Only $8,449.32 to go until I’m fully funded!
The other night, we were called to do some ministry late at night in a different part of town, to some prostitutes. Here in Guatemala, it is very common for the young man who works Monday through Saturday to blow his paycheck saturday night at the bar on alcohol, then a prostitute, sleep it off Sunday and then return to work for the same kind of week. I know in my heart that these men were made in the image of God, therefore are made for more in their lives. I also know that these women of God are worth more than degrading themselves to selling their own bodies for money. As people of God, we are called to be lights in the darkness and show these people that God loves them and He is always there for them. These people do not have to live like this because God has a better plan for their lives that does NOT include harming them. It is our responsibility to show them that. So, we put on our positive pants and went for it. We bought these pretty artificial red roses, and put a bible verse [Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified because of them, for the LORD your God goes with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you.”] on them and prayed the whole way there in the car.
We met this woman who was walking her dog and I gave her a rose, told her as many nice things about God as I could remember in spanish, and she smiled and walked away. The cool thing about that was my teammate Addie had a vision of a woman in a white tank top with gold dangly earrings. Guess what this woman was wearing?! And we didn’t even realize it till she walked away. :] Next, our prayer was just for God to make this experience really easy since none of us really knew what we were doing and spoke little spanish. So a guy on a bike flags us down. He starts telling us about his time as a missionary and how much he loves his church, but not church politics and the divide here. He shared with us how he was once in an accident and has 3 dents in his head, while the whole right side of his body is limp and numb. He talked to us for a while, but that is about all that I could understand. We ended up praying for him and his healing. He was so impressed by us that he lead us to his mother’s house to pray for her. So we follow him down the road, enter their house like it is our own and pray blessings over it. Then a younger woman brought out her sick baby and asked us to pray for him as well. After praying healing over him, the older mother was talking to us. I could not understand all of what she said, but I did understand this, “This place is very dangerous at night. Especially for girls. You should not be walking around like this. You should just stay here and sleep on my couch, girls!”
To be honest, I was never scared at all. Looking back, oh man…that was a scary place indeed! If i wasn’t filled wiht the boldness of Jesus Christ, I probably would have pooped in my pants after seeing where we were to walk around and pray. But I felt this safety and protection not only from the guys on our team, but from God. I knew that I was going to be alright and safe the whole time. The truth is, God does not always call us to these wonderfully safe and amazing places. We are called to be lights in the darkness. This means that we actually have to go to the darkness to brighten it up. I don’t say this to terrify anyone, rather to empower yourself to go into that darkness. Trust me, if you got Jesus with you, you’re all set!
