Communism and teaching bond four Chinese tourists with two women from Texas.

They meet when the four tourists stop to ask if the Bibles the Texas women distribute really are free. Their English is impeccable and an answer to prayer for the Southern Cross volunteers from Church at Canyon Creek, Austin, Texas. Their team prayed for one-on-one opportunities to share the Gospel during the trip and on their first night of Bible distribution, God brought them four English students.

Angie Moore and Martina Hammond admit they don’t have much experience in verbally sharing their faith with strangers. They soon find out over coffee, however, that it’s just a matter of connecting and finding common bonds that can lead to a conversation about God.

In a Starbucks next to a strip club, the women talk about life choices. Hammond immediately connects with the young women as they talk about communism. She grew up in the former communist Czech Republic.

“There aren’t many choices in communism, you are told what you can and can’t do, but here is a choice you need to make,” Hammond says, leading the conversation to the message she came to Southeast Asia to share. She tells how Jesus became her personal Savior.

“That’s just like your grandma!” Ming Mei Chang* exclaims, turning to Jiu Shui.*

Shui’s grandmother is a Christian. The young teacher says Jesus is all her Grandmother talks about. Her parents, however, aren’t believers and neither is she. Shui says her grandmother reads the Bible everyday.

“That’s what we do, too,” Hammond says. “It’s food for us.”

Shui has read some of the Bible, but she says it’s hard to understand. The version she reads is the Chinese equivalent to the King James Version. The Bibles Southern Cross gives away are contemporary versions in simplified Chinese characters. Now, Shui can read and understand.

“I really believe someone has been praying for that girl,” Hammond says. “God has been planting the seeds.”

Moore bonds easily with An Feng* and Wei Deng.* All three women are teachers. They chat about the subjects they teach, math and English, and naughty and nice students.

The conversation turns to the spiritual realm when Feng asks Moore, “Are you born a Christian?”

Feng explains that she has taken a comparative literature class and had to write a paper comparing the Bible to other works of literature. She didn’t understand the relationship aspect of Christianity.

Moore shares that she comes from a Christian home but she made her own decision to follow Christ as a 10-year-old.

“It’s a choice,” she explains to Feng. “You are not born into it.”

Before Hammond and Moore met the girls, they were discouraged about not giving out many boxes of Bibles during their shift at the distribution site.

“Boxes aren’t success,” Moore says. “It’s being faithful and planting seeds.”

*name changed