This week has truly felt like I have been on The World Race…We had Spanish lessons each day, sanded and re-sanded church pews, then re-sanded after patching more holes, went out for nightly evangelism in the square with the church, and traveled by motor taxi (my new favorite form of transportation) to play volleyball against the locals.
One of my favorite times this week was when we went to the square to talk to people about Jesus. I was with a Spanish speaking lady named, Patty. We went to different people in the square and I told her in my Spanglish (Spanish and English) that I wanted to pray for people and to specifically pray for healings. We went around and talked with people and got to know them and I prayed for Jesus to heal people. While I was praying for this man another man came up to me and pulled up his pant leg to show me his knee. It was obvious that something was wrong for it and he motioned me to pray for him. It made me think about Jesus and how people watched him from afar and then approached him. This man came out of nowhere and obviously knew what I was doing or talked to someone that I previously prayed for to know that healing was taking place. It also showed me that people are watching… In all ways I need to be glorifying Christ and make Him viable and me less visible.
On the other hand, it is really frustrating to not be able to fully talk to these people because I don’t know their language. I was with a Spanish speaker but she didn’t know what I was really saying and if people were healed it was hard to find out. I motioned a lot of times for people to use their body part that I prayed for to see if God healed it. From their reactions, sometimes God did heal it and sometimes He didn’t. It is the faith that is important here. Knowing that God can heal and will is an amazing thing.
Lastly, another thing that happened this week was that we had an earthquake 50 miles from where we are staying in Peru. It was a 7.0 earthquake and the girls and I were sitting in the room of our house talking and saw the house move…When I say move I mean moving like the house was Jell-O or a wave under the building. I heard kids screaming and we ran down the stairs out of the house. Was I scared? Not really because I know that God has a plan for me this year and this isn’t the end. It was a good awakening for my teammates though. They realized life is short and there are family, friends, and people who don’t know Jesus and they felt an urgency to tell everyone about him.
It is awesome to see how God uses all things for his good! In our team we are going through the book of Matthew and we are reading chapter 8 where Jesus heals people (so appropriate) and one of my favorite parts in Matthew 8:7-12 where a man wants Jesus to come and heal his servant and Jesus said ok I will come and see your servant and the man said, “no” my house is not fit for you but you can simply just heal my servant with your words (just how God created the earth). God was amazed at this man’s faith and said, “I tell you the truth, I haven’t seen faith like this in all Israel!” And that is my prayer… to have faith like that man… that God can and will do things…if you just believe and have faith.
Thank you so much for reading!
In Christ alone,
