Tell Me Your Secret

By Melody Garrido, SEND International, missionary from the Philippines

We arrived in Taiwan from the Philippines in 2011. We moved to our new apartment and met Amy, our landlady. She was very friendly but we could not communicate with her. We spoke English, Tagalog, and Indonesian. She spoke Mandarin. The only English she knew was “Hello.”

A week after we moved in, Amy came to visit us. She looked around the apartment and seemed pleased. Since we could not really talk to each other, she left.

The following day, she came back. This time, she looked excited. It was obvious that she was asking us something and wanted an answer — but we simply could not understand.

The following day, she was back again. I told my husband, Ver, that this was not normal. There must be a problem.

So, I called my friend Grace to translate. When Amy came in, she immediately talked quickly in Mandarin. Grace translated: “Melody, what is your secret? This is my apartment and it was not like this before. Since you moved in, something changed. I can sense peace and joy. But the moment I go out, the peace and joy are gone! Please, tell me your secret!”

I told Amy that it’s not me or Ver. It’s Jesus living in us. With Grace’s help, I shared the gospel with Amy. She listened carefully, but she had one big problem. Amy is a widow and she understood right away that if she accepted Jesus, she would have to give up ancestor worship. “Who would pray to my husband?” she asked. The Holy Spirit clearly was at work in her heart because I hadn’t even touched on that topic. Still, Amy said that she was not ready to accept Jesus yet.

Grace and I kept on meeting with her for English lessons and to discuss spiritual matters. Grace is leading a group of ladies for Bible study and I encouraged Amy to attend. She did and in that Bible study, Amy finally committed her life to Jesus and accepted him as her personal Lord and Savior. Hallelujah! 

This was such a huge encouragement to us. Our God is real and he speaks in the hearts of people. Even without the language, God can use his children to be powerful witnesses of the gospel to the people he has called them to serve.

We recently moved to another city to start a new ministry. Once again, God has blessed us with a kind landlady. We invited her over for dinner at our apartment. Little by little, we are building friendship with her. She took us out for dinner and talked of taking us to another restaurant next time. We are excited at how God will work in the heart of Monica. Please do pray for her.