It was a beautiful off day of ministry, and my teammate Margaret and I headed into the city to relax from a busy week of ministry in Guatemala. We made it to the main road to hop on the bus that supposedly takes you into town, and we learned from the locals through Spanish words we kinda knew to get the knowledge of the buses are not going into town. Great. So we do what World Racers do best, we don’t panic and before we know it a man stops to pick us up in a truck. We ask how much and he says quince and we hop in. A fantastic start to our morning.
Next, we arrive at the city of Rio Dulce, which we then proceeded to get on a water taxi to go to the marina with wifi, swimming, drinks, and food. What more could you really need on an off day? We arrived and met this wonderful girl named Molly from Australia which we shared why we were here and her story as well. She was with a group of people from mostly Australia (one from New Zealand and the other Israel) and they were here for a few weeks touring around Central America. Everything about the morning was going so well. I went to change into my swimsuit and head out to the end of the dock at the marina to FaceTime my friends and family and get some sun. Now the next scene is one you need to imagine here with me.
I am at the end of the dock, sailboats all around me, beautiful sunny day. I have my backpack rested on my shoulder, phone in the same hand as the backpack. I start to take my backpack off and rest it on my elbow crease, and naturally, that makes my hand pop my phone right out of it and plop into the water. I watch my phone float down, down, down to the bottom of the lake. I instantly yell some words I probably shouldn’t say here, and Margaret comes running over. There’s no way in heck I was about to go swimming to the bottom. I knew it would be too deep for me to get to. So I run over to the Australians and ask if anyone is willing to help me retreat my phone from the bottom of the lake. They run over and two of them go in after it. After searching the bottom for several minutes, they cannot see anything. I have started to accept the fact that my phone is probably a goner. I was so thankful for their willingness to help me.
After that, I laid on the dock by myself. I sat there just looking over at the water knowing that my phone was right next to me at the bottom of the lake. So much frustration happening through my mind. I also had decided to fast today, so my level of irritation was very sensitive. I then resorted to sitting up and just looking out at my view. I really had nothing else to do. And then it hit me: I never would have sat and appreciated this view in front of me if I’d had my phone. I would have had my eyes set on the distractions of my phone. Instead, I sat there and just basked in God’s creation. The beautiful warm water in front of me, glistening under the bright sun. Sailboats rocking back and forth with the waves, the breeze cooling me off running through my lungs. Big breath in, and out. I just sat and appreciated His creation and all that it is.
And then I heard “Hola”, from somewhere. Are they talking to me? Another “Hola” and so I turned and there is a gentleman coming up to the dock in his boat. “What does he want?” I thought to myself. And so I say “hola” back as that is the polite thing to do and he just keeps getting closer to my dock. I see him getting ready to tie up his dock, and so I grab the rope and tie him up to the post. He then says in broken English/Spanish that he saw from across the bay that I had dropped my phone in the water and he was here to help. I was in shock. He grabs his snorkeling goggles, strips down to his boxers, and hops in the water. He asks “aqui?” and I point to the general area of where I’d dropped it. He dives down below the surface and disappears for what felt like 20 seconds and what do you know. HE COMES UP WITH MY PHONE. First try. WHAT. I just started crying. Not just because I had my phone back, but mostly at this kind man who came over to help me retrieve my phone. He sure didn’t need to do that, for nothing in return. I was overwhelmed with his generosity. I ran over to grab my wallet and took 100 quetzals out (about 20USD) to give to him. I ran back, handed him the money, and he smiles and says “angel” and points up to the sky. I didn’t even know what to say. He literally showed up out of nowhere and helped me, I am convinced he was indeed an angel. He disappeared and honestly still don’t know exactly where he came from (heaven probably let’s be honest) but I can tell you that it was in God’s plan to have all of it happen. I am SO incredibly blessed to have my phone back and to have that man show up and be so willing to help me. People are so so kind and I am just so thankful to have God place people in my life like that to just show how great people can be.
Unfortunately, my phone isn’t turning on. I had a life proof case that didn’t quite keep the water out. And it was submerged for over 30 minutes. It is on day 3 of sitting in a bag of rice and still has snow no signs of life. Continued prayers for my phone would be greatly appreciated. God is GOOD.
