One day I visited with a middle-aged Hispanic couple, Agustin and Adriana, who had attended the conversational English class I was holding at the Cicero (Indiana) Library. As we talked, I saw the hunger Agustin had for learning more about the Bible. Adriana also shared with me how she had been baptized in a Pentecostal church in the early 1980s. She had attended several Bible institutes to further her knowledge of the prophetic books and also used the Psalms to write songs for church.

Agustin began to ply me with questions. I tried my best to provide biblical answers, but knew I wouldn’t be able to fully cover every question in one night. So I invited them to come visit my church the next Sabbath, where we could study and I could provide them with more in-depth answers to their biblical questions. They promised to come to our church the next week.

The next day I visited another young couple, Betty and Isidro, who had visited our church several times in late August and early September. They had especially enjoyed the cradle roll class with their little daughter Jasmine, but had stopped coming because Betty had to work on Sabbaths.

During our visit, I encouraged them to come to church the next Sabbath. They agreed, and before saying farewell, I prayed with them. I was very encouraged and looked forward to a Sabbath service full of more visitors than ever before.

The surprise that I experienced the next Sabbath was beyond my imagination. Adriana and Agustin came to the church early, and we began studying the Sabbath school lesson in Spanish.

Soon afterward, Betty and Isidro walked in with their little girl. As Betty came closer to where we were seated, it was apparent she recognized Adriana. Adriana stood up and hugged little Jasmine. Then Betty and Adriana spoke to each other for a little bit and hugged.

I did not catch the significance of this encounter until I saw tears streaming down from Betty’s eyes. Adriana then told me that she was Betty’s mother. Suddenly I remembered Betty sharing with me in previous visits that she had a mother who lived in the area, but she had stopped communicating with her because of a terrible argument.

This Sabbath meeting was the first time in almost a year the mother and daughter had spoken to one another or even seen each other.

The God of family and the Sabbath had led these two unsuspecting families back together again as they sought to draw near to Him on His special day. God is amazing. As people are drawn into His family, their own families are healed.

Luis Beltre Jr. is the Cicero (Indiana) Church youth leader and Indiana Academy chaplain.