A Small World - Part 2

When we were on deputation, one day during a missions conference, we had a free afternoon. We went to lunch with one of the other missionary couples. They were friends of ours from Bible college. My husband told them we would pay for lunch. As we were eating, the waitress came up to our table and asked my husband if he was a missionary. He told her that he was. A few minutes later, she asked if he was a missionary to a French-speaking country. He told her that he was. We were not sure where she was coming up with all of these questions. Her next question was if the French-speaking country was Ivory Coast. When he told her “Yes,” a man sitting across the room groaned and exclaimed that he felt that he was being hustled. The man he was eating with was his employee, and the employee had been in a church where we had presented our ministry several months earlier. We did not even remember the employee, but he remembered us. The employee had told his boss that he thought we were missionaries to a French-speaking country in Africa. The boss did not believe him and said if that were true, then he would pay for lunch. The boss not only paid for that man’s lunch, he paid for ours as well. Our friends who were eating with us said that they would have to go out to eat with us more often!

Sally Stensaas, who is a missionary in Uganda with her husband Keith and their six children, sent a small world story. Her husband recently took their oldest son back to the States for Bible college. As her husband was waiting to board the plane in London to go to Uganda, he saw a couple that seemed very familiar to him, but he could not quite place them. Although Keith did not know it, the other man was also looking curiously at him trying to place him. As they both got up to board the plane, they approached each other. The other man said, "You are Keith, right?" To which Keith said, "You are Karl." Karl and his wife are Canadians who also work in Masaka, Uganda. While out of Uganda, both men had shaved their mustaches off, thus altering their looks.

If you have a “small world” experience that you would like to share with us, please e-mail it to me at loconsford@gmail.com. Please include the name of each family member, your field of service, and a picture of your family if possible.

Until next week, keep your sunny side up!