A treasure hunt. That’s how it was described to us. The idea? We go out and do ministry, but we don’t have any idea what that ministry is. So, what do we do? We ask the Lord for direction, for clues about where we’re supposed to be, what we’re supposed to be doing, and who we need to be ministering too. Then we go where God sends us.
My squad is going to have an entire month of this later in the year, and yesterday our training staff started to prepare us for it.
Medellin, The city I’m in for debrief
Month one of my World Race is now complete, and my entire squad of 54 is together at a hostel for debrief before we head to Ecuador in a few days. Our Squad Coaches and Mentor flew into Colombia to talk over the past month with us and to help prepare us for the next few months. We’ll have about 5 of these debriefs over the next 11 months. It’s been a great few days of hanging out with those on my squad I haven’t seen in 3 weeks, talking about what everyone did this month, worship sessions, and learning from the coaches, our mentor, our squad leaders, and each other.
Yesterday morning they told us about ATL (Ask The Lord) ministry. Then they sent us out in groups of three to do it, our spiritual treasure hunt.
I was partnered with two guys on my squad. The first thing we did was sit down on the patio of our hostel and pray for direction. What did God want us to do?
Immediately I thought of red shoes. One of the guys saw a picture of a donkey in his mind. The other guy got the words “Just walk.” Ok then, those were our clues, off we walked, on the lookout for red shoes and a donkey.
At our first street corner we saw a guy with red shoes. We said “hola.” He walked right past us. Then he stopped. He turned around and came back to us. He started to talk. And we, couldn’t understand anything he said. Turns out none of the three of us know any Spanish! That could be, and was, a problem. After a few minutes of us trying to understand this man, and him trying to understand us, we all gave up. One of the guys told him “God bless you” (in Spanish, he knew that much at least), and the man we were talking to went on his way.
Alrighty then, after remembering how to say a few basic Spanish phrases such as “Can we pray for you?”, we were ready to continue our treasure hunt. So we started walking. Up one street and down another, we walked, and walked.
Eventually we found another man with red shoes. One of the guys decided to stop him, and ask if we could pray with him. So, we introduced ourselves and prayed with him. He said “Gracias” and went on his way.
After some more walking we came to a park. Trees, paths, birds, and lots of people, it was a beautiful place situated right next to a huge Catholic church and a little school. We wandered around for a little while, taking note of our surroundings. Then we weren’t sure what to do, so I suggested we just go up to people and ask if we could pray with them, so we did. We found three different people, one was an older man with red shoes, introduced ourselves, and asked if we could pray with them. All three said yes, so we prayed. By then it was getting close to lunch time so we started heading back to the hostel, we were hungry!
A few blocks away from the hostel we saw a man. He was standing in the middle of the sidewalk, with his backpack at his feet, smoking crack. One of the guys approached him, so the other two of us followed. We introduced ourselves. The man stopped smoking and introduced himself. Upon establishing we did not know much Spanish, he began to tell his story in a mixture of the little bit of English he knew, Spanish, and hand motions.
At age 10 this man had become part of the gang, because his brother was part of it. Then he wanted out of the gang, so he went to Ecuador as a refugee. After being in Ecuador for 3 years he returned to Medellin, because this city is his home. He testified against the other gang members, and then, fearing for his life, went into hiding on the streets of Medellin. He carries with him papers from the government guaranteeing his protection. These he showed us, along with the machete he carries for self-defense. He told us how badly he wants to be free from fear, but he has no desire to leave this city. He told us how ashamed he feels for doing drugs, but he doesn’t know how to stop.
God is really awesome, don’t you know? The two guys from my squad that I was with? This month their ministry had been working with a homeless shelter and drug rehab facility called Ciudad Refugio. So they were able to give this man the address and the name of someone there to talk to. The man wrote down the address and stuck it in his wallet.
Then we prayed with this man, and he told us how happy he was that we had stopped and talked to him instead of just hurrying past him like most people do. I am really glad that God used us to encourage this man, and now I’m praying that he goes to Ciudad Refugio and gets the help that he needs. God loves this man and can turn his life around, if he’s willing.
So, ATL ministry. When they told us about it yesterday morning I had no idea how it would go. I was afraid we’d just spend the day wondering around accomplishing nothing, but at the end of the day I can see how God used us. We scattered seeds, and now we must take God at his word that he will grow those seeds, just like 1 Corinthians 3:6 says:
“I planted, Apollos watered, but God caused it to grow.”
– New English Translation
Will you join me in praying that the seeds that were planted yesterday are watered and grow?
P.S. No, we never did see a donkey yesterday, or even a picture of a donkey, but we’re sure God gave us this picture for a reason, so we’re still keeping our eyes open!
