By Darlene D. Stern

I have always had a special place in my heart for "... every nation, tribe and tongue..." For as long as I can remember, I've wanted to travel the world. In the past several years, I've had several opportunities to travel overseas on short-term ministry trips that only whetted my appetite for more, but my circumstances wouldn't allow me to travel extensively. Yet my heart's cry was for more opportunities to minister to the nations.

One day, I was listening to a pastor exhorting his congregation to participate in an outreach to a local college that enrolled more foreign students every year than any other American college. This outreach program matched families or individuals with a foreign student for the year. All that was expected was for the family to spend some time with the student. It was up to them how they would implement the relationship. Some families invited the student to a meal once a month; some included the student in all of their family activities; some were just there for the student to contact when the need arose. The purpose for this program was to give students far away from home and family a sense of connectedness, a stabilizing factor in a completely unknown environment.

I pondered this type of program and how I could do the same in my community. I recalled that when I attended a local community college thirty years prior, there were a number of foreign students on campus. I called the campus only to learn they no longer hosted foreign students. I was sorely dismayed at this closed door which I had made the effort to open.

Daily I took my request before the Lord. Was there an open door to the nations without leaving my home? Without my knowing it, the Lord had just the perfect answer for this desire of my heart.

Within a week or two, I was invited to model for an artist's workshop. I always jump at the opportunity to model for professional artists as I learn so much about seeing life from another perspective while I just sit and look pretty. I did not anticipate that the Lord had determined to use this occasion as a kairos moment - His perfect time - to answer my prayer.

People had come from all over the country and all over the world to that weeklong workshop event. Even though I had to sit still as a model, I relished listening to the banter between the dozen artists who had gathered to improve their skills. I also took the opportunity to get to know many of these visitors during the breaks. It was wonderful!

One particular couple was of especial interest to me because they hailed from Eastern Europe - he from Georgia, she from Ukraine. Ukraine was the first country the Lord sent me to in short-term ministry. In the course of conversation, I mentioned that we raised dairy goats. She reminisced fondly of the milk goat her grandmother had kept in Ukraine and how good that milk had tasted to her as a child. I invited them to come visit our goats when they finished their day in the studio.

With great joy she exclaimed over our farm. She missed hanging wash out on the lines to dry; she missed having dairy animals around; she missed living in the country. We took a tour of the house and barn. They took lots of pictures. Later we sat at the kitchen table and talked about family and life. We had a brief visit, but it had a profound impact on my life.

Some time later, I realized that this encounter had been the Lord's answer to my prayer for encounters with the nations from my home, at least for this moment. Our farm had brought a few minutes of reliving and relishing times past to the life of a woman who dearly missed what she could not return to. She could taste once again the milk of a goat; she could walk through a barn where animals breathed; she could savor the beauty of drying wash moving with the gentle breezes; she could sit at the kitchen table and enjoy fellowship in the country.

Ministry to internationals doesn't have to take place in a foreign country. It can happen wherever one has a heart to see with the eyes of the Lord those He has handpicked for you to spend time with. At the same time you think you are providing something for them, those individuals can be ministering to your soul as well. The investment doesn't have to be extensive. As in this case, it can be one brief encounter or the model the pastor above was proposing. In either case, God's work is accomplished.

Darlene has been a stay-at-home Mom for thirty some years, raising nine children with her husband, David. Currently, she is also a freelance writer and editor.