The Copy Lady

I ran into town really quickly to make a few copies before kids' club started that afternoon. We were going to teach them the story of the prodigal son, and so we had created a coloring sheet that was a maze, connecting the lost son to the loving father.

While waiting for my 80 copies to come off the press, I noticed a little boy around the age of 2 waiting with his mother. He stared at me curiously (probably because I'm white), slightly hiding behind the leg of his mother, who was laughing at him. When the copy lady handed me the hot copies, I took the top sheet and handed it to him. His mother, now being the more curious one, held it for him and read the verse printed below the maze. 

John 3:16. "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only son, that whoever believes in him will not perish but have eternal life." 

"I want one!" the copy lady said. So I handed her another hot copy and then hustled back to kids' club because it had already started. 

After kids' club at our house each Thursday, we pack up the same materials and take them out to Besserke to do a kids' club there. We needed more copies for Besserke, so I had to go back to the same copy place and I saw the same copy lady as before. She took the sheet and looked at it again. The she looked back at me and said, "Do you think you could buy me a Bible?" 

"I would like to!" I said with a smile. 

"What are you doing with the all these copies anyway?" she asked. 

"We have a kids' club at our house every Thursday from 3:00 to 5:00. Do you have children?" 

When she nodded her head, I continued, "They are invited!" And I gave her some quick directions to our house. 

Pointing at the coloring sheet maze, she said, "So is this a man who doesn't know God?" She traced her finger through the maze. "And this is how he finds God." 

"Yeah!" I replied. "We are telling the story of the prodigal son. Do you know the story?"

She shook her head. 

"Well, it's about a son who asks for riches from his father and then goes out and spends it all..."

"No, there are two sons, right?" she interrupted. 

"Actually yes. The one who runs off is the younger one."

She continued, "And then he ends up feeding the pigs, but when he returns to his father, they throw a big party!" 

"Yes, you know the story!" 

"I like to read the Bible." 

I talked with her a little more and found out that she goes to the Catholic Church up on the hill. Then she made an interesting comment. 

"You white people know a whole lot more about God than we do. The church came to white people first before it came to Africa. I want you to teach my children more about the Bible." 

"I'm just a servant of God, just like you. And I would love for you and your children to come each Thursday." I replied. 

And when my copies were finished, I thanked my new friend and promised to see her again soon. I would really like to get her a Bible, and maybe one day, I will get to invite her and her children to come to church with us when we start a church here in our city.

Sometimes mission work is working in medical clinics and doing service projects and preaching in churches. Other times, it is just buying bread, going to the market, and making copies. You never know who God will put in your path, what is going on in their lives, and what God is doing behind the scenes to connect you with that person. To connect his hope with someone in need of hope. 

You don't have to go to Africa to be a missionary or to live life on mission. You just have to talk to the lady behind the counter, the man sacking your groceries, or the waiter who seems to be having a bad night. The mail man, the guy pumping gas next to you, the woman who walks her dog past your house every day at the same time. They might be just like my copy lady, ready and willing to talk about Jesus. 

"The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed. Though it is the smallest of seeds, it grows to become the largest of trees, and the birds come to make their nests in its branches." 

We plant the seeds, and God makes them grow. And sometimes it starts with the copy lady.