Yesterday my teammate Kathryn came into my room and stood for a moment with a blank stare on her face. I knew something was wrong. She said, “They have three men and they are taking them right now to be burned.” The room feel silent and Alyssha, Elaine, and I just stared at her. She continued to relay the information our host had just told her. The town of Caranavi (where we are living) has a ritual called “community justice” where if someone is found stealing multiple times they are released into the hands of the community for retribution to be carried out. For this dad, his son, and a friend, that meant they were to be burned for their crimes. Yes you read that right….they currently had the men tied to a tree log that was covered in huge ants to being the process of torture. They had just started parading them through the mountains and later into the city square all the while whipping them with electrical lines.
My first question to Kathryn was, “Where are our boys?” The guys on my team were working down the hill, close to the town’s center, building a road. She said they were safe. My next question, “What do we do?” The idea that just minutes away three men were being tortured and on their way to death was haunting me. The girls and I began to pray. I can’t thank God enough for the woman I serve with, because they truly understand the importance of prayer. A spirit of boldness rose up in that little room and we started praying some crazy prayers. I think at one point we were praying for landslides to stop them from going up the mountains and rain so they couldn’t light the fire. We prayed for spiritual sobriety, forgiveness, mercy, clarity of mind for the crowd, and ultimately salvation for the men about to be killed.
We knew we were fighting against some strong powers of darkness. Right now is also Carnival in Bolivia. This is an event comparable to a 4th of July barbeque with a Madi Gras party mentality and Halloween themed activities. Everyone is in the city square dressed in costumes, parades line the streets, children and teens are throwing water balloons and soap, men have been drinking for days, and people are proclaiming blessing from the Devil over their houses and businesses. All this activity is only intensifying the desire to have these men burned to death in the plaza.
After the news and our prayer we went about our day as normal as possible, all the while I remained in prayer for what was happening. Several hours went by and there was no news until dinner when our host told us the police and military has tried to get involved and get the men back into their custody but the crowd was demanding their death. I lost it. I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. I began weeping. I was weeping for these men and their pain, I was weeing for their families who were witnessing this nightmare, I was weeping because I felt helpless, I was weeping because God was allowing me to experience some of his heartbreak. We kept praying. I truly believed God was about to perform a miracle.
Late last night, our host came into the room and told us the best news. The crowd found out the dad had nothing to with the thefts so they decided to let him go. The two boys confessed to everything and the crowd decided to turn them back over to the police and they are now safe in custody. Praise God! Talk about a miracle!
In the middle of Carnival, when everyone is drunk, irrational and easily swept up by the power of a crowd, God brought sobriety, forgiveness, mercy, clarity and we are still praying for salvation.
This is why I came on the race. I know prayer changes things. I know that there are demonic forces still working hard to take people down. I know God still performs miracles. Most importantly I know my God is a BIG God!
Please continue to pray for the town of Caranavi and our team this month. There is a lot more work the Lord is calling us to do here. Please pray that we are ready and equipped. With the Lord we know all things are possible!
