The setting was foreign in so many ways. As a college mathematics professor and relatively frequent conference presenter, being in front of a group of people is usually second nature for me—but not this time. I’ve never taught barefoot to women sitting on the floor, never relied on a translator to communicate my words, never wandered around the room unsure of the specifics of the small-group discussions taking place. But even though the setting was foreign, God’s Word as the central focus made the experience feel incredibly familiar and comfortable.

Along with Alycia Cameron and Cindy Lendt, I traveled to Southeast Asia in November 2025 to facilitate a women’s ministry workshop. This workshop, spanning two-and-a-half days, focused on friendship evangelism and how to share your faith. In a country where Christians are in the minority and coming to faith can result in estrangement from family and friends, the personal stakes are higher than anything we face in the United States. The stories of struggle at home, in the workplace, and among neighbors were frequent, and the questions about how to live as a Christian in these situations were poignant. None of us had answers from our own personal experiences, but we did have answers from Scripture.

Over the course of the workshop, we remembered our Great Commission calling and reviewed Jesus’ death and resurrection as the central message of Scripture. We traveled to Philippi with Paul and Silas and talked about how to let your light shine even in the darkest of circumstances. And we looked to the stories of Lydia and the Samaritan woman at the well for guidance on how to support the church and turn conversations toward Christ. The specific applications of these stories looked different for the Asian workshop participants than they did for us as US presenters. The key point, however, was the same: We are called to share God’s love with a sin-darkened world.

Seeing these women learn more about living out that calling had such an impact on me. Young and old, from near and far (with some traveling more than 15 hours to attend), they gathered together to learn about sharing their faith with those around them. As the workshop went on, they role-played conversations that might lead to spiritual discussions, all the while knowing that these conversations about faith would be difficult at best and extremely divisive at worst. But they embraced these conversations despite the hardships—they embraced their Christian calling to be salt and light.

And so, despite the foreign setting, there was an instant connection with these women as fellow Christians, as sisters in Christ. We read the Bible and sang together, discovering that “This Little Light of Mine” with its actions is a favorite regardless of culture or language. With a bit of help from Google Translate, we chatted together at breaks about our families, our jobs, and our homes. I even did a bit of math tutoring during one break! And we prayed together, knowing that our different languages were ascending to the same God.

I met these women for a short time and only learned bits and pieces about them. I’ll likely never see any of them again on this earth, and I’ll probably never hear anything about the future directions of their lives. I’m confident, though, of a reunion in heaven—and I’m looking forward to the joy of that reunion. In the meantime, I have a roomful of women who live half a world away to include in my prayers. What a familiar privilege!