Sunday night we flew out to Cartegena for a week of unstructured ministry.
Driving to the place we booked for the week, it was obvious that the booking had been embellished.
It was further away from town and the beach and was located in a rougher neighborhood—evident by the scantily clad women walking around on the street before our destination at 1AM as we taxied to our apartment from the airport.
But God brought us here for a reason.
Monday morning, as we walked out of our apartment to grab our taxi to town, Janine stopped to pet the neighbor’s cat.
The woman told us from inside her home that the cat’s name is Blanca.
That night when we returned home, the woman was sitting on her patio. We stopped by to say hi and introduce ourselves. Through our broken Spanish we told her we were traveling to 11 countries to share the love of Jesus.
She said she knows Jesus as well and agreed to let us pray for her and her mother the next morning.
Her name is Esther.
When she told us her name, my mind immediately jumped to the two Esthers I had met previously on the Race.
Girls full of strength and embodiments of the Lord’s provision.
One lives with our hosts in India. She was ‘adopted’ by them after she lost her parents and always wore a smile on her face.
The second was the only true orphan at the orphanage we worked at in Thailand—incredibly sweet and kind.
Both being orphans like their namesake in Scripture, they carried her same strength.
I immediately felt the same about this woman.
Early the next morning, we were invited into her house and her dreams. She currently has a church that meets in her small home and she has dreams of building another floor above her own for the church and elevator to house more people. She provides refreshments to the community to help meet people’s needs in this poorer sector of Cartegena.
After two mornings of praying over her, she and her Pastor arranged a special meeting of her church for us to meet them—and she asked us to share a Word.
So, last night on our last night of World Race ministry, I delivered my testimony in Spanish with the help of Google Translate for ten people who live in or near the apartment complex.
After praying over them, and being prayed over, we were called two doors down to the home of the man who checked us in.
He brought us to speak with his 23 year old daughter—the only Christian in her family. We chatted about what we’ve been doing and we prayed over each other.
God meets us in the unexpected places.
He uses unlikely people and unlikely circumstances to bring Kingdom.
We simply have to look around and be willing.
I saw that so evidently in our housing situation this week.
This morning, we checked into a different hostel. And, can you guess what the receptionist’s name was?
That’s right, Esther.
