We all knew that God was going to do something incredible during the Parent Vision Trip (PVT). We had been praying for Him to show up in incredible ways for months. He didn’t disappoint. Each of the three days of PVT He had something spectacular planned.
On the first day my team went and played with kids for a couple hours. At the end of the ministry time we gathered for a short message. As I am looking around I notice the kids were not paying attention. At this moment I started praying but it was just a simple prayer. I said “God can you please do something.” He said, “I’m still working.” We left ministry and I felt happy about our time there. That night during one of our sessions I found out that a little girl gave her life to Christ after hearing the message that was told! That was just the first day and I knew God was not done yet.
The second day we went out and did door to door evangelism. We met a few people, but there are 2 who stood out particularly to me. The first one was a woman in her early 30s. We went up to her door and knocked. We didn’t really have a long conversation with her we just wanted to invite her to church. So we left. As we were talking to some men across the street the lady runs out of her and towards us. She started spilling her life to us and we listened. Come to find out she was a single mom. Her husband had left her and now she was staying in a friend’s house and faced the possibility of being forced onto the streets. She asked if we could pray for her. We did and then invited her to a retreat called Beauty for Ashes that some of the moms and daughters were putting on the next day. Guess what! She came! God wasn’t done yet with this day.
As we are walking I see this old man probably in his late 80’s and I knew right away we need to go to where he is. I say “Hola Senor!” No answer. I try a little louder, “Hola Senor!” Still nothing. His granddaughter had heard us and she came out. She explained he is hard of hearing. Well that makes sense based on the lack of reply. We started having a conversation with this young girl, whose name is Rosa. Our translator asked her if she died today does she know if she would go to heaven or hell. She said “I do not know.” I asked, “Have you ever heard of what Jesus did for you and all of humanity on the cross?” Her answer, “No.” “Would you like to hear the story?” I asked. She thought for a second and said “Yes.” So I started by telling her about creation and the fall and then went into the story of Jesus. As I was talking to her I looked her in the eyes. I never once saw confusion but she understood. When I finished the story I said “Do you have any questions?” She said, “No.” My teammate then asks if she would like to have a relationship with Jesus and give her life to The Lord and she said yes! We prayed with her right there! After we were done praying I saw a complete physical change in her! She had so much more joy! We continued to talk to her for a while and tried to connect her with a church. We continued on our journey down the road.
We come upon this open door. Something I have learned is when there is an open door you go up to it and knock and see if the people will let you in. So we went up and knocked. This 81 year old lady whose name is Rosanne immediately invited us into her home. We find out that she is Catholic. She is actually very religious meaning the relationship aspect of God is missing from her life. Our translator once again asked the question, “If you were to die today do you know if you would go to Heaven or Hell?” Her answer, “Only God knows.” My teammate’s mom asked, “Would you like to know for sure?” We never got an answer to that question. We continued to talk to her for a while and we realized that she just needed someone to talk to. Lately I have been around so many of those people. They are people that do not have a support system and so when they come upon people who even say a simple “How are you doing?” They will spill everything. Which isn’t a bad thin, but everyone and I mean everyone needs at least a few people in their life that they can just go to. We were never meant to do life alone. Back to Rosanne, she said that she was very honored to have us in her house and we would be welcomed back anytime. We then left her house and headed back to the church. God showed up that day and guess what He wasn’t even close to being done yet.
It was the last day of ministry with our parents and my team was going to be working with another church in the area. One of the dads shared a short testimony and another dad delivered a message. There were questions after the message that were so good. Some of them were: Why are there so many religions? When is Jesus coming back? And What is faith. He did such an amazing job answering these questions! The pastor then got up and delivered a message as well. I have no idea what he actually talked about but I have no doubt it was powerful. He then asked if anybody wanted prayer. At first no one raised their hand and then slowly hands started going up to where almost everyone in the room wanted to be prayed for. We all get up racers and parents and go to individuals and start praying over them. There was one mom who wanted us to pray for her daughter who was around 3 or 4. She told us her daughter has heart complications and they were going to have to do surgery to fix it. We began praying for God to heal her. I firmly believe that God is going to heal this little girl and she will never have to have surgery! After praying for this little girl we left.
God showed up during the week of PVT. My squad had prayed for God to move and He did. I believe that PVT was just a glimpse of what He has planned for the last two months of my race. I keep asking God for more and more and He keeps answering. It may not be when I want Him to answer, but He always shows me more and lets me see more of His power and authority and His goodness, faithfulness and love.
