prayer request

One thing I love about being here is that sometimes God presents me with unexpected opportunities to connect with people and to hear their stories. This semester at the university I’ve had this chance with a girl I’ll call Stacey.

I met Stacey for the first time at English Day, which consisted of an hour or two of conversing in English in hopes that students would be inspired to improve their speaking skills. Even though it was our first time meeting, she was very enthusiastic about speaking with me and invited me to the restaurant at which she worked so she’d have even more opportunities to use her English. I sealed the deal when B and I brought a friend to have dinner there soon after. For a long while Stacey was faithful in attending English Day, sometimes even being the only one who showed up specifically to talk to me. I was touched by her friendliness and her openness. During our conversations I learned from her that she was abandoned at an early age by her mother, who apparently "lost her mind" (my guess is demon possession) and ran away from the home, where subsequently she was raised by her grandmother. Now she lives with her coworker near the restaurant, because, according to her, the coworker is like the mother she never had.

These last two or three weeks, Stacey has been absent from school. When she returned today, she only told me that she was going through some emotional or psychological turmoil and had to take a break from everything. And yet today was the last session of English Day for this semester, and appropriately or not, the designated topic was “Religion.” I was able to share the gospel a bit in my explanation of the difference between Catholics and Protestants. Afterwards Stacey broached the subject of ghosts, or spirits. She shared with us some stories of her encounters with them, which reminded me of the stories I’d read in Dead Women Walking and heard elsewhere. If you talk to any missionary in Taiwan, you’ll find that encounters with demonic presences and evil spirits are quite common among the Taiwanese. The people here seem more susceptible to opening themselves up to the spiritual realm, where things usually not seen may become experienced in the supernatural.

As I listened to Stacey sharing, I was deeply impressed with the need to get this girl under the Word of God and introduce her to Jesus. I invited Stacey to come to church with me, and her classmates (three other students) expressed interest in coming as well. As one missionary aptly put it, a powerful way to pray for these people is to pray that in their encounters with the supernatural, Jesus would show His own True Self to them. He’s done it before, and He can do it again. Please pray that these precious friends will come this Sunday, and for Stacey in particular – for her to experience the freeing power of Jesus Christ over the bondage of Satan’s deceptive emissaries.