So Tess was thinking, "all I have to pay with is this $100 bill, should I really give him all my money? What if the boat doesn't take Visa?" That's when she fills me in, as we are pulling into the parking lot, she wants to know what I think. I responded with an I have no idea, if that's what God wants then ok. She had to make a decision quickly because we were there and there just wasn't time to press in to this idea, so I offered up a $20 to give to him and one of my World Race business cards. We said our good byes and were off to meet friends and swim with some dolphins. Tess began beating herself up about the decision to not give him the $100 bill, especially when she realized she could have just paid with her Visa. I calmly said that what God wants to happen will happen with our help or without. So we decided to pray that if God wants us to give him more money then we will see him again.
We met up with our friends and had a great time celebrating Amanda's birthday playing with and learning about dolphins. The morning was a great success and more than I could have asked for. We all decided to head back to their resort for some lunch and time on the beach. Once again we stuck out a thumb and waited for a truck to pull over. Then once again I made the strange decision to flag down a jeep. Not really thinking it would be a tight squeeze, but he pulled over and we all piled in. His name was Matthew, he moved there from Texas to help his brother remodel his home, and he'd only been living on the island for 3 months. It was apparent he was very sad and stressed. Turns out he met a girl on the island in the first month of being there and they were now going to have a baby. Mary, his girlfriend, was having a really rough pregnancy. Tess and I continued to talk with him and when we reached our destination we asked if we could pray for him and his new family. After praying it really seemed to have lifted his spirits a little.
Time on the beach and with our friends was a wonderfully relaxing afternoon. There was time to pray and write a blog as well. God had showed up in so many ways that day and in such a short time period, I was compelled to thank Him. Tess also took the time to pray about having not been obedient in giving Edwin the money. Being spirit led has been on her heart since the start of the race and she was disappointed with herself. I kept reminding her that there is grace and that God will see to it that what needs to be done will be done.
So we took off and headed back to the compound before the sun went down. Luckily we found a ride with a family who was headed to the airport area. They had a friend in the back seat who needed dropped off at her home, so we had the opportunity to see one of the side Honduran neighborhoods. Unfortunately, the driver didn't see a man on his moped and kind of ran him over. Tess and I of course yelled and banged on the roof to get the driver to stop. It worked and the guy wasn't hurt. Created a bit of a delay so we pondered getting a different ride, but stayed in the truck until they stopped for gas. We got out and started to walk to a place where we'd picked up rides before and that's when I heard my name shouted. We looked to see who yelled at us, it's not like we know a lot of people, and sure enough it was Edwin!
He and his cousin, Shanga, were driving around checking out the scene of the island. We immediately ran over to tell him about our prayer. We explained about God wanting us to give him money and we didn't give him enough so we prayed to see him again. He offered to drive us back, even though he was going in the opposite direction. We had him drop us at Wendy's so we could grab some dinner and frostys. It was so great to have more conversation with him and to get to know his cousin as well. Of course Tess gave him more money and we exchanged contact info so we could hear about how his scholarship turns out.
Throughout dinner we kept saying how this was the best day ever. All the divine appoinments and God giving us a second chance to be obedient was just amazing. Our only regret is that we didn't take photos with any of the people. Now we know for next time. It would be hard to top, but I think God will give us an even better day than our best day ever.
