So during one of the nights of squad debrief one of our leaders asked us to get into groups of three to four. He asked that in our groups we would pray, listen to the Lord, then go into the city where we felt the Lord was leading us.
Earlier in the day my leader told me about this plan and told me to pray about it. I wasn’t really sure what I was supposed to be praying about but three people from my squad popped into my head as I prayed throughout the day.
When we split up I went and grabbed the three of them as soon as I could. After we prayed and listened to the Lord a bit together, one of the girls said she kept seeing a red hat and another said she continued to see white shoes.
None of us really knew what that was supposed to mean but we ran with it and hit the streets of Valparaiso, Chile around 10 pm looking for a red hat or white shoes. For awhile we walked around the bar district looking around and feeling kind of awkward. Seeing a red hat or white shoes on people here and there but not really sure what to do from there.
For while we stood awkwardly against the wall of the bar streets not knowing where we were supposed to go or what we were supposed to do. Then I saw him. A guy with a bright red hat and bright white shoes started to walk in our direction. He then stopped a few feet away speaking with a group of people around his age.
As if we weren’t already standing there awkwardly enough, we were now standing there staring/trying not to stare at this guy. And I’m pretty sure him and his friends were starting to notice.
I think all four of us knew he was the one we needed to talk to but didn’t know how to or what to say. He looked like he may be doing a drug deal, there were a bunch of guys and girls continuously visiting with him, and we didn’t speak Spanish. There just wasn’t a right way to do it.
We decided once the group of girls left we would go and talk to him. Still, after the girls left we still stood there doing nothing. I knew the girl in our group who had the vision of the red hat was the one that was supposed to talk to him. But since none of us was doing anything we started to pray.
After praying I felt I was supposed to ask his name and that was all. So I walked away from the group and went up and asked his name (pretty much the only phrase I knew in Spanish). Soon after us attempting to further communicate the girl from my group walked up behind me and started to speak to him as best she could in her limited Spanish.
After small talk visiting with him for a bit she told him why we were talking to him and asked to pray with him. He confessed he was going through some difficult times that he didn’t want to talk about but welcomed the prayers.
Afterward you could see something in his eyes. A look I call “thanks that meant a lot but I’m not going to get sentimental in front of my friend.” He then thanked us and we walked away hoping that we at least did what God was asking of us but not sure the purpose behind it. And that was that.
The next morning our squad got together to visit about what had happened the previous night in each team. After a few people sharing stories, our hostel manager began to tell us some stories of what he has heard on the streets.
He asked if there was a girl with dreads praying for someone on the street by the bar(the girl in my group). He then told us that morning he was visiting with a taxi driver. The taxi driver told him how he and his son hadn’t been speaking for a long while. But just last night his son reached out and reconciled their relationship. His son said a girl with dreads prayed with him.
Y’all God moves. When we sit and listen He will guide us. Sometimes it doesn’t really make sense, but when we try to stop making sense of everything, put our pride and comfort aside, and go with it, God will use us.
We could have so easily walked away and went back to the hostel calling it a night. We could have continued just standing on the street not speaking to the person God called us to. We could have named our visions as silly, and the guy with a red hat and white shoes as a coincidence. But instead we chose to listen.
This time we got the privilege of partially seeing what God began to do through one simple prayer. It makes think how much God uses us that we don’t get to see the fruit of. It’s so encouraging and makes me want to stop and listen more to the simple weird things he ask of me.
How much good can happen if we stop and listen.
Have you stopped lately? Have you reached out to another? Have you willingly put your pride and comfort aside to do the thing God is asking you to do? Promise it’s worth it!!
Go love on some people y’all!
This is only one small story of the many that have happened that night and this past week. Our hostel manager accepted Jesus, he is already starting a ministry, God placed someone in our path to disciple him and his friends, a jobless man got a job in less than 24 hours, a father and son reconciled….Y’all our God is so good!
Check out these blogs from my squad mates telling more amazing things of what is happening in Chile promise you don’t want to miss it.
http://victoriakuhlman.theworldrace.org/index.asp?filename=rooftops-drug-addicts-drunks-and-debrief
http://jennagilman.theworldrace.org/index.asp?filename=chronicles-of-the-holy-spirit
