A few months ago, there was a new face in church—a Scandinavian man named Motz. He was the guest of our group’s patriarch, an octogenarian Chinese-Thai man named Choen. We welcomed Motz and tried to make him feel at home. Danielle, Ricardo, and Cindi took turns sitting next to him to give a running translation of our sermon and other programming. After church, we sat and visited with him during our potluck. Motz said he enjoyed our family atmosphere.

A few weeks later, Motz showed up for church again, this time with his lovely Thai girlfriend, Nok. We were thrilled to welcome her. During the testimony time, Nok shared that she had once been oppressed by an evil spirit and had found deliverance in Jesus’ name in a Catholic church. That had been the beginning of her openness to learning about Jesus. Now here she was in an Adventist church at the invitation of her non-Adventist boyfriend!

We invited Motz and Nok to have dinner at our house one Friday evening. They showed up a bit early, and Motz’s face was aglow. As he and I took a walk through the village before the meal, he said, “I don’t know what has happened to Nok, but she tells me she feels very happy and at home in your church group. This week she even asked her employer for Saturdays off. When he asked her why, she said, ‘My church meets on Saturdays!’ I don’t understand why she identifies so strongly with your church after just one visit, but God is doing something amazing in Nok’s life!”

Later that evening, as we sat around the dinner table and welcomed the Sabbath together with songs and candlelight, Nok confirmed in her own words how comfortable and happy she felt being in our church the previous Sabbath “It really felt like a family!” she exclaimed.

“That’s the way it should feel,” I said, “because we believe that God is the Father of us all. So we should see each other as members of one big family.”

A few months have gone by, and Nok has been attending church and enthusiastically participating. About a month ago, Motz proposed to Nok during our church potluck, and she accepted. Then she observed a foot washing and communion service with great fascination. Afterward, she expressed her desire to prepare for baptism! Praise God! For the past two weeks, Ricardo, Danielle and I have been studying with Nok and Motz, taking them chronologically through the Bible. We are inspired each week as we hear Nok’s testimonies of how God is changing her heart.

Please join us in praise and prayer for Nok’s growth in grace here in Khon Kaen. Thanks for your faithful support in this frontline ministry.

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