Today was one of those days where I just felt incredible. I have been asking God for more hunger for him and to be more led by the spirit. I think I have seen a lot of opportunities to reach out to people but was afraid to. So today I wanted to definitely reach out like go out of my way to meet people. Taylor, Gail I all left the house looking for cell service but encountered something much different. Our team has been talking about being interruptible and the motto pretty much around adventures in missions is ministry is life and life is ministry.
The seven dollars.
So at debrief, our 5 days of processing the month and preparing for the next month, my roommate Rob Ames found money in his backpack. I told him that I put my seven dollars in there. Then I told him I was kidding. Well he counted it and it turned out to be 7 dollars, so he gave it to me and I told him I’d bless someone with it. Taylor, Gail, and I went out to get a phone chip today and we decided to have a picnic in the park to hopefully meet people and share what we are doing with them. Well we didn’t meet anyone but we did eat sandwiches in a beautiful park here in Arequipa, Peru. I was going to grab a dollar out of my wallet to give to a man on the side of the road and came across the seven dollars. I had forgotten about these and it hit me. We should use the dollars as ways to talk to these people or just meet them and bless them. So we did
The seven people.
The first man, was playing a empty lacquer can and a comb with plastic around it. He was very talented. I tried talking to him twice and he didn’t stop playing so we gave him the dollar. The second person was down the street. A lady sitting on the church steps. She said her body hurt and she was basically bed written for most of the week. Her fingers were crooked and her clothes smelled. We asked if we could pray for her and we did. We then talked to her and at the end gifted her a dollar. The next lady was across the street selling candy. We gave her the dollar and then we prayed over her. The next man was high out of his mind. Something honestly didn’t seem right. I felt something dark and he played us a song on the corner of the street. You could see he was messed up and his song was dark. But we had gifted him the dollar. We asked if we could pray but he said no so we walked away and stopped shortly after to pray for him. Our next gifted was the goat lady. She had a goat and asked if we wanted to take a picture so we did. Then to our surprise she asked for money so that’s the fifth dollar. The sixth, went to a man on the corner. Juan I think was his name. Anyways he accepted the dollar and smiled. And the last dollar is still in my pocket. I have it now and I’m going to give it to the host of our hostel. We have been blessed to get a day early when our plans fell apart. We also have an awesome set up that’s in budget and God has really provided for us. So I’m going to give it to her and use it to just connect. That’s what these dollars are all about. Connection with Gods children. It’s not about the money it’s about the smile we bring to these people who mainly get ignored. My main prayer for these people is that they find God where they are but also is that they somehow find joy and hope in their situations.
Also, yes we are in a Peru. We will be here for two to three weeks. Pray for safety and for big things to happen.
Love you all
Thomas Pond
