When my husband Ernie and I were missionaries in Taiwan, many students asked us to give them English names. The students would always ask for the meaning of the names. To accommodate them, we purchased a book of names for expectant parents.

Some students chose their own names. If the name had a negative or strange contextual meaning in English, we tried to persuade the students to find another name. Some elected not to. We had students whose names were Zero, Raid and Shoes.

Then there was Mink.

When we met Mink, he was in pre-med school. He was gregarious, winsome and good-looking. He came to our Sunday evening English speaking youth group to practice his already excellent English. At our first meeting, my husband asked Mink, “What kind of name is Mink? Did someone give it to you?”

He responded, “No, I chose the name because ladies like mink!”

Mink loved life. He enjoyed socializing and everyone seemed to like him. The problem was, he could not concentrate on his studies for more than 30 minutes max. His mind would wander. He’d lose his concentration. He’d fall asleep.

A major examination was coming up, and Mink felt trapped.

My husband encouraged Mink by telling him that there was one sure way to find help. That was to read the Bible daily, commit Scripture to memory and ask God, who created the heavens and the earth, to help him. Mink was very dubious.

Several weeks later, we found Mink on our doorsteps. He had just finished his exams. He shared that a few weeks back, in desperation, he did what Ernie had challenged him to do.

Mink began praying to the Creator God, reading the Bible and committing it to memory. About fifth day into this “ritual,” Mink was flabbergasted to find that he had been studying continuously for three hours. He thought his watch had stopped; it hadn’t. God was at work in Mink’s life making himself known.

Soon thereafter Mink prayed to accept Jesus, to be his personal Savior and Lord. Today Mink is an ophthalmologist.