayato and another church member sang the familiar hymn, “Does Jesus Care?” Then I read the passage from First Thessalonians chapter four about the resurrection and spoke of what it might be like to stand next to this grave when Jesus comes again and calls forth His sleeping saints. People were touched by the words of hope and comfort.

The next day was Sabbath, and our turnout for song service was light. However, as we were singing, I noticed a line of young men coming along the riverbank toward our house. Then I saw another group of young people coming over the hill from the lagoon side of our property. People began coming in from every direction to join our small band of worshippers. That day, we had a record number of attendees at Sabbath School and church in Kewa because of Sabayato and her family. We still have many young men and women, relatives of Sabayato, coming every Sabbath to hear Bible stories.

• Twitter