by Sarah Wilkening

This summer, I was an intern with World Harvest Mission in Southall, an area of west London that is predominantly South Asian. It was a summer full of both hardship and countless blessings. Though I could never relay all the experiences I had or the many ways I was blessed to see God working, I would like to share one story of a very special friend I made and how God used this friendship to reveal himself not only to a lonely Indian woman but also to me.

The second Sunday I was in London, I decided to go to the grocery store before church. Since the service was in the afternoon I had plenty of time and we needed a few basic items. I walked to the nearby corner grocery store. I need to mention that I was wearing a Punjabi suit (a typical Indian outfit) that I was planning on wearing to church. Needless to say, I stuck out a bit being that I don’t look very Indian. So, I bought the few items I needed in the grocery store and then proceeded to pick out some fruit from the stand right outside the grocery store. When I went to pay for it, the lady at the cash register eyed me with delight. She was a middle-aged Punjabi woman, rather heavy-set with dark hair and big smile. She told me my suit was very nice and asked if I was from Germany. I explained that I was actually from the USA and that I was living nearby and working with a church and in a charity shop for the summer. She was very friendly and we had a little conversation about how her husband was British and spoke much better English than she did. Then, I said goodbye and headed home. Little did I know that behind her smile and friendly demeanor lurked a great deal of loneliness, emptiness, and fear. Little did I know that conversation would spark a very special friendship.

I continued to shop at that little grocery store and fruit stand all summer. My friend’s name was Manjit but I affectionately refer to her as “the fruit lady”. Her story is long and complicated; She was born in India to a Sikh family and her life has been very difficult, filled with a great deal of rejection and hardship. She was lonely and I like fruit so I ended up at her fruit stand every few days and we talked a great deal. Eventually, she invited me to her house for tea. Our friendship grew and we talked about everything from Indian food to my family to her fears. We laughed together and we cried together. She loved to dote on me and would slip a few extra nectarines into my shopping bag when I checked out. Eventually, due to some unfortunately circumstances, she had to move her fruit stand to another street, farther away. I continued to walk there to meet her several times a week. In fact, on many occasions she would ask me to watch her fruit stand while she took a break. I had no idea when I arrived in Southall that loving people and showing them Jesus would mean selling tomatoes so they could go eat a kebab and rest their feet. I had no idea that I would find myself holding a sobbing Punjabi woman in my arms.

Through my friendship with Manjit, God taught me several very important things. When I arrived in London, I was uncertain and afraid that I would not easily make friends. There was a great deal of free time built into our schedules so that we could build relationships but I wasn’t sure how to go about finding those relationships. Yet, I didn’t have to go out of my way. God brought Manjit into my life in a very natural way, as simply a part of a normal trip to the grocery store. It was no accident that I went to that fruit stand. It is no accident that God brings people into the paths of our lives.

I was also struck on so many occasions by the realization that showing Jesus to Manjit meant loving her in brokenness. I didn’t have all the answers and I couldn’t fix her hurt, but I could listen and I could share what Jesus has done in my life. And I had to trust that even when my plans didn’t work (I invited her to church events several times and she never came) He was pursuing her beyond my ability.

I don’t know if I will ever see Manjit again. However, I continue to pray for her; that she will come to know the hope of Jesus Christ. I miss her a great deal. I miss her laughter and the times we shared together. I am so thankful that God brought her into my life. I learned a lot from her about the beauty of her culture and also about the spiritual darkness that surrounds her way of life. God worked in our relationship and even though she did not come to know Jesus while I was in London, I know that He is working in her life.

Leave a Reply