Rina is an ordained pastor from North East India. He has been involved in church planting in Thailand for ten years. He is married to Puii and has three children. Rina is in his mid-forties.

Mother Nuthiap came across as a proud yet elegant lady when we first met her. Her friend who was a member of our church took us to her house to share with her the gospel. She stopped us midway in our conversation saying, “I know what you have come to tell me. You are Christians and you are trying to make me become a Christian. I am happy the way I am. I have everything I need, and I don’t need anything new in my life. Years ago, when I was in another province, Christian missionaries came to my house and already told me everything you want to tell me now. I already have a religion. When I was younger, I went to the temple every day to pray and earn merits. Now that I am older, I pray from my house looking towards the temple and that is enough for me.”

In response, one of the missionaries said, “Mother Nuthiap, God must love you very much. Years ago, He sent people to tell you about His love for you. While you rejected Him, He has not given up on you and today He has, once again, brought us to tell you of the love He has for you.” She kept quiet for a while and then to our surprise, she started crying and said, “You are right, your God must love me very much.” We told her about our church services on Sunday mornings and invited her to come. She replied she would.

True to her word, she came to church the next two Sunday mornings on her bicycle. She enjoyed the fellowship and the care that the brothers and sisters in church had for each other. Not long after, she decided to follow Jesus and be baptised. She began reading the Bible regularly and listening to sermons and gospel songs on an MP3 player that we gave her. Every Wednesday, the church organises an outreach event where church members go to different villages with the gospel. If Mother Nuthiap is well, she never misses this event. She is one of the few persons who is always introducing someone new to the church outreach team. Because of her, many people have heard of the gospel and some have even turned to the Lord because of her.

Her grandfather had been an influential man in the society. He had donated a lot of money towards the building of a temple. And because of this, they had allotted special places of burial in the temple premises for all the members of his family, including Mother Nuthiap. In Thai society, many people would be envious of this as it is a great honour to have special burial sites in the temple. Mother Nuthiap told us that it did not mean anything to her anymore and that she would let someone else take her place. She said that when she dies, she will be with the Lord Jesus. She no longer wants anyone to go to the temple to earn merit on her behalf or to feed her spirit.

Mother Nuthiap is now in her mid-70s and her health is slowly failing, but it is wonderful to see her so much at peace with her future. Her major concern is that her only son and his family are not believers yet. We hope that one day they, too, will place their trust in their mother’s God. His unfailing love sought her out and changed her forever for the better.