In May of 2024 we were planning for furlough and for a move to a country to the north on our return. Just before leaving on furlough we found out we could not move to that country because of the instability there. While in Canada we prayed through many options for our future and knocked on many doors. The only door that opened was to return to the country we had just left. Upon our return we followed the advice and words of a coworker who gave us the scripture in Acts 16: 6 – 10, Paul’s vision of the man from Macedonia. He said, “You will knock on many doors which the Lord will close until one day He will make the right opportunity clear to you.”
We visited a city in the South for a few days. I prayed again about the man from Macedonia and asked the Lord to show us what it would look like to see him.
In the late afternoon we needed to go into the city to buy some fruit. Before going, I had already spent time looking at where the different shops were on Google maps to see what was nearby. I liked the name of one of the supermarkets because in English the name meant ‘Gardener’. On the way we passed at least five supermarkets. Our little children were unhappy in their car seats and wanted to stop, but I felt we needed to go to the ‘Gardener’.
We began exploring the small supermarket. In one of the back sections one of the young shopkeepers recognized us. He knew us from our previous city. Both of his parents were from different provinces, neither one from the province we were now in. He said he had just moved to this city to attend university. Then he told us that he had been watching Christian videos on YouTube and learning more about our faith. We could hardly believe it. His family was very conservative when we had visited them in our previous city, but it seems that God is drawing their eldest son to Himself.
Driving back to the house, we had tears in our eyes as we praised the Lord. It was so clear that God sent us to this small supermarket in this small city to a heart that is searching for Him. In the South there may be many people searching, and very little opportunity for them to even cross paths with a believer. Was this the man from Macedonia? Pray for us as we take steps toward moving to this area in 2026.
Workers in the Middle East