This is a picture of me with Alberto, his cousin, Vicky, and his niece, Maria.
Alberto is a radio host who attends the church we are doing our ministries through. Some of the people on my team were able to go on the radio to announce some of our ministries, like English lessons. Alberto invited all of us to his house for tea one day. It was optional and I was feeling tired so I almost didn’t go, but I thought, “That was really nice of him to open up his house to us and invite us for tea, I should go.” Only about half of us went to tea (6 people), but those of us that went were so thankful we did! We walked in and saw the table set with a tablecloth, mugs, tea, coffee, hot chocolate, cookies, crackers, bread, jam, and butter. It was clear that they had gone out of their way to prepare for us. Not only that, but I looked over in the corner and saw a huge cake and a 2 liter of coca-cola. We were so grateful they did all this for us.
It wasn’t the food and drink that made this time so special, though, it was their hearts for the Lord. Vicky immediately asked us how long we had been Christians. We had answers like 10, 8, or 2 years. Vicky said that she and Alberto had only been Christians for a year. After they heard how long we had been Christians, Vicky said, “Teach us! Teach us something!!” They had such an incredible hunger to learn and grow in the Lord. It was so refreshing to see their desire for God. We started flipping through our Bibles and just shared some of our favorite scriptures. There was another woman at tea with us, Lydia. Vicky said that she was in the market when she felt compelled by the Holy Spirit to talk to Lydia. Apparently, Lydia had walked away from the Lord for some years, but after talking to Vicky, decided to recommit her life to the Lord. She came to tea because Vicky told her that we would be there and she wanted to learn more. My heart really went out to Lydia after hearing her story. When I was in 8th grade, I walked away from God, just kind of done with the whole Christian thing. When I wanted to come back to God, I thought that God would be disappointed in me for leaving and that his love wouldn’t be as strong for me. I thought He would never fully forgive me. I couldn’t help but shake the feeling that Lydia believed this lie, too. I wondered if she was believing that God’s love is conditional and that she would have to prove herself worthy to be back in God’s presence. I wanted to share my story with her so that she could know the love described in Romans 8 and be encouraged. Romans 8:35, “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or danger, or sword?” Verses 37-39, “No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Lydia was just about to leave and I almost let the opportunity pass me by, but I knew I couldn’t let that happen. Just before she left, I had my teammate, Christina, translate for me and I was able to share with her this part of my testimony.
After Lydia left, Vicky and Alberto shared their testimonies with us and asked us for ours. Only a couple of us were able to share before we had to leave, but we made plans to come back (next time with all 12 of us). When we came back to Alberto’s the second time, with everyone, it was just as good as the first time. Lydia didn’t come, but discussing scripture with Vicky and Alberto was a soul satisfying experience.
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