After being home for several months because of Thailand’s COVID-19 lockdown, we were able to travel to Chiang Mai. We were excited to see this new place, especially its beautiful mountains. For us, Chiang Mai meant a much-needed break, but little did we know that God had more in store for us.

We found a cute little two-bedroom apartment on Airbnb for a great price that was perfect for our family and the two student missionaries who came with us. The apartment was lovely, and it had the biggest community swimming pool we had ever seen. It was at this swimming pool where God started doing a mighty work.

One evening when René took the girls swimming, he met Lyn, a Chinese lady, and her daughter. She mentioned that she was quite lonely because everyone had been in quarantine, and she had just moved to Chiang Mai at the end of January. So we invited her to go sightseeing with us. We had a great time. We learned that it’s quite common for Chinese mothers to bring their children to Chiang Mai for some months to learn English in the international schools.

On Sabbath, because churches were still closed, we met with a group of missionary families who were worshipping together. One of the families were missionaries to China but came to Thailand temporarily because of COVID-19. We invited them to our apartment so that they could meet Lyn and her daughter. We ate supper together and also had our family’s regular evening worship with singing and a story. Our new missionary friends led the worship since they are more familiar with Chinese culture. Lyn and her daughter loved it.

The next day at the pool, my daughter met Kim, another Chinese mother, and her daughter who had heard from Lyn about our “singing and story time.” To my daughter’s surprise they both asked if they could join us that evening. God answered my daughter’s prayers, and she was so excited. Praise the Lord!

During our time in Chiang Mai, we were blessed beyond what we had planned, meeting Kim, Lyn, their daughters and the missionaries, and having them over for several evening worships. Now, three weeks later my kids are still having evening worships with Lyn and her daughter on video chat. Also, the missionaries have made arrangements for Lyn to be picked up so she can worship with them on Sabbaths. Lyn sends me a video every Sabbath she attends. The missionaries gave her a children’s Bible, and she has already read it all the way through with her daughter.

God continues to shows us over and over that making friends for Him is all about being intentional and paying attention to where He is already working. Please pray for our new missionary friends in Chiang Mai who are ministering to these Chinese friends of ours while they wait to return to their mission field in China.

• Twitter