It was on vague description that we found her. We searched all day and honestly when we found her it was’nt like i had expected. I guess i didnt know what to expect or even know if we would find her. God wanted us to because it was important. Ryan Stewart a former World Racer was impacted by her, so at least it would be important to him. Not only was it important to him it was important to the Lord we were there that day.
Livingston is a city in Guatemala that is about an hour and a half by ferry or a half an hour by launch (which is a speed boat). We had been to Livingston a time before to spend the day at the beach and to be quite frank it was’nt my favorite. To give you a description of Livingston the second we got off our boat there were around five guys who surrounded us and proceeded to try and sell us drugs. Livingstone has a real Jamican feel to it. The speak in an island accent. It is also pretty dirty. People throw trash everywhere and dont think twice about it.
I spent the morning unsure of what the day was going to look like. I prayed that the Lord would guide us. I prayed that the day be about him and not about us. I also prayed that we would find her. The whole day was spent to try and find her which i might add we did’nt have much to go on. Ryan Stewart who I metioned before got in contact with Tara my team leader and told her the story of Justine, a woman he met when he was out on the race. Justine had touched him more than anything else the 11 months he was on the Race. He gave us a few descpritions of where we might find her. We first had to find a pastor named pastor Marcos or a pastor named Salvorn. Also we were told to take the first left before the big hill and take that road to the end and find a church to the right. Once we found pastor Marcos hopefully he would help us find Justine.
We started out the day on the ferry. Zach the only guy on our team prayed that God’s will be done that day. That he would guide us and lead us where he wanted us. Right away God’s hand was at work. We met a girl on the ferry who happened to sit next to Tara, coincidence I think not. Anyways Tara began to talk to her. She was from Virginia and was staying a few weeks with her grandparents in Guatemala. Me, Tara, and the girl decided to go to the front of the boat and we got to talk about life. We got to hear her story. She was a catholic but not very involved. We got to share our hearts with her as well. We got to share about the World Race and share what God was teaching us. We really got to challenge her. At the end before we got off the ferry I asked if we could pray for her. Although she said it was a little wierd she let us. She told us it was the first time anyone had ever prayed for her. She has been on my heart a lot lately. That was the first work of the Lord.
Once we got to Livingstone we got off the ferry and went to get a bite to eat. On the way there was a guy who we met on the street. I found out he spoke english so just in passing we said hey and talked for a bit. We went and ate lunch and headed down the road to try and find Pastor Marcos. We once again ran into the same guy. We just said hey again and keep walking. Once we got to the road we thought we were supposed to turn to go find her Maitili made the suggestion that we stop and pray that the Lord would guide we so we did. We also try to listen to see if he gave us any words to guide us. We heard it was the right street so we started walking. We asked random people on the street but nobody knew her or pastor Marcos or the church.
After walking for a bit we ran into the same guy again. We finally asked him his name, which was Birdie, and we asked him if he knew anything about the lady Justine or anything about Pastor Marcos or the church. He said that he knew a lady who fit our description. She begged in the street all day long and after she went back to her house on the beach. We were’nt sure if that was her so we figured we should find Pastor Marcos first and go from there. On the way down the road we stopped numeros times once again and asked people if they knew anything and they didnt.
We continued and ran into a lady on the side of the street. The lady was very old and she almost looked too weak to stand. Maithili suggested that we pray for the lady. As we were praying over her three guys stopped to make she we were’nt hurting the lady. All three happened to be the ladies grandchildren. We talked to the oldest after we were done praying for her. He happened to be the leader of the area of town so he knew everyone who lived there. He was the community leader. We asked him about pastor Marcos and the church and he told us he knew where it was. So we followed him. We walked for a long way up and down dirt roads and finally turned right down this jungle path. On that road was the church and pastor Marcos and his family came out and greated us.There is no way we would of found them if it wasnt for the guy.
We explained the story of Ryan and how he asked us to find Justine and how it was such a God thing that we even found him. After we got him caught up he ran inside to get some walking clothes on and him and his two boys were going to help us find her. 
We went into town and once again ran into Birdie. We had him share his descpiriton of the girl he thought could be Justine and his story and pastor Marcos’ descpition matched. We thought that we should join forces, that two heads were better then one, and maybe together we could find her. We knew she lived on the beach so thats where we went.
It wasnt long until we found her. She lived in a little shack about 30 feet away from the ocean. Who knew such a beautiful place could house something so rugged. We knocked on the door (which was a matress that covered a little stone house) It took her a few minutes but she told us to come in. At first impression she broke my heart. Her legs were wrapped in scarfs and she wore maggely clothes. Her hair was also draded and she spoke broken english. At least we could communicate with her. We told her that Ryan had sent us to find her. That he wanted her to know how much the Lord loved her. We got and updated on how she was doing. To the looks of it nothing had changed since a year and a half ago when Ryan had met her. She told us that she barely had enough money to eat. She was broken. She told us the story of how she lost most of the movement in her legs. She got bit by some sort of snake iIbelieve. While we were talking Birdie told Zach that he needed to talk to him outside. I could hear bits and pieces of their conversation. He told Zach that Justine had a drug problem. That she begged everyday on the streets and that people felt bad for her and gave her a lot of money. He said that she had probably more money that he did. After that converstaion Zach really got to challenge Birdie. He wasnt a christian but had no reason why. Zach spoke truth into Birdie’s life. We spoke truth into Justine’s life.
The day was a success. Altough it didnt look like what we thought God made it better. We got to minister to the girl on the boat, to Justine, and also to Birdie. Also it was amazing to see the Lord at work. God is teaching me what listening to him is all about. He will guide you exactually where he wants you if you trust in him. Praise him for that. I have full confidence that he speaks in big ways. I challenge everyone to listen, if you hear the Lord be obedient.
