This is an often asked question of missionaries. One of the reasons we eat out so often is that eating out is often cheaper than eating at home. But the main reason our family eats out is to get to know the people in our neighbourhood and to hopefully build up relationships with them and share the gospel with them.

Today we decided to eat lunch at a new restaurant in our area, but upon reaching this restaurant we found that it was closed today. What to do? I remembered seeing another new restaurant in our area, so we decided to go there. While eating our lunch the owner of the restaurant gave us a complimentary iced fruit drink for us to taste. When we had almost finished eating, she sat down at our table and started to ask us where we taught? We told her that we are not English teachers, but that we are Christians and are hoping to start a church in Maila. We chatted briefly about this and then one of the other customers approached our table and said that she had overheard that we are missionaries. She is a Christian and lives in the town about 20min away. We were able to chat to her for a bit and be encouraged by the many ways God works to draw people to him.

By going out for lunch today, we not only got to enjoy a delicious Thai meal, we also made a new contact in the form of the restaurant owner and were encouraged by our chat with the Thai Christian we met.