“In the name of Jesus, breathe”

They met for the first time in the Atlanta, Georgia airport back in May 2009. Matt Patch, Austin Anglea and Dan Snyder:
instant brothers with much in common. After training camp the three of
them had dreams and visions of the Lord using them together. Even
though they’d talked about it with each other, none really knew what it
could possibly look like.

In November 2009, Matt, Dan and Austin were baptized together in the
Jordan River by their brother, Aaron Bruner.  As they prepared for the
baptisms, they reminisced about the dreams and visions the Lord had
given them and how He was going to use the three of them in His Kingdom
to do huge things (read Aaron’s blog about it here).

It’s now Feb. 26, 2010, and the three have gathered in Jinja, Uganda.

Austin was in town purchasing bus tickets for his team as Dan and Matt
took a boda boda, or a motorcycle taxi, into town to do some work on
the Internet.

Little did they know that God was about to use these three transformed
men–one a former teacher/coach, another a former realtor, and the
other a former cop–in a mighty way. Just one to three years ago they
were living for themselves, living the American Dream, the party life.
Today they were living for the Kingdom.

As Matt and Dan rode towards the town of Jinja on the back of the boda
bodas, they saw a man surrounded by a group of people, laying on the
ground to the left of the road.  As the bodas slowed, the man, who was
covered in blood, came to his feet. He’d obviously been hit by a car or
thrown off of a boda, but seemed OK. The drivers kept moving.   

As the boda bodas came around a slight bend in the road, Matt and Dan
noticed a motorcycle laying there. Its pieces were strewn across the
road. As the bodas slowed, a young girl of about 7 years old came into
view. She was wearing a pink dress and her face and arms were covered
in blood, but she at least was standing.

But just past her, a group of about 15 people were surrounding
something else on the road. The boda bodas stopped in front of the
group and a small boy, also about 7 years old, came into view. His body
was laying in the middle of the road.

He was lifeless.
 
“He’s dead,” they thought.

A man shaked the boy, trying to bring him back to life, but he lay limp.

Dan and Matt pushed through the crowd to get to the boy who had a four
inch bleeding bulge on his forehead. His mouth and ear was spilling
blood.

Matt prayed as Dan looked around for a ride to get the boy to the hospital.

It was then that Austin arrived on another boda boda that was coming
from the other direction. Austin jumped off of the motorcycle and
immediately ran to the boy.

“The kid’s dead,” Dan told him.

Dan told Austin that someone in the crowd was willing to take the boy
to the hospital. The two of them and another man carried the lifeless
boy’s body to the car.

“Do you feel a pulse or see him breathing?” Dan asked Austin.

Austin stopped his prayer mid-sentence, looked up, and simply responded, “No.”

As they lay the boy in the backseat of the car, Austin pulled his
sweatshirt off and put it under the boy’s head. As he did this, the
boy’s chest started to rise and fall.

He was breathing.

The prayers for the boy continued as Dan, Matt and Austin climbed back
on boda bodas. Matt and Dan rode to the hospital to pray over the boy
again. The doctor on duty said the hospital didn’t have the necessary
medicine to stop the bleeding and swelling in the boy’s head.

Matt and Dan decided they’d have to buy the medicine. They ran across
the street and bought some, ran back, and gave it to the doctor.

They prayed again. 
 
Meanwhile, Austin hopped back on his boda boda along with the boy’s
friend and the driver on a mission to find the boy’s parents. They
drove along back roads, through clothes hanging on lines, and finally
arrived in the boy’s village. His parents weren’t home, but they
managed to find neighbors who agreed to tell the boy’s parents about
the emergency.

A few hours later, Dan and Matt were at the hospital again to pray for
the boy once more. They found him, his mother, and his close family
friend there. They were told the boy, Trevor, and his sister, Precious,
were both hit by a boda boda.

And they both survived.

The family is Christian and the family friend who was there is a
pastor. Dan and Matt explained what had happened, that Trevor hadn’t
been breathing when they’d first arrived, but that his breathing came
back after they started praying for him.

As they prayed for him again, Trevor began to move his fingers and his
eyes started to flutter. His mother, Sarah, thanked God and thanked
them for praying for her son.

They promised to keep Trevor and Precious in their prayers, and walked
away knowing they’d experienced the miraculous ability of the Lord and
prayer.

Austin:
I remember becoming irritated as it was taking a ridiculous amount of
time to buy the tickets for the team. But it was no accident for it was
the Lord delaying me for what was soon to happen!  After my time spent
in town I headed back on the motorcycle taxi.  I looked ahead and saw a
crowd of people and as soon as we pulled up close I saw Dan in the
middle taking charge of the situation, and by the look on his face I
knew something was wrong. I tapped my driver and told him to stop, I
needed off!  I remember seeing the boy laying in the middle of the road
saturated in blood, Dan looked at me and said, “he’s dead.”  Going up
to the boy he was lifeless, as his eyes were open but glazed over, he
surely looked dead. There was a man there trying to massage his chest
trying to get his heart working. Not knowing what else to do, I put a
hand on the boy and began to pray in the Spirit as Dan figured out a
car to put the kid in…….we carried Trevor to the car while all
three of us continued to pray and then the car pulled off to take the
boy to the hospital. As quick as that, it was done…..riding back home
on the taxi after we went and told the people in the boy’s village, I
began to cry thinking about the whole situation, but then I began to
think how God aligned the three of us in order to be there for that
boy, and I began to rejoice!  God has a plan for that boy and he wanted
him to live, and how grateful the three of us are to be a part of what
God wanted done that day.

Matt:
Once we pulled up I was scared, shocked, and felt useless. I was
looking at a lifeless child. A million things started to create a wall
in my mind. Then God busted through all of the feelings and said, “hold
on, I’m bigger than that… pray.” So, I did. I walked away from today
realizing that being in God’s will is just that… being. I can’t do
anything. However, in Christ I can do everything. All I have to do is
“be”. Did I raise the dead today? No. I witnessed the beautiful gift of
life that was being stolen given back. Glory be to God. How wonderful
and amazing He is to let us be a part of His plan, His miracles… His
son Trevor’s life.

Dan: