Man of Mogollon

So our time in the DR is over already.  It started off slow, as I treaded carefully
and was still getting used to the idea that my life in the past month is
drastically different, more challenging and entirely more introspective (and I
sense, ultimately more rewarding) than my life a year or even a month ago.  But it picked up the pace and it’s hard to
believe that our squad is wrapping up debrief. 

When I think of our ministry in Mogollon, the term that
comes to mind is refrigerator blindness – when you open the fridge and search
for what you want, moving aside items on the front shelves, rearranging
containers, removing jars, only to find what you were searching for in front of
you the whole time.  For me, Felix is
just that.  I thought the end of our ministry
would bring stories of physical healings, or praises for the salvation of new
believers, or descriptions of how we encountered spiritual warfare and
witchcraft.  We were also focused on
communicating b/w Pastor Manuel and the translator, so we didn’t realize that the
highlight of our ministry and the greatest thing to come out of it was in front of us
all along: Felix, the guy who appeared seemingly out of nowhere and shook our
hands on the first day when we met Pastor Manuel, who helped with all tasks
from manual labor to VBS to door-to-door evangelism, who came into his own and
who we can now call friend and brother.  Once
our team realized Felix was our ministry as much as the ppl of Mogollon and
Pastor Manuel were, if not more, we saw just how far he has come. 

In the beginning, he was shy and passive.  I remember going with him to do door-to-door
evangelism the first week.  All of us
were nervous and didn’t know what to expect or where to begin.. Felix hung back
and told us to take turns sharing our stories at each house.  He spoke gently and sometimes with slight
hesitation or uncertainty when translating. 
By the end of our last week, Felix had become a lion.  He went from dipping a toe in the water to
jumping in with both feet.  It felt like
we were part of the audience, watching him proclaim and profess his love for
the Lord and the Lord’s love for His people. 
Our questions and wanting to relate to each person helped Felix to delve
deeper with them on why they did or did not want to accept Christ.  To have made an impact on Felix and helped
mold him, even a tiny bit, into a more confident man of God was our ministry..
we just didn’t know it. 

So instead of
participants in an action movie, we were part of a character development drama.
 God stirred up a fisher of men, and to
watch it unfold, to help build him up, to call him a friend, and to have
learned what it means to be faithful, joyful, hopeful and full of expectancy, is
worthy of so much praise.  That he would
desire to pray for each of us on the day that we were celebrating and
appreciating him humbles me.  How much
more effective is a Dominican who follows Jesus, than a missionary who is only
here for a few weeks?  How much more
lasting will his mark be?  He is the
difference that a country like the DR needs to become a sending nation.

Dios vendiga, Felix. 
You rocked our first month!