God is always setting things up for us. Yesterday, we decided to ask the Lord as a squad what He wanted us to do in the city. We didn't have a lot of time allotted, but we wanted to see how He is working so we prayed and went out into the streets. My group started with 5 people and ended with 3 people: Joe, Evan, and myself.
We walked toward the sea because that's where we felt God was telling us to go as we prayed. As soon as we reached the sea, we met a boy named Roberto. He was 15 and he was from Haiti. He was a shoe shiner. We asked him if he was hungry and he said yes so we took him to get some food. His friends met up with him as we walked to the restaurant and we pooled our money to buy them sandwiches. The restaurant owner said that the boys couldn't sit in the restaurant so we sat on the street with them.
We learned that the boys all had parents that had either died or were in jail. Roberto lived with his grandmother but some of the other boys lived on the streets. We started to share about Jesus and how He loves them and sees them and hears them. We shared about how they can be leaders and that God is their Father in heaven- even if they don't have an earthly father. We shared that Jesus teaches us to love even if it's hard or even if they aren't feeling love from the people around them. We told them to take care of each other and look out for each other. And we prayed for them.
We hugged and took a picture with them before we left and Joe walked over to pay for the food. All of a sudden a song that our translator from Haiti, Amos, had written (in Creole) and shared with us last month popped into my head. I knew I had to tell Roberto the words. It says, "Saka chanje ak jezi." In English, that means, "It can be changed with Jesus."
I asked him in Spanish if he understood. He said yes and smiled so big. Roberto and the boys said a second goodbye and waved to us all the way down the road as we left them.
There are a lot of cool things about this story. The fact that Evan, Joe, and I have come so far in boldness and obedience from September when we were on Team illumination is cool. The fact that we had no hesitation in blessing the boys that God put directly in our path was cool. The fact that we were so open to be lead completely by the spirit is cool. The fact that Evan translated with confidence and without hesitation in a language that he doesn't really speak was so cool! But I think the coolest part of that story is that God used the tiny bit of Creole that we learned last month to bring His kingdom in a country where creole is not the native language. God is always preparing us for His work and His plan for how it all works together is so much more vast than we could ever imagine.
I trust that no matter how small or large our role is, we all play a specific part and we function as a body to the Lord's work. We probably won't ever see Roberto again, but God will send other people. And though our time with Roberto and his friends was short, we were able to show them Jesus's love and His joy and His kindness. We were able to show them something different and hopefully plant a seed in their hearts to start searching for Jesus.
