Voices: Tera Kouba: A woman called to ministry

A young woman from Mandalay, Burma—now Myanmar—never imagined one day she would become the minister of international and Asian ministries at a 165-year-old historic church and one of the leading faith-based community churches in San Antonio.

I still cannot fully understand how God works in my life, but his work has been unique and amazing, and every day he reveals more of who he is.

The life of Jeremiah reminds me: “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you; before you were born, I sanctified you; I ordained you a prophet to the nations” (Jeremiah 1:5).

God is an amazing God who knows and sees everything. He even made an ordinary woman into an extraordinary woman in ministry, serving his kingdom.

Gifts and talents recognized

After I graduated from high school, my mother encouraged me to attend seminary and become a minister like my father. She recognized gifts and talents in me that were different from my sisters’ and wanted me to dedicate my life to the Lord.

However, I declined her request and chose another path, one I believed would still serve the community and reflect my understanding of what it meant to be a missionary among my people.

I worked at the Mandalay YMCA and at the Japanese Language Center with my native Japanese teachers for 10 years. During that time, I gained many experiences I could not have found anywhere else. I also had the opportunity to meet many international leaders, ministers, and ambassadors from around the world.

Through those years, God molded me, shaped me, and formed me into the person he wanted me to become. Yet, I still did not see myself as someone chosen for ministry in his kingdom.

Those experiences helped me realize there is a world of incredible possibilities beyond what I could imagine, and God can do immeasurably more in my life than I ever expected. I have remained excited to see the new things God continues to do in my life.

Awakening to God’s call

God brought me to the United States in 2008. Around that time, refugee families from camps in Thailand, whose parents had originated from Burma, also arrived in San Antonio, and many have since settled in different cities and states across the country.

Even after God brought me to the United States, I had forgotten the purpose he had for me here. Then, after waking from a dream, I began to understand God was calling me to serve his children who had come to the United States as refugees and were rebuilding their lives in a third country.

God spoke to me clearly through the parable of the talents Jesus taught in Matthew 25:14–30. I wanted to be a faithful steward and not bury the gifts and talents God had entrusted to me. I realized I did not want to be like the servant who received one talent, buried it, and made his master angry. The master said, “You wicked and slothful servant.”

As believers in Christ, we all have gifts and talents, and we should never bury what God has entrusted to us. Instead, we are called to use our gifts, multiply them, be fruitful, and live as faithful servants.

The two servants who received five and two talents made their master proud, and he said to them: “Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little. I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master.”

Through this parable, Jesus taught me my responsibility is to faithfully use the gifts he has given me and bring glory to him through my work and service in the community.

Although I did not know how or where to begin serving the community as God desired, he opened the door for me in 2014 to work at First Baptist Church in San Antonio as an administrative assistant for international and Asian ministries. It was a great joy and another valuable learning experience that gave me a deeper understanding of what God’s kingdom on Earth looks like.

Trusting God’s call

As a woman, especially one from Mandalay, Myanmar, with no family nearby and no established background in this country, I have the greatest cheerleader: my Lord and Savior, who created me, chose me even before I was born, and has faithfully led and guided me throughout my life.

I am new to this land. However, I am not new in my Master’s eyes. He knows me, trusts me, and has been molding and shaping me throughout my life. He brought me from the other side of the world into a new community where I can serve and share his word while living between two cultures.

I believe this did not happen by accident. God had already planned this journey for me, and he entrusted me with the work he had been preparing me to do. Because of that, I can trust him completely as I minister to his people.

God’s timing is neither too early nor too late. It is perfect and always right. Sometimes, however, God challenges us so we may become stronger and more faithful to him. He desires to lead us into a secure and brighter future. Often, he calls us in the midst of life’s chaos and darkest moments.

God called me during one of the most chaotic seasons of my life. Yet, I could still hear what Jesus said to Simon Peter: “Put out into deep water and let down your nets for a catch.”

Simon replied that he had worked hard all night and caught nothing. But he said, “If you say so, I will let down the nets.”

Simon had little reason to trust Jesus, yet Jesus asked him to trust and obey completely, even in the midst of his exhaustion. In the same way, God calls me to keep my eyes on him and trust him completely, even in the darkest times.

God’s plan all along

After six years of seminary and a transformative spiritual journey, I earned my ministry degree in 2022. God had indeed called me into ministry, and I was ordained in 2024 at First Baptist San Antonio. Today, I am humbled to serve as the minister of international ministries at First Baptist San Antonio.

I never doubt God’s plan for my life, and I trust my Master, who never makes a mistake and who faithfully called me into ministry. I enjoy every moment of serving the Lord and his people, whether inside the church or throughout the community.

Jeremiah 29:11 reminds me: “‘For I know the plans I have for you,’ declares the LORD, ‘plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.’”

My future is in God’s hands, and my calling is simply to trust him with all my heart. I could not love him more. He teaches me to love my neighbors as I love myself.

Above all, having Jesus in my life and knowing God deeply are the greatest joy and the deepest satisfaction I could ever experience. The young woman from Mandalay never imagined this journey, yet God had planned it all along.