Provision
On one of my trips to visit a church here in Canada, I was billeted with a missionary couple who had retired after serving over 30 years in India. Bob and Ruth Wiebe - now those are some good Mennonite names.
As we talked for hours I tried to soak in their wisdom from the mission field. They told me amazing stories of God working miracles, and one in particular that seems almost too good to be true.
In the early 90’s, Bob and Ruth were serving in Northern India. One day, Bob saw that they had an extra donation of $20 into their account. Since Bob didn’t recognize the donor’s name or location, he gave a call to the Canadian headquarters to see if there had been some mistake. Turned out the designation was clear, and so Bob wrote a sincere thank you letter back to the anonymous donor.
They started exchanging mail with the donor.
Turns out the donor was a couple from Rhode Island who had been missionaries in the same region before WW1. Bob would write what they were doing in ministry, and the donors would reply with much excitement about the places they too had ministered.
This continued for a few years, with random $20 donations coming every once in a while. However, the letters eventually stopped.
While on furlough back in Eastern Canada, Bob and Ruth set off to meet up with the donor couple, but with no address or even phone number they were hard set.
A few years later Bob got a phone call while in India.
“Are you sitting down?” The voice on the other line said.
“Yup - I’m cutting chicken cross legged on the ground.” Bob replied.
“Well it seems that a couple from Rhode Island included you in their will. $10,000 will go to the work of your ministry in India.”
“Wow! Thats amazing, I’ll be able to get air conditioning for the churches.” Bob replied.
“And $60,000 will go personally towards you.”
Bob was floored. Ruth and Bob had just been considering retirement and had no idea how it was going to work out. After raising kids in India and relying on support for their whole lives, they had almost no savings for retirement.
It also happened that the donation was in US dollars, which at the time, was worth almost double the amount. The guaranteed investment funds were also giving about 13.5% interest, so Ruth and Bob invested the money.
With tears still in his eyes, Bob told me that their house, furniture and new truck were all paid for completely by that money.
As I continue to raise support for a salary, there isn’t one week that goes by without me thinking about finances. But I’ve learned once again from Bob’s testimony, that God’s faithfulness is truly to those who serve the Lord. And His generosity will out perform any joy we can try to build up for ourselves.
