Amelia* serves in West Africa, sharing the gospel with those in a region that is very opposed to the message of Jesus Christ. Marriage and divorce are topics that come up repeatedly: her friend was married at 12 and had her daughter at 13, while her friend’s older sister has been married and divorced five times, with children from three different fathers. While the former is now much less common – and her youngest sister has made it all the way to university without getting married, the latter is not seen as unusual. Maybe five times is at the upper end, but it’s not something that would necessarily cause surprise. On the other hand, to be a never married woman in her mid-40s, that is a strange thing! And while Amelia’s language still limits the depth of conversation, it’s an easy jumping off point into things of faith, and a number of things she has said are repeated by her friends to new people when she meets them. Pray that the strangeness of what they hear would linger and prompt a desire for more and better than what they currently know.

* Name changed for security reasons