Evangelism can be scary… like really scary for some of us. I don’t know why. Well, actually I do. It’s fear of man. Something that we should all get rid of in our lives because it’s definitely not of The Lord. Every once in a while, though, when we step out in faith we may find something beautiful waiting for us. We need only to trust The Lord that no matter what happens He has our backs and will direct our paths – including our words.
This month our team has been placed in the city of Cali, Colombia, and our ministry job is evangelism – the one job nearly everyone on our team was dreading, to be honest. While I have plenty of experience in evangelism, preaching and teaching, being placed in a position where I have to do it in another language that I’m not exactly comfortable speaking, Spanish, has made this extremely difficult for me. Translators in this area are more expensive than our budget can handle, per our host, so in my broken language skills I have been put in a position where I have to play that role. Okay, God… back to scary.
It’s very true that God tends to use our weaknesses so that He can be strong through us. The weakness this month? Honestly, there are probably several, but speaking Spanish is definitely in the top 3. Regardless, I feel have made an honest attempt to remain in good spirits about it, and have done my best to spread His message in a broken dialect, hoping someone will be able to hear and understand me – even if it means God will have to give them a supernatural understanding.
This leads me to today’s story. This afternoon my small evangelism group of 3, which included one of my team members who speaks very little Spanish, a local who speaks very little English, and myself (translator) went out into the streets of Cali in connection with a local church, passing door-to-door in a small neighborhood attempting to find individuals who would listen to our message. After walking for nearly an hour with little response, we stopped at a random corner home. We opened the gate around the front patio, and as we were about to enter it to walk to the door a random man on a motorcycle stopped right in front of the house. He befan speaking to us, and in my broken understanding I thought he said he lived at the home. We cordially introduced ourselves, learned that his name is Juan Eduardo, and asked if he would like to hear a story. After a little more time of talking he agreed to hear us out.
My teammate began to share a simple message of the Gospel and I translated it to the best of my ability. When we reached the end of the story we presented him with a simple question – Are you prepared for Christ’s return to the earth for his followers? His countenance clearly changed at the question, and he responded with a simple answer, “No, I am not prepared.” The local member of our group then began asking why he thought he was not prepared, and he responded with this:
“I don’t know why I am not prepared. I try to live a good life, but I’m not sure if I’m ready for when He returns.”
The local then began to start writing down his information so that someone from the church could just contact him later – maybe because she knew the brokenness of my Spanish? I’m not sure, exactly. For some reason I couldn’t let this one just pass by, though. I knew I had to say more, so I took over and continued with the conversation…
“You understand that this is about a relationship, correct? I am not trying to present you with a message about works or deeds, nor people groups or even a church. I am only trying to present you with a message about love. The truth is this – God loved the world so much that he sent His only son to die for you. All you have to do is believe in His sacrifice, ask God to forgive you of your sins and for Him to change your life. He will take care of the rest. This is all you have to do to be prepared.”
His response: “Yes, I know these things. I have seen the Passion of the Christ. When I watch this movie I think to myself: I am a man of many things. I have clothes and a nice house, but Jesus did not have any of these things. They did not even have proper shoes. I am not worthy of His salvation.”
I looked up and happened see our ministry host in the background (who is bilingual), and asked him to come help to ensure what I was saying was being understood. When he arrived at my side, I continued with Juan, responding with something similar to what I attempted to say earlier, but now sure it was being translated properly.
“Juan, it’s not about that. This is a story of love. You do not have to do anything to deserve it. He wants to forgive you and prepare you for his return. You need only to believe and ask for forgiveness. This is all.”
As we continued to talk a little more, our ministry host flat asked him, “Are you ready, Juan. We can pray right now and you can be saved.”
“Yes”, he replied.
Right then and there, we prayed and He accepted Jesus. When he opened his eyes after praying I asked him to look me straight in the eyes and said, “That’s all, Juan. That’s all you had to do. If you really believe what you just prayed, you are saved and prepared for His return.” All he could do was smile.
After getting his information and moving on, I asked our ministry host about the location of Juan’s home. When they were taking his info it sounded like he said he lived in another neighborhood, but I thought he said earlier that he lived at the corner house we stopped at. Turns out I was wrong about the corner house. He lives in a completely different neighborhood far from the one we were at. He works a position at a bank that requires him to run multiple errands for delivery throughout the day. He just happened to be in the neighborhood we were working, just happened to pass by that corner house at the same time as we did, and just happened to decide to stop to find out what a bunch of gringas were doing out there.
Divine Appointment!
About an hour later, we stopped at a little bakery because the pastor of the church wanted to buy us something to drink. Guess who just happened to be there to! I had been thinking just before then – “Man! I wish I had taken a picture with Juan!” Ha! I got my opportunity. So here you go… meet Juan Eduardo…
