To get to our ministry, we have to take two buses every day. We stop at a little tienda in San Luis and wait for a little while for a bus to take us to San Lorenzo, always crossing our fingers that it’ll say campo on the front. Next to the tienda is a tortilleria where a few women make tortillas in the doorway every single day. On Monday, there were little kittens in the doorway. While we waited for our bus, Rachel and I played with the little kittens, as the women brought over more and more.
The next day, when we stopped at our bus stop, Rachel and I walked over to the doorway to see if the kittens were there. A woman sitting by the wall saw us and enthusiastically welcomed us in. Rachel and I walked in and sat on stools with the lady and began to ask her some simple questions in our broken spanish, as she told us her name was Maria Elena. We told her that we were missionaries, we work in San Lorenzo, and told her a little bit about the organization we work with. She was so interested in all we had to say. We asked her if we could pray for her and she lifted up her leg to show us that it was wrapped, so Rachel and I began to pray for healing. When we finished, she asked if we wanted to see. What we expected to be a sprain was actually a really infected burn. So we prayed again, and during it, she wiggled her toes a little, but that was the only movement she could do.
We told her we believe that God can and wants to heal her, and she agreed. We invited the rest of the team into the little tortilleria, because there’s so much power when all of us pray together. So we began praying for a third time, gathered around her with hands on her shoulders, legs, and arms. During this third prayer, she started moving her ankle around. After Malia finished praying, we noticed that her burned skin changed from a really deep pink to more of a skin color. We had to quickly hurry out because our bus had come and we already missed the first bus, but Maria told us that her leg was already feeling a little better.
After ministry, which was house visits, we stopped at our bus stop and Rachel and I walked over to the tortilleria to see if Maria was there. Sure enough, she was in there walking around, and she welcomed us in with open arms. She told us she was feeling a little better, but there was still some pain. We told her we’d come back to check on her since we’re at that bus stop every day. As we were speaking to her, a man walked out with freshly made bread. When Maria saw it, she quickly grabbed a bag and started filling it with all sorts of bread. She kept on repeating “libre.. solo para ustedes”, meaning “free.. only for you”. What is this woman’s income, she gave to us for free. She told us that God is so welcomed into her house, and that she sees Jesus in us. Our bus arrived, and we said our final goodbyes, in awe of how God used kittens to bring us to a woman who so desperately needed healing and encouragement. And that’s not even abnormal. Yanno, these things are so normal for God, you just have to say yes.
