The Amazing Gift
By: Alice Pettyjohn, a former Journeyman who served in Pacific Rim

I noticed Gift on a train headed to Bangkok, Thailand. We didn’t talk then, but God had plans for Gift, and those plans included me. Three days later I was on the train again, headed home to Udon Thani. Again, I noticed Gift, and she was sitting close by.

You’d think, being the spiritually observant cross cultural worker that I am, that the coincidence of seeing the same woman on two successive train trips would be an obvious invitation from the Holy Spirit to start a conversation. , Instead I shrugged it off and didn’t say anything. About 30 minutes before the train arrived at my destination, though, Gift introduced herself and started talking with me.

She wanted to start an English center, and she was wondering if I would be interested in helping her. Since we didn’t have much time left to talk on the train, I suggested that she contact me later so we could arrange to meet. By another Holy coincidence, she lived in the same city.  She did call, and a few days later we met for dinner. As I listened to her share her heart for the English center, I felt a deep connection to her, as if we’d known each other for years. I shared my heart with her about matters of life and faith. She in turn shared many things about her life.

Over the next several weeks, I started meeting with Gift regularly. On one visit to my apartment, my roommate, Sarah, was trying to read a Thai Bible., She was having difficulty because the font was so small. She turned to Gift and said, “Do you want this Bible? I can’t read it; the font’s too small.”

Gift accepted the Bible, and a few days later commented to me, “I think I need to go to your church and find out more about Jesus.” I agreed that was a great idea. In fact, I wish I’d thought of it! We made arrangements to meet that Sunday. To my surprise, she came to church. After church, I was amazed by how much she already knew about Jesus. She must have been reading that Bible Sarah had given her.

After church Gift said, “I have always just believed in myself, I want to make sure that Jesus is worth following.” I’m a little slow, but I was pretty sure she was thinking about becoming a Christian!

Gift attended church with me most Sundays. After one service, the Pastor mentioned that “the missionaries” (me and my roommate) needed a Thai person to come along side them to take over their ministry when they leave. Gift, still a non-Christian, leaned over to me and whispered, “He may be talking about me, Alice.”

I had to wait to follow up on that comment, because Gift had go on a business trip. When she got back, she asked me to take her to a special baptism service at church. I agreed to go with her, but she said, “No Alice, I don’t want to just go. I want to be baptized.”

I began arguing with her, “Gift you have to be a Christian before you can be baptized.”

“I am a Christian,” she said. “I decided to be a Christian when I was on my business trip.  One night I was trying to sleep and couldn’t. I felt like there was good on one side of my body and evil on the other. The two were fighting and the good won. I knew that night that Jesus is real. He had won.”

With deep humility and utter amazement, I have heard Gift give her testimony many times since her baptism. She always credits me and Sarah with introducing her to Jesus, but it is so clear that Jesus saved Gift in spite of us. I’m so glad that He allowed me to be a part of her discovery that Jesus is real and that He is worth following!

Pacific Rim is a region of the International Mission Board, SBC.