Door to door evangelism has always been a terrifying idea to me. In addition, evangelism in the United States seems like it’s not always well received. For the past week, my team and I have been going to different houses around Lajas, getting to the know people and their stories, asking about their faith and praying with them.
Tony is our translator. He and his wife, Joan, are missionaries from Texas that partner with Hope for DR. He leads us from house to house, but then hands the reins over to the team. We ask questions and try to get to know the residents of the home.
One morning we found ourselves standing on the side of the road, looking up the side of a steep hill. There was a rocky, washed out, man-made pathway that lead to a little blue house that sits at the top. From where we stood, we could barely see the tip of tin roof peeking through the trees.
In the little blue house lives Andres. If I could use just a few words to describe him, I’d say he radiates joy and has an incredibly welcoming spirit. As soon as we walked up the hill, he invited us right in and asked us to make ourselves comfortable. We began to ask him questions about his family, his health, and his work. It was not hard to get him to talk with us!
After a few minutes of general questions, the conversation finally turned to his faith. He told us that he believes in God, but not the church. He said the church is full of hypocrites and he didn’t want to be a part of that. Instead, he just tries to be “good” and do the “right” thing. He shared a dream with us that he had when he was 14 about God pulling him out of a giant cauldron. The details of his dream sounded much like the story of the fiery furnace in Daniel. Alissa, one of my teammates, shared that story with him, followed by asking him some pretty tough questions about his thoughts on the story. You could tell his mind was reeling, like he was reevaluating what it was that He believed about God. Then, I asked him if he believed Jesus Christ is God’s son. Andres responded with a hesitant “yes”, but it was easy to tell he didn’t know the Jesus that we know.
Andres hadn’t been introduced to the Jesus that is full of grace. The Jesus that is kind, forgiving, and understanding. He hadn’t met the Jesus that died for his sins and rose again so he could share eternity with the Father in heaven.
Now, we didn’t get to fully introduce Jesus to Andrés in our short visit- that would literally take forever. But we began a conversation that was just enough for him to want to know more. In a quick moment I became very lost in where the conversation was headed as Tony began to talk quickly in Spanish with Andrés. But then Tony looked at us and said, “OK, who will lead Andres in prayer to accept Jesus as his Savior?” I giggled with excitement and Tony took that as me volunteering. My hands began to shake as I began to pray. I don’t even remember what I prayed! The Holy Spirit took control in that moment and I truly believe He was invited into Andrés life, even if Andrés doesn’t know fully what this will mean for his life. (I accepted Christ when I was a little girl but didn’t become a true follower of Christ until many years later, and I still don’t fully understand!)
We leave DR in less than a week so we obviously can’t have a lot of follow up with Andrés; however there is a pastor in Lajas named Jose Miguel. Tony immediately sought him out to tell him the good news. Jose Miguel was overjoyed and is excited to follow up with Andrés. Our prayer is that Jose Miguel will continue to disciple Andrés.
From our hour long visit with Andrés, we gathered that he is well liked and respected in Lajas. We encouraged him to get involved with a bible study and a church because we know that if he steps out and grows in his faith, he will be a light in the darkness that seems to sit heavy over Lajas.
Romans 10:9 “…because if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.”
John 8:12 “Jesus spoke to them saying, ‘I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.’”
