I was shopping at ALDI when I received a call.
“Hello. Can I come to your church?”
She came and we got to know the lady with the kind Asian voice as Pen. She had come to the U.S. from Myanmar a few years earlier and settled in Muscatine, Iowa with her husband, Mong, and their daughter, Rebecca. A couple of the ladies from our church, Heidi and Lynn, embraced Pen and soon we had a foursome studying the Bible together.
Pen had sought out the Seventh-day Adventist Church because she knew we kept the Bible Sabbath like her parents taught her from early childhood. After moving to the U.S. she strayed from the Lord, but her daughter’s interest in learning about Jesus created a conviction that led Pen to make her way back. She loved our church and a small group of people became her church family.
Pen was moving through the Lifting Up Jesus lessons when she mentioned her Sabbath work conflict. We went into prayer mode and I suggested submitting a letter from myself and the church on her behalf asking for an accommodation. A week later, I heard that sweet voice on the phone saying, “I am so happy, Pastor. They changed my work schedule so I could keep the Sabbath!”
As spring turned into summer, Pen informed us that her family was moving to Colorado to start a new business. She was not quite finished with the lessons, but she wanted to make a commitment in baptism and join our church before they left. During her well-attended baptismal service Pen asked for the microphone and shared a testimony of how the Lord had changed her life.
We were sad to see her go and will never forget her experience with us. We continue to pray for her and keep in touch as she makes friends in Grand Junction during this new chapter of her life.
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Eddie Cabrera pastors the Muscatine (IA) Church.
