On an interisland ferry
Every holiday I pray for divine appointments to tell stories. That holiday was special for I’d already had three such appointments. But I continued to pray, asking for more and looking for who the Lord might have prepared.
That day I was going on the ferry between the south and north islands of New Zealand and there were hundreds of people on board. So how do I find the person God has prepared? The key things are consistent prayer and being friendly. This involves smiling and learning to make casual comments to those around me. It’s hard to start a conversation if you’re not friendly. This is a skill I’ve had to learn as I’m an introvert and I’m grateful that it gets easier with the years.
Looking at the scenery of Queen Charlotte Sound, it was easy to make comments and help people take photographs of themselves against the backdrop. Since I speak Chinese, it is always easy to talk with Chinese and they’re often so excited to find a foreigner who speaks Chinese that they start asking lots of questions. It doesn’t take long until I’m able to say something about being a storyteller.
The Mainland Chinese lady who was most responsive was traveling with her parents but they were down in the sheltered part of the ship. I soon had an opportunity to tell the first story. She was keen to keep listening, so we worked through the whole series. In between, we took photos of the scenery and discussed each story.
At the end of the set it was obvious she wasn’t yet ready to choose to follow Jesus but I was relaxed about that. It is important to get the timing right. I always feel that once people have heard the stories then my part is done. They have more than enough information to become a Christian at any time. The stories have also given them a solid foundation of what it is to follow Jesus.
At the end I was able to meet her parents and say to them, ‘I’ve been telling stories to your daughter, she’ll be able to tell them to you.’ I’d also given her a story card that linked in to my website so she could hear the whole set of stories (and others) in Chinese.
Just before the ferry docked, I was able to pray with her.
