March 9th, 2018—A day of breakthrough
My squad was a part of a conference called The Awakening in Quito, Equador. We got to come alongside another Gap year squad and a world race Fusion squad who’s entering their 3rd month, and spend 4 days soaking in the Spirit together, worshipping, encouraging each other, and preparing for our final 3 months on the Race.
I was asked to be one of the 4 evangelism coordinators for the 3 squads, so I helped organize an EV team which got to plan a 3-4 hour session of teaching and going out into the city to do evangelism. Over 100 people got together, and after spending a couple days being refilled, were able to go out into Quito with the Gospel. For me, this was a beautiful time of seeing the Spirit move, and the Lord graced me with one of my very favorite experiences in my whole time in South America.
Before we went out, we had a time of sharing stories of how we’d seen God work in evangelism. The Spirit prompted me to share a story from my squad mentor, Kacie Tillman, about a time when the Holy Spirit had translated for her so she could speak with an Indian pastor. The entire conversation, he kept telling her she was speaking in his language, while she was speaking and hearing him speak in English. The story blows my mind every time I hear it, and I was encouraged as I went out in a Spanish-speaking country.
My group of 9 got to the park and split out in partners to talk with others, pray for them, and be available to the Spirit. I wasn’t looking for it, but the Lord was about to do something miraculous.
My attention was drawn to a man walking down the sidewalk, and I stopped and introduced myself. My Spanish is pretty terrible, even after 4 months in South America, but I asked him his name and introduced myself. He responded with, “Joel? Like the prophet?” and he told me he was Catholic.
Immediately after, he started spouting off Scriptures from all over the Bible. Most Catholics in Latin America don’t have too much knowledge of the Bible itself, so this was a pleasant surprise. Now usually at this point in a conversation, I’d be completely lost, but I was surprisingly able to track with what he was saying, and I continued asking questions.
In Spanish.
And understanding his Spanish.
At first I hardly noticed what was happening. I was so wrapped up in the conversation that I barely even saw that I was speaking, with ease, about 3 or 4 times as much Spanish as I actually knew. But as the conversation continued, the Lord made it even clearer that he was translating for me. The man kept talking faster and faster, and somehow, my understanding of the conversation didn’t dwindle at all. At one point I turned to the women I was with and told them, “I don’t know any of the words he’s using, but I know he’s talking about how the Lord loves us all equally even though we’re from different branches of the church.”
He continued on to talk about how he loved the Catholic church, but that we’re all equal in God’s sight and have the same love and connection with him. Normally I wouldn’t have understood a shred of it, but in the Spirit’s power his message came straight to my heart, and I was able to respond and communicate that to him.
At the end of our conversation, I asked if we could pray for him. He told us not to pray for him, because we both know God and have his love. Instead, he asked if we could pray for everyone else in the park, so that they might come to know God as well.
He then proceeded to drop to his knees, confessing his sin to the Lord in front of us, and then prayed that God might take those who didn’t even know they were being prayed for and make them into apostles and prophets to bless the church. We got on our knees with this fervent believer we’d just met and prayed alongside him for the church in Equador.
That is the power of our Lord. He’s greater than the walls we built between ourselves, and has the power to awaken love that’s greater than barriers. Even when it requires awakening the ability to speak Spanish in me. God’s love is greater than our human borders every time—even language.
Thank you for your prayers—the Lord is on the move!
~Joel
