Written by a Creative Access Nations missionary

This is the question Mark* had just asked me, and I still couldn't believe my ears. Rewind a little bit. Our country (a Creative Access Nation) was in the middle of a dengue fever epidemic, and incredibly, “Patient Zero” for the entire country was a man who regularly attends our home Bible study. In fact, he was at our Bible study when he fell extremely ill and had to be rushed to the hospital.

A divine appointment

In light of this, we wanted to get the property fogged for mosquitoes, and someone had recommended Mark’s pest control company. While he inspected the house and yard, I noticed he kept talking about his four children and the importance of spending time with family. Thinking maybe he was Hindu or Muslim, I asked if he was religious. He replied he had grown up in the Catholic church and had even been a leader in his church for many years, but he had left the church last year.

He went on to explain that he and his wife had started reading their Bible together and started coming to the conclusion their church wasn’t teaching them the truth. When he brought his concerns to their priest, the priest scolded him, saying he hadn’t gone to seminary and had no business reading his Bible; he should look to the priest for guidance.

Are you a pastor?

Mark then asked me, “I noticed a lot of Bibles in the house. Are you a pastor, and if so, would you be willing to teach us the Bible? My wife and I have been praying for someone to come along who could teach us the Bible but didn't know where to turn.” I told him I would love to and that in fact we meet right here every week to study the Bible together.

For the last two months, Mark and his wife, Katherine, have been attending every Bible study and Sunday service with us and eating it up. In fact, they are both taking my notes from our studies and leading other Bible studies with their colleagues at work. They even brought some of those colleagues to church with them. They recently told me they both want to be baptized, so I have been going through a study with them to make sure they truly understand the gospel and the significance of baptism.

Zeal to grow

Within a month, Mark and Katherine were ready. It brought me great joy to baptize them along with three others. Their zeal to grow in their newfound faith and to share it with others has been a tremendous encouragement to the church. Mark later told me that he had tried for over two years to leave his job with the pest control company. He had many interviews that all went well, but no one called him back. Two weeks after meeting me, two of those companies called him out of the blue and offered him management positions (he took one of those jobs). He said he felt like God purposely wasn't allowing him to leave his job at the pest control company so that he could meet me, and I could lead him to the Lord!

*All names have been changed