Answered Before He Ever Met Them: Antoine Allamelou's Forty-Year Prayer for Réunion

In the 1960s, 15-year-old Antoine Allamelou was on a quest to find the true church of God on his native island of Réunion, a small French island east of Madagascar. As his prayers became more fervent over the years, he felt that the church he sought was somewhere else on the earth. Because of his limited economic opportunities, Antoine felt he would never be able to go looking for it — so instead he prayed that God would raise up another man, a brother from his own country with better economic opportunities, to act as an instrument in the hands of God and bring the gospel to Réunion.

The answer was already in motion. At the same time, Alain and Danièle Chion-Hock — also from Réunion — were pursuing their studies in France. In 1969, while walking in downtown Montpellier, Alain noticed missionaries standing beside a poster that read "Your family can be eternal." "That phrase touched me profoundly, and I was drawn with an inexplicable force toward the missionaries," he recalled. A few weeks later the Chion-Hocks were baptized, and they soon returned to Réunion — precisely the instrument Antoine had prayed for: a brother from his own country whom God had raised up and placed.

Antoine Allamelou was baptized in 1997, almost 40 years after he started looking for the true church, and in February 2004 he was called as president of the Sainte-Marie Branch. "Allamelou is a man of unshakable faith who has experienced many miracles in his life," reflected Alain Chion-Hock. The story stands as a striking witness that God hears and begins answering sincere prayers long before the one praying ever sees the answer.

Fuller account of this event (the complete account as preserved in An Instrument in the Hands of God, Stories of Faith, Global Histories: Réunion, Church History Department):

In the 1960s, 15-year-old Antoine Allamelou was on a quest to find the true church of God on his native island of Réunion, a small French island east of Madagascar. As his prayers became more fervent over the years, he felt that the church he sought was somewhere else on the earth. Because of his limited economic opportunities, Antoine felt he would never be able to go looking for it — so instead he prayed that God would raise up another man, a brother from his own country with better economic opportunities, to act as an instrument in the hands of God and bring the gospel to Réunion. The answer was already in motion. At the same time, Alain and Danièle Chion-Hock — also from Réunion — were pursuing their studies in France. In 1969, while walking in downtown Montpellier, Alain noticed missionaries standing beside a poster that read "Your family can be eternal." "That phrase touched me profoundly, and I was drawn with an inexplicable force toward the missionaries," he recalled. A few weeks later the Chion-Hocks were baptized, and they soon returned to Réunion — precisely the instrument Antoine had prayed for: a brother from his own country whom God had raised up and placed.