When Huijuan came to Canada from China to join her husband, Huazhou, she had already heard about Ted. An ISMC Regina team member, Ted had been helping Huazhou practice English for years.

Huijuan joined the weekly hour-long sessions that combined English practice with Bible reading. ”We read the Gospels together and discussed what the passages meant to us,” says Ted, “we do our best to teach the Bible to our students and build a good relationship with them.”   

Huijuan was impressed that Christians were so nice and willing to help others selflessly. She became familiar with the Bible, occasionally reading chapters by herself. Huazhou even expressed interest in learning what the Bible says about marriage, which led to a group of half a dozen Chinese couples meeting together to explore the topic. 

“Our desire is for students to accept Jesus into their lives and follow Him,” says Ted, “but we ourselves cannot make this happen. It is only when the Holy Spirit convinces them of their need for a Savior that they can become believers. Our job is to remain faithful in teaching God’s truths to them and leave the results with Him.” 

When Huazhou got a job in Edmonton, the couple still hadn’t accepted Christ despite their interest in spiritual things. After they moved, Ted kept in touch. He tried to connect Huazhou and Huijuan with a local church and even visited them occasionally. Most importantly, he kept praying

A decade after Huazhou and Huijuan moved away, they sent him copies of their baptismal testimonies. Ted excitedly read how they had come to Jesus for salvation, eternal life, and abundant life! They are teaching their children about Jesus. Huazhou’s parents were baptized at the same time. The testimonies mentioned the influence of Ted’s ministry in their lives. So many years later, this ministry is bearing fruit in three generations of one family.

“Because of you,” Huazhou said in his testimony, “I have more joy and peace in following the path of Jesus Christ.”

“We need to keep on keeping on,” says Ted, “because we never know what God is doing behind the scenes. It talks in the Bible about one person sowing the seed and one person reaping the harvest, and together we can rejoice when God shows them their need for salvation and they respond by saying yes!”