We live in a Christian compound that has a hospital, and there’s always people sitting outside it because they don’t have a waiting room inside, and this morning my teammate Jake asked me if I wanted to try to share the Gospel with some people who were waiting outside. I was really excited because I was literally thinking the night before that I was going to ask Jake that in the morning and I had been thinking of the same place, and we both had never talked about it before. We both expressed desires to share the Gospel with more of the Guatemalan people and people that weren’t Christians. I brought some booklets that explain the Gospel that are in both English and Spanish that I got from Cru. And Jake had expressed that he wanted me to come in particular because I can speak some Spanish. I really like that Jake is on my team because I feel like I can relate to him a lot spiritually and he challenges me too and it’s cool because he was involved with Cru too, so he is familiar with like the Gospel booklets that I brought from Cru and other things. Anyway, we were going to go at 3pm.
At around 2:30pm, my team leader Nate came up to me and told me that he saw this woman crying by herself outside of the hospital off to the side, and he asked me to come with him to pray for her. She was crying, and Nate prayed for her in English and I prayed for her in English and I tried in Spanish too. And we were talking to her for a bit. And we were just sitting with her for a while silently because it’s like what can you really say in that situation. I gave her some hugs too. She was calm sometimes, but then would start crying again. I started crying a bit too because I think that’s the worst thing that could happen to you in life. I tried to say to her in Spanish that God is with the brokenhearted, and I said that we don’t understand, but God can understand because His son died too. We prayed for peace and blessings for their family and for the presence of God, and we told her that we believed that one day she’d see her son in Heaven. I also prayed that God would raise her son from the dead. I’ve never done that before, and it sounds crazy to me now, but I know God has the power to do that. I read the Beatitudes in the Bible in Spanish to her, and Nate also sang a worship song. She told us that her son that passed way was 3 months old and that she had 5 other children and that she had been at the hospital for 8 days, and we found out that her husband had been there for like 20 days. She said she’s been a Christian for a year and a half and that she became a Christian when her other child got sick. Later her parents came outside to comfort her. I felt that God had ordained us to be there for her. I’ve never experienced anything like that before because things like that don’t happen very often in America, and I’m just not around hospitals a lot. But it sounds like here in Guatemala it’s not rare for infants to pass away.
Later, Jake and I still went to share the Gospel, and the first people we talked to weren’t very interested and didn’t want to hear, but then we sat next to two different people who were very interested and the guy Jake talked with spoke English well and his wife had just had a healthy baby, and the guy I was talking to just spoke Spanish and his wife’s labor didn’t go well and the baby died. The guy I was talking to was only 18 years old and his wife was 15 apparently, and he said that this was their first child. He said he was like a farmer I think. I read and tried to explain the Gospel booklet I had in Spanish and he said that he already believed in Christ, but when I tried to confirm if he already accepted Christ as his Lord and Savior I think he said that he still had to think about it, so I’m not sure where he was at spiritually, but maybe I misunderstood him. But after I was done reading it, he started to read it for himself and when I left he was still reading it. And I prayed for his him and his wife too. He told me that he had been sleeping outside there for 3 nights and that it was cold, and I was able to give him a blanket which I hope was a blessing to him.
Also yesterday I got to lead my team Bible study about the Gospel about what it is and why we should preach it, and I got to share a testimony of God about how He’s helped me to trust in Him more to the church today in English and Spanish. It was a God-filled day, and I feel honored to be used by the Lord. I pray that he was glorified and honored and that I would be humble and remember that God’s performance is more important than my own. Yesterday I really felt in tune with God’s purpose and will. It’s really cool what He does when you surrender to Him and are open to be used by Him.
I also got to have Chinese food with Mindy and Grace and another squad mate after church which was really yummy.
Ok well just thought I’d update you on that because it was significant to me, and I wanted to process it. God be with you!
You can pray for:
1 The woman and family of the 3 month year old who passed away. She told me her name, but I forgot what it was- I’ll ask Nate if he remembers
2. Raul was the guy who Jake was talking to- for their family and new baby
3. For the family of the guy I was talking to- I think his name was Olvideo.
4. For our last week in Guatemala! We've been doing some physical labor and my back's been hurting a bit- so you can pray for that 🙂
