A Brook Hills team member shares God's plan with a fortuneteller.

“Fortunes told! I can tell your future! Fortunes told!” called the small Indian man as he made his way through the streets of a slum outside of Mumbai, India.

“Who is this guy?” asked Spencer, a member of the Brook Hills team that is sharing the Good News in Mumbai this week.

The team was sitting on the porch of a small house in a slum area. It was late in the afternoon, and the team had been invited to the home for tea. Inside, the women were building a fire to boil the water. Outside, the men visited on the small porch. A curious crowd of onlookers quickly began to form, and it was then that the strange little man approached the crowd, offering to tell their fortunes.

“I already know my future,” Spencer joked to the team.

With a gleam in his eye, *Kaleb said, “Why don’t you tell him that?”

Pastor *Abhi shrugged off the suggestion. “He’s a drinker,” Abhi said, as if no other explanation was needed.

Still, the team discussed the need to share the Gospel with this man, and Abhi continued to dissuade them. Finally, Kaleb asked Pastor Abhi, “If nobody else has tried it, why don’t we? Why not go ahead?”

The pastor reluctantly assented, and the team called the man over. Through the pastor, Spencer said to the fortuneteller, “I already know my future. Would you like to know yours?”

The man was puzzled, but he agreed. And, from there, Spencer shared the Gospel, explaining that those who do not trust in Jesus are enemies of God.

“He didn’t like it,” Spencer said.

Instead, the fortuneteller insisted on telling Spencer’s fortune.

“He kept asking for Spencer to show him his hands,” Aaron, another member of the team, recalled, “but the pastor told him not to do that.”

Although Spencer refused to allow the man to read his palm, the fortuneteller persisted.

“Okay. Okay. I can see your future through your face,” the man began. “You will prosper in business, and when you are 34 [years old], you will have to take care of your parents.”

Spencer looked at the man and said simply, “I’m 38.”

“The fortuneteller didn’t know what to say to that,” Aaron laughed. “He just got up and walked off.”

“What I learned most from that encounter is that we all have prejudices,” Kaleb stated. “The Indians have prejudices, just like Americans do.”

Still, Kaleb stressed that we must be willing to share with anyone who comes across our path at any time.

“The fortuneteller kept saying, ‘I’m glad you were able to share your ideas. I’m happy I came to talk to you,’” Kaleb recalled. “Even though the pastor kept saying, ‘Let him go. Let him go. He’s a drinker.’

“We always have to be attuned to who God wants us to share with,” Kaleb concluded, “and we don’t know what God may do in this man’s life.”

*names changed