One of the things our squad mentor does each month is challenge us in new ways to serve the Lord and do ministry. At launch, she gave each of us a Bible that is made especially for sharing the gospel with new or non-believers because it highlights just a few specific verses that help to understand the message of the gospel: the problem is we are sinners (Rom 3:23), the just wages of sin is death but grace is given as a free gift to inherit eternal life (Rom 6:23), God showed His love for us in that while we were still sinners He chose to die for us (Rom 5:8), we are saved by grace and not by anything we can do ourselves (Eph 2: 8-9), if you confess that Jesus is lord and believe He was raised from the dead then you will be saved (Rom 10:9-10), and everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved (Rom 10:13).
It’s meant to be a simple, easy to understand, guided tour through the message of the gospel. There’s a color for each verse and a bracelet to wear tangibly alongside it as a reminder of the message.
The challenge was to take this Bible and give it to somebody.
However, my team in Palacaguina wasn’t around English speakers who could understand such a gift. I think we all kind of figured it would be something we gave later after we left Palacaguina.
But then toward the end of our days in Palacaguina, I started feeling like God was telling me to give it to the one English speaker in the village: our roommate who works for the ministry we served (516 Now), a woman called Yaner.
Yaner is a bold and fierce Christian. She loves and serves others so well. You would not believe some of the things we did with her in our time together in Palacaguina.
She leads the youth at the church and so we were able to join their ministry and play soccer with those kids and pour love into them for an evening. She also was planning a women’s ministry event that someone in the USA had donated money to sponsor. It was an entire Saturday event in which women came together and discussed the dreams they had in their life, including the ones they regretted not completing. Yaner spoke to these beautiful women of all ages about their identity and reminded them that they are beloved daughters of God. We shared a meal with them, wore magnificent paper crowns that my team cut out and prepared to remind us of Isaiah 62:3:
“You will be a crown of splendor in the Lord’s hand, a royal diadem in the hand of your God.”
And then we washed one another’s feet.
If you’ve never washed someone’s feet, then you don’t know how powerful this act is. It brings people together. There is so much humbleness and love and sacrifice being poured into the act that every time you wash someone’s feet, you can’t help but be changed a little bit. And the look on the face of the woman who washed my feet is one I won’t forget. The joy she had in asking if she could wash mine. The fact that these women didn’t hesitate to provide more than the 5 volunteers needed to wash our feet in return. Man there are so many things about this simple act that are powerfully impactful no matter who you are.
Yaner put that day together.
The only problem with it was that it happened just a few days before we left Palacaguina. Our relationships with the women who came from our church and with the people of the village changed and grew and multiplied so rapidly because of that one day of time spent together. I would have loved to revel more in those new relationships that were fostered despite the language barriers. You don’t have to be able to talk much to love on someone well.
Yaner was also the translator at church each week for the 6 of us to give our testimonies. She translated for us and described to us that being able to do so was one of the most impactful parts of our time together in Palacaguina.
Yaner did so many things to love on us and to love on the people of her village.
And throughout all of the things Yaner did, she really wouldn’t take credit. She said they were God’s events. She said they were God’s ideas. She said she was blessed to be able to do the hard and difficult work of planning and loving these people of her village.
I’m humbled by her.
I hope you can understand why.
So, in the last few days I started feeling like God wanted me to give her my Bible.
I was a little confused because she’s not a new believer. She’s well rooted and established in her faith. But God told me she’s going to need it in the future. Possibly, she needs it to teach little Cesia some English. Possibly a new believer that’s an English speaker will come to the village and Yaner can minister to them. Possibly Yaner needs some help with learning more English.
I don’t get to know why she’ll need it. My season was to be there in January of 2020, to love on Yaner and the people of the village. My season has ended now. I leave Palacaguina knowing that I was faithful to obedience and I may never get to know the fruits of that obedience. But God isn’t leaving Palacaguina. God knows what’s coming. He knows what they need. He knows why Yaner will need that Bible.
So, the last night before we left in the morning, I gave it to her. She asked me to write a note in it so she can remember and hold tangibly to the love that came with it.
And then she immediately opened it. She immediately began working on reading it. She immediately asked me how to pronounce “Bethlehem” and was surprised by how long that word is in English. She might have even fallen asleep holding that Bible.
In that moment, I wasn’t ministering to a new believer, but I was reminded that ministry of all kinds to all people matters equally. I hope I lit a fire within her to continue ministry. I hope it meant something to her to have love poured back in to a woman who gives so much love to her village.
I’ll never forget Yaner.
