"No problem. I. WILL. get baptized."

"I want to get baptized in December. My family do not like. No problem. I will get baptized."

Yesterday I and 12 others piled into our station wagon to go to the Thursday market in Meta, a town half a mile away.

I was one of four in the middle seat and was comfortably squished between the door and Dah Koo Say, one of our IMM (Intensive Medical Missionary) students.

I had been looking forward to some time to being able to talk to her about some the recent happenings in her life. I wondered when God would open the way, and I hoped that it would be soon.

But before I give you any further detail of yesterday's conversation, I most take you back to last school year when I had my first conversation with her about baptism. (Some of it will sound like what I've already shared about her before, but in more detail.)

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Baptismal classes were soon to begin. There were several of "our kids", including Dah Koo Say, that I was especially praying would join the class.

I began to pray that God would guide me if I were the one that should talk to Dah Koo Say about such a delicate subject as baptism and when I should talk to her.

Then came that beautiful Sabbath afternoon that won't be forgotten. Sabbath School had finished and after a short break, story time with Thara Joh Koh (the principle; my dad) and Thara Doh Pah Deh--Karen name for Teacher Big Rabbit because Erick B. Hare's last name was Hare and he was "big"--would soon begin.

I prayed about Dah Koo Say again and asked God to guide me if that day was the day to talk to her. A little over half an hour before it was time for class, I felt a strong impression that I should go to the girls' dorm and talk to her if she was there.

I bounded down the cement steps from our home to the lime orchard (our five acre property) and walked to the dorm.

I found her with some other girls where she stays and soon striked up a Karen-English conversation with them. At some point there was silence and then all the girls except for Dah Koo Say were busy talking about and doing something else. The opportunity for me to talk to her had come.

"Dah Koo Say, do you want to be be baptized?"

"Oh teacher, I want to get baptized very much, but my family doesn't want me to. I am afraid. I am afraid."

"Afraid about what?" I asked.

"Afraid of what my family might do. I am very afraid...."

Sympathy swelled in my heart. I talked to her about baptism and giving her heart and life fully to God and encouraged her to give her fears and the future to the Lord, and to following His calling for her.

She acknowledge that that was what she needed to do, but fears overwhelmed her.

During the rest of the school year and for the first three weeks of September, I continued to pray that she would give those fears to Him and love Him more than even life itself. I wondered how she would feel about baptism when I returned from America.

Then the last week of September came. I sprained my knee while playing a ball game with the IMM students and two other staff. Not long after, Dah Koo Say had hurt her arm, another girl hurt her knee, and another girl and a boy were sick. Mom decided to take us all to the hospital in Meta. Dah Koo Say and I were the first done, so we waited outside in a gazebo. We most have been out there for at least a half an hour before one of the others joined us. We chit chatted mostly in English about this and about that and she helped me learn some Karen. We also talked about her strong desire to go to America.

During our conversation about America, I asked her if she wants to go to a college in America. She said, "Yes, I want to go to a Bible school. You know a school they teach me to be a missionary, like you. I want to be a missionary. Do they have?" We talked about that for some time. Oh, the thrill that gave my soul as she expressed her desire to learn more (after she's done here) about the Bible and how to work for God.

Then she said, "I think I will get baptized in America." I wondered if she wanted to get baptized in America because she would be far away from at least most of her family. (One of her older brothers wanted to go to America, too.)

I could sense that she was thinking hard about it all.

A while later, she suddenly said, "I think I will get baptized in December at our school; and then I will go to America...."

Throughout this school year, we've been hearing about students who want to get baptized. I'm totally excited that Dah Koo Say is one of them.

Dad met two Sabbaths ago after Sabbath School with some of the students who are wanting to join a baptismal class. As I began to make my exit out of the chapel, I noticed that Dah Koo Say was staying for the meeting. We exchanged big smiles.

Back to yesterday...

After striking up a conversation about America and other things for a while with her in the car, she said, "I want to get baptized in December. My family do not like. No problem. I will get baptized."

Oh, if you could know the joy that filled my soul as those words came to my ears. But not just the words. No. I seems clear that she is serious about her decision. Determination was in her voice as she said, "No problem. I. WILL. get baptized."

I told her that God wants her to be a missionary to her family, and encouraged her that maybe someday they will too follow Jesus. She said, "Yes! Yes!"

This step that she is making is a miracle in itself. Who knows what may happen between her and her family after she publicly professes Christianity though baptism; but God has a beautiful plan for her and He is strengthening her to embrace His calling for her and the cross she must bare for Him.

She is so happy.

This is nothing short of just the beginning of seeing God answering many prayers from the past, and to come, for her.

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There are hardships--both great and small--and wrenching sorrows in working in a dark, heathen land; but let me tell you, the joys that come from working with the Commissioner make the challenges more--oh infinitely more--than worth it.

What a glorious privilege this is to be working for her and other students', as well as villagers', salvation.

I am so looking forward to watching God continuing to work in her life. It's the miracle working power of the Holy Spirit in her life--in the life of a young person whom God has called from utter darkness into His marvelous light.