ST. LUCIA, Windward Islands (BP)–It was the best Christmas card Lee Miller ever received.
It was a surprise, actually. Miller, an International Mission Board missionary on the Caribbean island of St. Lucia, knows of Christmas cards mailed to him from China two years ago that still haven’t arrived. Eva’s was mailed two weeks before it was slipped into his mailbox.
Joy washed over him as he read the message. Eva and the Chinese couple he had led to the Lord were sharing their faith with their Chinese friends and living faithful lives in the face of ridicule and potential persecution. The card was affirmation that God does indeed change lives.
“Eva was a hard-line pro-cmmunist when she came here to work,” Miller said. A supervisor in a Chinese sewing factory on St. Lucia, Eva — like many internationals who live in countries unfriendly toward Christianity — explored the teachings of Christ once she was in less-threatening surroundings. It still wasn’t easy to convince her she needed a savior, however.
“We made several contacts with her before she made a profession of faith,” Miller said. “She lost her job here and was going back to China, but she wanted to be baptized here before leaving. Most of them do.”
The Chinese students and professionals who study and work on St. Lucia number less than 100, but Miller, his wife, Deb, and missionaries Joe and Helen Prickett have found the Chinese receptive to the gospel. About 26 Chinese meet for Bible study in an area underneath the Millers’ house, which is built on stilts. It’s a cool spot out of the sun that soaks the Caribbean.
“We’ve been able to show them the ‘Jesus’ film in Mandarin, and we teach an English as a Second Language class as well,” Miller said.
The ESL class is where Zhong, an engineer, and his wife, Jin, learned about Christ. He eventually asked for an English Bible so he could read more. It wasn’t very long before he and Jin accepted Christ together.
Eva, Zhong and Jin all recently returned to China, but they didn’t leave their faith in St. Lucia.
“It was just amazing to see God put all the right people in the right place so they could come to Christ,” Miller said. “They’ve gone back to China as little flaming evangelists spreading the gospel there. God is providing a harvest among the Chinese here and they will all go back. It’s exciting that he allows us to be a part of that.”
