10/18/10
I am so excited that I was able to pray for two people yesterday. Our God is so good! I am so excited just to be able to pray for God’s children. I was unable to go on the hike yesterday in Livingston to the Rio Dulce because of the blister on my foot, so I stayed in the town, had some coffee, got to go on the internet, read my Bible, it was nice. A woman came up to me and was calling me her amiga and telling me that she needed money and that she wanted to use it to buy fruit. I told her that I was una missionaria from Estados Unidos and asked if I could pray for her because she limped over with a three legged walker. Her left foot was bandaged up and she said it had been that way for about five years. I asked her what her name was and to me it sounded like Christina, though I think it was a little different. She very willingly allowed me to pray for her and quickly clasped her hands into the “prayer position.” I didn’t give her any money but she told me she wanted fruit so I told her I would get her some later, since every time I had walked down that street I had seen her, so I assumed I would see her again.
We went back to the church we slept in and had some quiet time. There was an older gentleman named Herman who lived at the church and both days we were there he sat in his wheelchair and slowly rolled around the church. I went to the bathroom which was in the back corner of the church. There is no running water, but there was this large pool of water and you had to take a bucket to rinse the toilet afteward. There was also no shower but you could take a bucket and pour the water over yourself into another bucket. Anyway, as I was leaving the restroom area, Herman was in there and looked like he needed help. I asked him if I could help him to which he responded, “Can you?” He needed help putting on his shoes. The last person I put shoes on was Matthew, and his feet are significantly smaller, but I got a huge smile on my face being blessed with the opportunitiy to help this man put on his shoes. So during our quiet time, I felt compelled to go talk to him and see if there was anything he would like prayer for. He enthusiastically responded that he would like prayer for healing. I called together my teammates and some of them came up to the front and prayed with me.
When we were done he told us that he could strongly feel the presence of the Holy Spirit. He stated how grateful he was that we were willing to pray for him and stated that he felt restoration in his body. I’m not sure exactly what he said because he was speaking in Spanish and Kevin was trying to translate for us, but there were several times when Herman said something and Kevin had to back away saying “whoa, whoa, whoa.” When we left Herman warmly grasped my hand and thanked me for all I had done for him. Praise God for this opportunity!!
Following that we walked back to the port to take a speed boat back to Puerto Barrios. I stopped at a fruit stand to pick up an orange and a banana for Christina. However, by the time we got down to the pier I didn’t see her. I saw a man who looked like he was in rough shape and asked him if he wanted the fruit. He had this big smile on his face and thanked me for it. I started to walk because I thought our group was leaving, but I realized some people had to stop for something and I went to talk to him. He told me his name was Lucio. I told him that I was a missionary there for Jesu Christo from the states. He looked so touched by the small gesture of getting some fruit (in American money it cost me about 25 cents).
When we got down to the pier and into the speed boat I looked up and noticed that he had walked down to the pier and he was waiting to see us off. It was so heart warming. He waved to me and seemed to be full of gratitude. Such a small gesture, such a huge blessing for both of us.
I share these stories not to take credit for them, but rather to defer the credit to Jesus Christ. I want the Holy Spirit to shine through me. I don’t want to be prideful about this, and I don’t feel proud about this. Instead I am so thankful that God allowed me the opportunity to have these experiences because they blessed me so much and allowed me to connect with other humans.
So, I’m reading the book of Acts right now and I read Acts 4 today. I am so encouraged by this passage: (verse 32) “All the believers were united in heart and mind. And they felt that what they owned was not their own, so they shared everything they had.” Our team has been praying that we could be of one mind. We have been sharing what we have with each other. We have been given so much and we want to share this with people here and our primary prayer is that through these small gestures Christ would be seen through us. We are called to live radically different lives when we become Christians. We are called to radical generosity, radical love, radical obedience. That, for me, starts with stepping outside of myself, and allowing the Holy Spirit to shine through me.
