An Open Door, a Warm Meal, and a Seed of Hope
July 7, 2026
Most missionaries have experienced praying for, serving, and investing in a specific person, only to lose touch and wonder what happened to them. Did those conversations matter? Did those prayers make a difference? Did the seeds of the gospel ever take root?
Meet Michelle Weppler. She has been serving in Romania with her husband, Kevin, for the past 20 years. At the beginning, their lives in Eastern Europe were challenging. Amidst language learning and the business of regularly hosting short-term teams in their home, the Wepplers—who were the first foreign couple to arrive in the post-communist region—were viewed as heretics by their neighbours.
They were essentially shining their light in pitch darkness, which wasn’t easy and at times, discouraging. But the challenge compelled them to keep their focus on God.
One day, while preparing meals and keeping their home clean for short-term team guests, Michelle experienced a surprising turn of events. “Three little girls from our community showed up at my gate and asked, ‘If we were to come into your house, would you do something with us?’ And I remember thinking, Well, only God, because the community did not receive us,” Michelle remembers.
“So, I said, ‘Yes, of course! You come back tomorrow, and we’ll do something together.” She prepared a Home-Ec-styled class with the girls, since she needed to cook and bake for their short-term team visitors anyway.
“I’d get them to do hygiene by washing their hands really well, and then they’d help me prepare something, and then I would have them write out the recipe and take a piece home so their moms could see exactly what they were doing in my house, and there’d be no question as to why they were coming here,” Michelle explains.
The news spread, and about ten kids showed up at the Weppler’s gate the following week. Realizing the opportunity, Michelle continued to open her door to the neighbourhood kids every Saturday as a program that would run for several years.
Several years later—in 2010—the Wepplers planted a church in their community with their church-planting team. Michelle shares: “I started a Sunday school program that had never been before, attended only by the missionary kids in the church.”
Thinking of the kids still coming into their home, and the possibility of reaching them further, Kevin and Michelle started filling their vehicles with however many would come—about 14—and bringing them to church for Sunday school, too.
“It was a lot of work,” Michelle admits. “I’m really passionate about doing children’s ministry, and I poured my heart and soul into it. “So, I taught those kids right through the Bible from Genesis. We kept it very active and sang songs that pertained to whatever they were learning.”
One day, a little boy showed up at the Wepplers’ door with two older kids. “He was probably about 10 at the time,” Michelle remembers. “He was very shy and didn’t seem to fit in with the other kids too well. His clothes were very dirty, and he was unkempt, but boy, he would just sit there like a sponge, soaking it all in. He came every week with these two kids and started coming to church with us. This went on for about six months until he suddenly stopped coming.”
Since his leaving, Michelle had taken on regularly praying for the boy. “The other kids shared with me that his mother had passed away and he was being raised by a single dad who drank, and there were issues in the household,” she says. “So that explained the neglect, why he wasn’t taken care of or had clean clothes, and was obviously hungry. It broke my heart because this was a child who was very much in need and wanted to be accepted.”
The Wepplers eventually shifted their ministry to Business as Mission, opening a thrift store to serve their community. The couple has been working full-time in Drăgănești-Olt for the past ten years now.
“So here we are, years later, running the store,” Michelle says. “I’m cleaning things up one afternoon when I see this lovely young couple come into the store. The man was very tall—around six foot two—and this beautiful, pregnant woman was with him.”
Michelle went over to greet them and was surprised to hear the man respond with “You don’t remember me, but I know you. I came to your home program.” Finally realizing who he was—the unkempt boy who had suddenly stopped attending the program—Michelle embraced him with a hug, tears in her eyes.
Michelle remembers him saying: “You treated me so well in your home. And I remember going to the church and Sunday school—I just loved it. And you gave me good food…I just felt so accepted in your home.” He admitted that life wasn’t easy when he was a kid, but he was glad he had a place to go to be warm and well fed.
“This child I’ve been praying for all these years was so joyful and so happy to tell me who he was,” Michelle says. “I told him, ‘You have no idea how much I’ve been praying for you.’ And he thanked me.Though he isn’t yet a Christian, Michelle was able to pray for him and his wife while at the store and continues to do so today.
“One thing I love about the store is that it’s one way of keeping in contact with people that I knew years ago. Some of the kids who came to the church with us still come and see me at the store today,” Michelle says, reflecting on the benefit of it being an easily accessible public space.
From not being accepted by the community to now having a thriving, relationship-building store, the Wepplers have remained steadfast in shining their light and planting seeds for God’s Kingdom.
What an encouraging story of steadfast prayer and obedience to the Lord’s leading. Though we won’t always see the results of our prayers, sometimes God will grant us a glimpse of His work, like witnessing a once-forsaken boy having a successful shot at life.
Would you consider joining Michelle in prayer for this boy—now a man—that he will not only find success in this world but will find fulfillment in a life with Jesus?
Author: Leanne Monge Barrera serves in the Greater Europe Mission Canada Office as a Storyteller and Marketing Coordinator.