Divine Interruptions

This past friday we went out early in the morning to do some grocery shopping and right afterward we went to this local area for lunch. As we were settling down to eat, Kiana was stopped by this old asian lady that had bandages on her left foot that was asking for money. She talked to this lady for a bit and then motioned for me and Rebekah to come over. She tells us that she thinks the lady is speaking in chinese and asked if we could possibly translate that she wanted to pray for her. Between bekah and I's poor chinese we were able to explain what Kiana was doing. After we finished praying for her foot, Fukuda offers her his bowl of noodles. She was completely bewildered at first. She wasnt sure what we were doing, but in chinese we explained that we would like for her to join us for lunch. So she sat down and proceeded with lunch. Throughout the meal I tried to make conversation with her about where she was from and what she was doing in thailand. She explained that about 2 months ago she and some family and friends had come to thailand for some vacation, but she had injured her foot. A thai hospital had taken her in and sown up her foot and allowed her to stay till she recuperated without charging her a cent. However, since it awhile the people that were with her have since left but she had no money to get back home. As we talked some more, she shared a little about her family. She told us that she had 4 kids and 3 grandkids and that they were all back in China: she was the only one here and was anxious to get home. (She was from just outside Wuhan city in Hu Bei province.) We also asked if she had heard about Christ and if she knew what christians were. She explained, after some effort, that she's heard of christians and she believes that they are good people cause they do good things, and that we were examples. She mentioned that there was a church in the area and she hears them praying and worshipping every week. She thanked us for praying for her and asked for our names. We wrote down our names and bekah and I's email. She said she was gonna give our names to the church when she got back so that they could pray for us and that we would be welcome when we go China. She also wasn't a believer and said she was busy taking care of the grandkids, but she said she would check out the church when she gets back home. We also got her name and a picture with her before we went our separate ways. Thank you lord for the faithful encounter with: mrs. yuan ze yu, an old chinese lady is now our contact in hu bei.

The experience was not only amazing because we were able to pray, share a meal, and the gospel. I've always prided myself of being taiwanese and bilingual, but to leave the country and use what God had given me was a reminder of the sovereignty of God and how he has plans no matter where I am.