Sep 3, 2019 Jesus loves the little children

Vita was so excited she would be leading the children’s program in Phuket, Thailand. She was thrilled to have the opportunity to introduce them to her friend Jesus and to share stories and crafts from the Bible during friendship hour.

When she arrived on site, however, local church pastors were skeptical that there would be any children attending at all.

In Thailand, evangelism can be difficult. The population is largely Buddhist and not interested in Christianity at all. As a result, it’s difficult to get adults to attend evangelism meetings, let alone send their children.

Even the children of church members wouldn’t be there because most of them are Filipino expatriates who send their children back to the Philippines for school.

On the first night of the meetings, Vita waited excitedly, praying for children to arrive. But just as the pastors had predicted, not a single child came. She couldn’t help but be disappointed. But she knew this was God’s mission, so she took a deep breath and went to pitch in with the adult evangelism team.

The first night of meetings at the church went well and she enjoyed working with her teammates at the main meeting. The next evening, as she got into the van to head to the meeting site, she realized her children’s program supplies were still upstairs on the bed.

Half of her wanted to just forget it, and not keep the team waiting. After all, it was pointless if there weren’t any children? Vita thought for a minute, but just couldn’t do it.

“I forgot something,” She told the driver. “Can you wait while I run get it?” Just in case, she thought.

As she stepped back into the van, her teammate Steve stopped her. Here, I have four little muffins for you. I don’t know why you might need them, but I guess you can give them away if you want. Vita thanked him, tossed them into her bag of supplies and hurried on to the meeting.

That night, just as the program started, Vita noticed a little boy sitting quietly with his grandmother in the back. She went over to say hi and see if he wanted to have his own program.

It didn’t take long for Vita to realize he didn’t understand a word of English. She was so disappointed. But without anyone to translate for her it again seemed pointless to do the children’s program.

Deflated, She returned to her pew as the program started. But her conscience began to nag at her. Jesus died for this one boy. Shouldn’t she do her very best to introduce them? Wouldn’t He take care of the challenges?

Vita got up quickly, got his grandmother’s for permission to take him outside to the children’s program. Vita gave the little boy a picture and some crayons. She prayed that she would somehow be able to communicate the story of Jesus.

A few minutes later, Vita was surprised to see three more children running towards them. Two of them were sisters.

They both spoke English and Thai. So the older one, who was nine, translated the Bible story,” Said Vita. “I am so happy God answered my prayer! I asked them each to draw a picture of what they learned in the story and the little boy who didn’t speak English drew exactly the story of Jesus in the manger. So I know he understood what I taught him.

God had made sure that these children would get an opportunity to meet Him! As Vita reached into her bag to retrieve more supplies for the additional guests, she remembered the four small muffins.

God knew exactly how many children would be in her meeting that day! With a song in her heart, she handed each sweet child a muffin as they answered questions and did crafts about the Bible story they had learned.

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Missions Today: Thailand