Last month in Argentina my team had the privilege of working with a missionary family from Mexico who recently moved to Argentina to share the gospel in a community that, for the most part, wants nothing to do with “church.”
For most of the month, our team experienced what it was like to be “those Christians.” You know the ones I’m talking about—the ones who stand on street corners with signs that say “Jesus Loves You” and hand out tracks and flyers to strangers passing by.
Yeah, this month we were “those” Christians.
But you know what? After the first day of ministry it became clear to me that I was actually going to enjoy this. It really wasn’t so bad. God taught me a lot through it and we had a lot of fun in the process!
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A few days after we arrived with our hosts in Argentina, they told us we were going to put on a skit at the Plaza downtown. We were going to be mimes. “Well, this is a first,” I thought. I hate acting, but I decided to give it a shot anyways (I didn’t actually have much of a choice).
We ran through the skit a few times, got our faces painted to look like mimes, and hopped on the bus headed for the plaza downtown with all our new friends. It was quite comical.
When we arrived at the Plaza, there was already some kind of show going on that was causing quite the commotion, so it was clear to me that no one was going to be interested in a bunch of Christians dressed up like mimes. But still, we found an open area to set up and we gave it the best we had.
I was right—no one was interested.
But then, just as we were finishing up the second skit and we were just about to call it a night, a woman sat down on the bench to watch. Pastor Raul (our host) told her we would do the skit one more time, just for her.
So we did it again, giving it our all one more time. After we finished, Raul’s wife, Jaqueline, sat and talked with our audience for a long time. The woman told her that she used to know Jesus, but had since fallen away from her faith. She said that when she saw our skit, she felt like the Lord was pursuing her and asking her to come back to Him!
The thought that God would have a bunch of Americans dress up like mimes and put on a silly little skit in the park all so that this ONE person would come back to Him and know that she is loved and seen by Him blew me away. This is the God that we serve. If He can use this to lead people to Him, then surely He can use ANYTHING.
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A few days later, we went to a different park to hand out balloons and—you guessed it—more tracks.
After a few hours of this, we ended up in front of a playground where suddenly Pastor Raul pulled out a microphone and a speaker and out of nowhere he became a children’s entertainer. We were dancing and singing songs and playing games. It was a lot of fun! All the parents just watched as their kids had a blast, probably grateful for the entertainment to keep their kids busy for a while.
After about an hour, Pastor Raul began preaching the gospel, and I had a thought that I’m not all that proud of. Usually opting for a more relational approach to ministry, this just wasn’t the method I would have chosen. “Oh great,” I thought, “people are going to take their kids and leave.”
And you know what?
I was right again—most people did take their kids and leave.
But five people gave their lives to Christ that night.
Thank you, Lord, for showing me once again that you can literally use anything. That it’s not about what we do, it’s about the posture and motives of our hearts. That’s what matters to you. Whether we’re handing out track after track at the park, going to bars in red light districts, holding orphans in our arms for hours, or even posting a blog that we think nobody’s going tor read—you can use it ALL.
Huge shout out to my Argentina family (and all of those not pictured)! These people will always have a very BIG piece of my heart. I love you all so much!!
