The Best Night of Her Life

It was finally the New Year and we were having a great time at home and going on small trips around the area. On Sunday, January 6th, we took a day trip up to Camp Forest Springs to go sledding and snow boarding. It was a beautiful, sunny day and we were excited to get up there! That morning, we went to church and I translated the gospel to her again (as I did every Sunday). Since she didn't understand what the pastor was preaching, I just told her the basics. Each week I would do that so that she would understand more about Christ. She seemed to have a bit of a religious background and she nodded to show that she understood what I was saying. Many times she would smile and get excited when I told her things about Jesus. He was common ground. I think she knew of Him, but didn't yet know Him personally.

After church, we headed up to the camp. Our family had never been there before, but we had heard great things about it. We were pleasantly surprised when we arrived. The sledding hill looked crazy, there was a decent ski hill, and they even had lessons for first time skiiers and snowboarders. The lessons were nice, but with a non-English speaker... it made it a little more difficult. No worries. Josh, my fearless and talented snowboarding husband happily agreed to teach her. He took her up the small slope, helped her get her board strapped to her boots, and showed her over and over again how to get up, stand the right way, and glide down the hill. He would snowboard backwards while she would come clumsily down the hill. It was a small hill, so each trial was only a few seconds long, but we could tell that she was LOVING it! I took a few pictures of her standing up and boarding down. She was proud of what she was accomplishing. She never got to a point where she wanted to go down the hill on her own, but she was such a good sport and really enjoyed learning! I was proud of her just for being willing to try it! 

After the snowboarding, we had a turn at sledding. The hill was a bit... ummm... scary. I had my 3-year-old with me and I was a bit nervous taking him down the big hill. We tried it... and as we were airborne, I decided that was the last time we'd go down. I had Aden on top of me in a tube and it was just not something with which I felt comfortable. Anna wasn't a huge fan either, not because it was a scary ride down, but because it took too long to get up the hill!! There was a pulley that tugged the tubes (with the people) up the hill and it went slowly. She didn't like that and only went down the hill a couple times. We stayed outside for quite a while. Josh scooted away for a little bit to snowboard down the big hill a few times. We watched him do the jump and Anna would say "ooooh," and "aaaaah," as Josh came flying down the hill. We were all impressed. I have a pretty cool husband. :) 

We finished by spending some time inside and drinking hot chocolate. It was a fabulous afternoon. That night, we had already planned to watch a movie. So, we headed home and ate some dinner. 

After dinner, we all snuggled on the couch in the basement and watched the Jesus film. We were excited to watch the movie because it was actually in her language! Josh and I watched it in our language on my iPod while her version played on the tv. It was old. It seemed really corny. It was long.

 It changed her life. 

We were about half way through when it was Aden's bedtime. Aden had been enamored with her version of the movie and was sitting like a champ during the first half. We paused it and put Aden to bed. We were going to turn it off and watch the second half another time, but she begged us to watch more. She had never so sincerely asked for anything else before. She was completely hooked. Personally, I didn't think she would like it, but perhaps because it was in her language she was extra interested? Perhaps because it was Scripture after Scripture quoted? Perhaps it was because we had been talking about Jesus at church and at home when we prayed that it was all coming together? Perhaps, just perhaps, the Holy Spirit was working, churning, convicting that heart of hers?

We could not turn it off and expect to just pick it up again later... We finished it to the end. We were having some issues with it on the TV, so we went upstairs and she finished it on the computer. Josh fell asleep on the couch and I sat next to her, still watching it in English on my phone. 

It was late, probably close to midnight before it neared the end. She was not tired, she was not bored... her eyes were still glued. She was still completely interested. 

The end of the movie arrived and it gave a bit of an overview and then an invitation to Salvation. I was not expecting what happened next. The invitation ended with another invitation: an invitation to pray. As I watched in English, I saw a little head next to me bow. Her hands were folded. She prayed. Out loud, whole-heartedly, completely, sincerely prayed. She didn't care that I was sitting next to her. She mouthed the words lead by the movie and then some other things. After she said "Amen," she looked at me with the biggest smiled. At the same time, Josh semi-woke. "I think we have a new believer in the house," I quietly said to him. I'm not sure he was awake enough to understand what I said... but I was so overjoyed, I would have told him even if he was still completely asleep! I had to tell someone! Meanwhile, she was quick to go to the translation program to ask me to help her write down the words she just prayed. She wanted them written down, to keep with her. I got a piece of paper and a pen and handed them to her. We replayed the video part where it went through the prayer and she frantically wrote down the words. She was so excited. So was I! My thoughts were that, now, even though this child has no earthy father - she had just been adopted! She had been adopted into the family of God and she was now a child of the Lord! Though no earthly father claimed her, she now had a Heavenly Father! My heart was greatly at ease, but I also had more of a burden than ever for this child. She needed a family. This precious, precious child, with such a sweet and tender heart - needed an earthly family. Anna and I talked a bit about what happened and she translated a few things about how happy she was. 

That night, I tucked her in like I did every night, prayed with her, and gave her a kiss on the forehead. With tears in my eyes, I thanked the Lord for saving such a sweet soul. 

One thing I noticed about Anna is that she liked to write down her prayers. After she left our house, she left some papers on the table next to her bed. All of them ended with "amen," and I just thought they were the same prayer she had prayed that night... but I had them translated. They were all prayers she had prayed since that night. She asked God to help her with some things she was struggling with and her normalcy hit me again. She was a sinner... saved by the grace of God. Just like me.