Some of you may have seen that my team and I got to go to Machu Picchu a little over a week ago. Some of you may also know how Machu Picchu has been number one on my bucket list since I was 12 years old and spent about 3 weeks with my 7th grade best friend building a nearly full scale diorama of this specific Wonder of the World. I had one of the best weekends of my life and without the World Race, that wouldn’t have been possible. Without my supporters it never would have happened. However, my flight from Cusco back to Lima overshadows the happenings of that experience. I was in the exact spot God needed me to be in and I was paying enough attention in that moment that I could fully appreciate what He was doing.
This next month in Abidjan, Cote d’Ivoire is one that will be spent evangelizing to truckers that come into the Ivory Coast Port. I’ve never been confident in my knowledge of the Bible and the Gospel enough to convince others to completely abandon their belief system and follow God. I’m pretty terrified about Month 4 in Africa.
I was raised in church and never exactly had that ‘Aha!’ moment that those who come to follow Him later in life do. I’ve had some scarring experiences when it comes to evangelizing and I have always been a show-by-example kind of Christian. That isn’t always the way God wants us to show his love. Evangelism looks different to everyone. Sometimes we have to shout it from the roof tops as loud as we can. Some people aren’t going to automatically see that there is something different is us as believers. Some people need it spelled out and plainly put. Some people just need you to be there and pray for them.
My team and I checked in for our flight at about 8am. We had our boarding passes and we’re in line to board our plane when we all started comparing where we were sitting on this particular plane. My entire team was sat in rows 14 and 15 I believe. I was by myself, all the way back in row 28. Immediately I knew something was up.
I quietly made my way to the back entrance of the plane and found my seat. It was an aisle seat next to a woman holding her young daughter. She invited me to sit down in Spanish and I assumed that’s all she spoke. We got settled, let the man who was sitting in the window seat in, and prepared for take off. I smiled at her little girl and asked the woman her and her daughter’s names. I would be sitting next to Roxena and her year old baby girl, Mariana.
The plane took off and I learned quickly that Roxena also spoke some English. Which was perfect because beyond asking her name, trying to help calm Mariana (which was merely me softly saying ‘Esta bien’ over and over), and asking where she was from, I was pretty much at the end of my Spanish skills. As soon as Mariana began to cry from her ears needing to pop, I knew exactly why I was sat in that seat 14 rows behind my entire team.
Roxena didn’t need help calming her crying daughter, she was doing a great job at that. No, what she needed was a patient adult that wouldn’t scoff at the screaming child beside them.
Roxena had just spent 2 weeks in her home town of Cusco where she returned only because her mother had just passed away. She’s actually living in Los Angeles now. She pointed to my Dodger hat, “I’m from LA too.” She had traveled all this way by herself. I think anyone who has traveled on a plane with a baby knows how tough that can be if you’re all alone. She had one stop in Lima and a stop in Guatemala with her final destination being LAX.
I could hear God saying. ‘Pray for her. Pray for her flights, pray for her poor daughters ears, pray for her.’ I just didn’t know when. As I enter month 4 of my race I can genuinely say I’ve prayed for several people I don’t know, many I had just met, but never have I ever prayed for a stranger by myself. So, I waited. I knew I was going to pray with her. I just didn’t know when. I waited and waited and as soon as the pilot announced our descent into Lima, I felt it. That tell tale sign of my heart pounding in my chest and I knew that then was the perfect time.
I still had to build up the courage to ask. I hesitated for probably 10 minutes and then I turned to her. I asked her if I could pray for her. She seemed a little hesitant but said yes. After I had her permission to hold Mariana’s hand and place my other on her shoulder. I prayed.
If my sole purpose for going on the race, or even just being in South America at that moment, was to be with her on that flight, all this was worth it. I will most likely never see her again. I just hope that she understands that it wasn’t my words in that prayer. I pray she knows the lasting reminder that her and Mariana placed on my heart.
This mere hour of my life I experienced, first hand, the idea that God has a plan and reason for everything. Most of the time it’s only seen in hindsight. Sometimes, it’s never seen at all. Occasionally, He allows you to learn and grow by experiencing His reasoning as it happens. We just need to step into the boldness He has called us into, and Be Brave.
Sending my love and prayers,
Kelli
