Missionary Boy

To Sabbath School teachers: This story is for Sabbath, March 12.

By Andrew McChesney

W

hen Tony finished second grade at the Seventh-day Adventist school in Singapore, he spoke English as if he had spoken it his entire life. Father asked Tony and Mother to fly home.

Tony said good-bye to his friends at the Adventist school. Mother said good-bye to her friends at the Seventh-day Adventist church near the school. Tony and Mother said good-bye to Singapore and returned home.

Tony was 10 years old, and he and Mother were happy to be home. They were happy to see Father again. But they both missed going to the Adventist church every Sabbath. So, Mother looked for an Adventist church in their city. After six months of looking, she called the kind woman whom she had met at the bus stop in Singapore.

“Can you help me find an Adventist church?” she said. “Tony and I miss going to Sabbath School and church.”

The woman didn’t know where to find an Adventist church, so she asked her pastor for help. The pastor found the telephone number of an Adventist leader in Tony’s city, and soon Mother received the phone number.

A short time later, Tony and Mother met with the Adventist leader and heard an amazing story.

Three years earlier, about the time that Tony had moved to Singapore to learn English, a foreign missionary moved to his city. The missionary arrived to share Jesus’ love, but he couldn’t speak the language. So, while Tony was learning English in Singapore, the missionary was trying to learn Tony’s language. But it was very hard for him, so he prayed to God, “Please send someone who speaks English to help me.”

Tony and Mother met the missionary, and they liked him a lot. When Mother saw that the missionary couldn’t speak her language very well, she said, “Tony speaks good English. He can help you.”

The missionary liked the idea. For three years he wanted to preach on Sabbath, but he couldn’t because no one could understand him.

The next Sabbath, he and Tony stood up to preach. The church members were surprised. But when they heard Tony interpret the missionary’s sermon in their own language, their eyes lit up with joy. They were hearing the Word of God through the mouth of a child.

Tony and Mother were happy to be able to go to church again on Sabbath. But the missionary felt sorry for Tony. He was the only boy in the church. So, the missionary created a Sabbath School class just for him. Tony liked the class so much that he invited his friends to come, and he helped the missionary translate the lessons so his friends could understand. Soon 15 children were attending Tony’s Sabbath School every week.

God is changing the lives of people in a big city through a little boy who loves Him. What can God do through you?

Thank you for your Sabbath School mission offering today that will help spread the gospel in Singapore and other countries in the Southern Asia-Pacific Division, which will receive this quarter’s Thirteenth Sabbath Offering.