Several days ago we were told by our squad leaders that my team and I would be completely on our own for the next week. That meant that we would travel to 3 countries, Suriname, French Guiana, and Brazil by ourselves. Adventures in Missions has never sent racers to Suriname or French Guiana, so our goal is to make contacts and pioneer the way for futures racers. That entails finding men and women of peace that are open to the idea of us serving them in their churches and communities. Here on the race we have a tight budget. Per person we get 5 dollars a day for food, 5 dollars a day for lodging, and 1 dollar for transportation. Making traveling interesting and always an adventure.
Traveling to another country is always a little unnerving because you’re abandoning home and stepping out into the unknown, and hopefully most of the time you have someone on the other side to give you a little help and extend hospitality. Well we were going into these countries very blind with no contacts on the other side.
I was very nervous. I tend to worry and stress, and always come up with worst case scenarios in my mind. My thinking went to being homeless or stranded on the side of the road in the rainforest. We began researching and had little success. We couldn’t find anywhere to stay in our budget for Suriname, and the only thing we could find in French Guiana was remote or beach campsites. We quickly realized that we would have to completely depend on God this month.
We set aside time and asked the Lord where he wanted us to go. We came up with a rough game plan and decided we would just wing it. We had some help with getting to Suriname from a guy named Kevin. He was our bus driver, and he even had a place for us to stay in Paramaribo, the capital of Suriname. With some negotiating the guesthouse owner allowed five of us to stay in a room for two that was in our budget. We felt that God wanted us to spend little time in Suriname and move on to French Guiana, which did not make much sense. French Guiana is a territory of France and uses the Euro. Every lodging place we looked at was wildly expensive, and transportation was equally as expensive. Our plan was to camp on the beach and rent a car.
We got to French Guiana yesterday morning around 9:30am. Traveling across the border was very easy. We took, what seemed to be, a giant canoe, with a motor, across the river and they stamped our passports and we had arrived. The challenge and relying on God really began. We needed to get to a city 2 hours south of where we were. The first thing we did was try and rent a car. That was way out of our budget and we were shut down pretty quickly. God provided a taxi bus that took us to a city called Kourou.
We arrived about 3pm in the hot sun. We had him drop us off near a hotel just in case they would work out a deal with us. We talked to the lady at the hotel and she was no help at all. She actually laughed at us and asked, “why would a church send you out without a place to stay?” We continued on and started walking around. We tried to find a few hotels, but we were very unsuccessful with that. We decided to look for churches that would maybe point us in the right direction. We went to 5 churches and they were all closed and we began to get very discouraged. We had been walking around for about 45 minutes in the hot sun, and right before we were going to give up and try to find another cab to get to another city, we met John.
John was working outside of the international church and we walked up to him and told him who we were and what we’re doing. He quickly said let me call the pastor to see if he can help. The pastor wife came right away and sat down and talked to us for an hour. She was confused as to what our mission was, but she wanted to help us. She began calling people from the church and different organizations in the city. She called this lady in the church, and she told us to wait for awhile. A little later a small woman showed up in a big toyota truck. We explained to her who we were and she said get in the truck you can stay with me.
Just like that this lady opened up her home to us. We drove to her home, and we pulled up to a beautiful home with a pool!! She heated up soup and fed us. She was an answer to our prayers. She opened her home and said just pay me $20 for food and lodging a night. She is a true picture of what Jesus has called us to do. III John 1: 5-8 says,
Dear friend, when you extend hospitality to Christian brothers and sisters, even when they are strangers, you make the faith visible. They’ve made a full report back to the church here, a message about your love. It’s good work you’re doing, helping these travelers on their way, hospitality worthy of God himself! They set out under the banner of the Name, and get no help from unbelievers. So they deserve any support we can give them. In providing meals and a bed, we become their companions in spreading the Truth.
We have been unbelievably blessed. God answered all of our prayers, and took care of us. I was so skeptical and thought I needed every detail worked out before we left. I lacked so much faith. I was reminded that I am on this journey for Him and He will not hold back from me. He is ready to bless and show me who He is. I just have to trust Him, and He is showering grace on me through my unbelief. He keeps giving even when my faith is weak. He keeps changing my heart even when I am reluctant. He is an amazing Father and I am so grateful for his love and kindness.
