Mai's Story

By Jerry Gibson

“Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up,” Galatians 6:9 (NIV).

I circled the block again, waiting for her to pop out of the train station and give me a call. Here I was in downtown Chicago, mid-afternoon, looking to pick up a Japanese student that I had never met before. I thought to myself, “Why would anyone take a train from Seattle? It sure would have been a lot faster and easier to fly.”

Mai was an English major at Wichita State University in Kansas. Because she would be leaving the U.S. in just two weeks, she decided to take a tour on Amtrak. She visited the Grand Canyon, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Seattle by herself! Chi Alpha friends invited her to come to Chicago for our International Student Conference so she made it one of her stops.

I whisked Mai away from Union Station and we headed off to the O'Hare Airport for another pickup. En route, we got to know each other a bit. In the midst of our conversation, the issue of faith came up. I asked her if she had come to faith in Jesus Christ. She explained that she had not but was interested and had been talking to a friend about Jesus.

Mai had come to Wichita State University nine months earlier. There she met Suelee, a Christian Malaysian student involved in Chi Alpha with campus pastors, Rob and Kim Frazier. Suelee befriended Mai and invited her to Chi Alpha and over the course of the school year would answer many of her questions. The seeds of God’s love had been planted in Mai’s heart. Now it was just a matter of time and continued friendship.

In the car, I encouraged Mai that perhaps this weekend she might get some of her questions answered. At that point, I whispered a prayer to Jesus and the conversation naturally turned to other issues. Little did either of us realize just what God had in store for Mai.

I looked for Mai during the first few days of the conference but did not see her. The conference is designed with a lot of fun and interactive time so as to give opportunity for Christian students to share out of the relationship with those internationals who come to the conference looking for truth. As we were eating lunch on the third day of the conference, one of the Christian internationals came by our table and excitedly announced, “Mai, a Japanese girl in my small group, accepted Christ as Savior this morning! She was crying right after worship and asked us how she could become a follower of Jesus!” Minutes later another student came by and said, “Mai went to the workshop on the Baptism in the Holy Spirit and was filled!” Just one day later, Mai stepped into the pool at Wheaton. Mai was ready to be water baptized. In just four days, Mai had found the answers to her questions and she declared to all who witnessed the event that she had come to faith in Christ.

All of this happened because a student chose to make one more friend! A student, just like you, who believes that if we sow God’s love into people’s lives we will reap a harvest.

Will you be a seed planter? Do you have room in your heart for one more friend? Why not make it an international? What great opportunities are yet before us!