In South Asia, two short-term mission team participants were walking down a road when they encountered a man who was on his way to court. As they struck up a conversation, the man told the team members that he had been falsely accused of murder, and he was afraid of what was going to happen to him.
The teammates shared the gospel with him and answered his questions for more than an hour. The man’s heart was filled with joy as he heard of Jesus' forgiveness and redeeming love. He learned that there was hope for him, and he put his faith in Jesus. He then invited the short-term missionaries to go to his orchard and pick as many oranges as they liked.
The teammates and their translator did as they said and went to his orchard. That is where they met the man’s daughter. The teammates and translator greeted her and asked if they could tell her a story about Jesus. But the daughter said her father wouldn’t allow her to hear Christian stories. When the teammates said they had just talked to her father for an hour, the daughter agreed to listen to their story. The short-term missionaries told her how God loved the world so much that He sacrificed His only Son as a payment for sins.
Tears welled in the daughter's eyes after she heard the gospel, and she said she wanted to believe. However, she said her father would be angry if she did. The teammates had good news for her; they said her father had just decided to follow Jesus. Elated, the daughter enthusiastically accepted Jesus. In just two hours, an entire household that was once against Christians became a part of the family of God!
“Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God—children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.” -John 1:12-13
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