By Sue Danneker, an Alliance international worker serving in Thailand
After almost two months of practice, the children were more than ready for the two songs they were to present that Sunday morning for our Thai mother’s outreach. The kids came early, full of excitement and all dolled up with stage makeup. Would the moms come?
We had been encouraging our Saturday Kids’ Club children to invite their mothers to this event. I kept hearing, “My mom’s not free” or “My mom won’t come.” Several children told me, “I don’t have a mom—my grandma takes care of me.”
“Invite whoever is mom to you,” I finally said. “Even if it’s your dad.”
My husband, Ed, and I invited all the moms we could locate. They were noncommittal, politely responding, “If I’m free.” One little girl said her mom would attend, but the child later became ill and they were unable to come.
In faith, I wrapped 30 packages of soy milk for the children to present to their moms along with the cards and crafts we had been making on Saturdays. We were also ready with 30 little silk jasmine flower corsages (the traditional flower of choice for moms here) to pin on the mothers and grandmas. And we prayed.
Praise God that 48 people joined us that morning! The Lord brought five moms and one grandma, all of whom had never been to church before. The grandma who came was Ba-Tim, Nong Baw’s grandma, who has slowly been opening up to the gospel.
One of the mothers, who had never been to church before, has attended with her daughter every Sunday since and has come to saving faith in Jesus.
Pastor Sukprasan led a wonderful service. His wife, Eve, clearly presented the gospel. The children did a great job with their performance, though one four-year-old got stage fright and ran to her mom instead of singing.
Once they were finished, the children proudly gave their gifts to their moms. The few kids without mothers attending took the presents home to give to them later. But our church members came alongside these precious children and gave them hugs of encouragement.
Pray that God will continue to draw these mothers to Himself, that the children’s faith will keep growing, and that their families will see Jesus in them.