The Lord blessed our family with a yard in Genoa. It is a very small yard and the soil is rocky but it is our own tiny space of shade and green.  Watching my flowers grow in this small patch of yard is similar to sharing the Gospel with the Genovese people. Many days the work feels like sowing seed in a small, rocky garden. But suddenly, we’ll see God’s Word produce beautiful conversions that are so exciting to witness.

June 29, 2008 found us sitting around take-out pizzas with a struggling couple, “Enrico” and “Sabrina.” We met them at baseball. The two were obviously suffering from serious marital problems and both listened attentively to my husband Tim as he explained the hope that is found only in knowing Jesus.
Enrico and Sabrina left the next morning for a two month vacation that proved disastrous for their family.  In fact, at the end of the two months, Sabrina and the kids moved in with her parents in another city, while Enrico returned to Genoa alone.

Fast forward to July 27, 2009.  I received a text message from Sabrina begging me to speak with her.  Over the phone, Sabrina’s utterly desperate situation became very clear.  Her health was failing, she was sole caretaker of three children without any current employment, and tensions were mounting at her parent’s apartment.  Could we visit face to face?

Sabrina visited me the next day.  We packed up the beach towels and took the kids out for a swim.  Beaches never seem like the best place to really talk, but somehow this time it worked.  The boys stayed busy jumping the waves, the girls went off on their own to build a sandcastle and Sabrina and I sat down on the crowded Genoa beach for an in-depth conversation about her spiritual condition. I again explained that despite her desperate situation she can have peace with God, and Sabrina prayed to open the door of her heart to the Lord Jesus.

A few days later, I spoke with Sabrina on the phone. “Can you even hear my voice?  I think I sound different!” Sabrina commented.  “I feel like that parable of the lost sheep. I feel found!”

Sabrina is like one of those tender buds in my yard.  Each conversation with her is like a flower, slowly opening and showing a beautiful new creation.

This story is written by an Avant missionary, A.K., on a Short-Cycle Church Planting Team in Italy.