In 1986 two canvassers meet a lady from Jamaica named Sheila McBean. Sheila and her daughter become members of the home mission known as New Life Lutheran Church in Buffalo Grove, Ill. Chris Cordes, pastor at New Life, confirms them. Sheila becomes the best "friendship evangelizer" a congregation could hope for. In 1995, though, Cordes leaves New Life to serve as a WELS missionaryin Bogotá, Colombia.

Fast-forward to 2009. Sheila McBean becomes friends with her neighbor, Julieta Montilla, who once lived in Bogotá. While chatting in the car one day, Sheila mentions that her former pastor moved to Bogotá years ago. When Sheila mentions Pastor Cordes, Julieta's eyes light up and she pulls out a picture from her purse. Sheila looks at the picture and immediately identifies Cordes.

"I was so surprised," says Sheila. "I just couldn't believe it was him."

Meanwhile, Sheila continues to invite Julieta to church. Julieta eventually accepts Sheila's invitation to come to New Life, which is now located in Lake Zurich, Ill.

After her visit, New Life's current pastor, Andrew Bauer, visits Julieta and her family in their home. Julieta pulls out the picture. Sure enough, it is Pastor Chris Cordes, standing next to Pastor Stephen Mueller, who served with Cordes in Colombia.

After the visit, Bauer contacts Cordes, whose memory is foggy on Julieta. He suggests contacting Mueller, who is now serving in Anchorage, Alaska. Mueller remembers Julieta. He met her shortly before leaving Bogotá. The two pastors agree that the best thing for Julieta would be to start adult Bible information classes from the beginning.

So, with an instruction book in English and passages printed in Spanish, Bauer works through each lesson, growing in his knowledge of Spanish as Julieta grows in her knowledge and faith in Jesus. On Mar. 21, 2010, Julieta becomes a member of New Life by adult confirmation.

Irony? Destiny? A Colombian woman who had contact with a WELS missionary in Bogotá ends up being invited to church in the United States by another woman who was confirmed by that pastor. The Colombian woman eventually joins the church that WELS missionary served. I don't know about you, but I think that sometimes God overloads what we call "irony" to the point where the believer has to sit back in wonder and awe and praise God, declaring, "This is the hand of God."