From Rwanda, Vanessa Butler (September 2011 A squad) met a 101 year-old woman who stole her heart:
I covered her eyes with my right hand, feeling her eyelashes against my palm while I rested my left arm on her back. Jenna sat before her on the concrete floor, touching her legs with Jon on the other side, sitting on the wooden arm of the couch, both hands resting on this ever growing stronger body. More prayer ensued, more words, more declarations and more requests with the authority we had been given. I opened my eyes as I came to the end and I slowly lifted my hand back from those beautiful eyes…
A visit to the city dump in Tegucigalpa, Honduras exposed and challenged Pat Stiller (January 2012 E squad): This experience also has shown me that our lives in the states are definitely not the norm. I’m not saying we should feel bad about what we have been given, but I am asking how are we going to use the gift?
In El Salvador, Hugh Roberts (January 2012 D squad) and his teammates met a woman whose son passed away:As we brokenly communicated that we wanted to pray for her son to be
raised from the dead a huge wave of emotion overwhelmed my body. I
wasn’t overtaken with fear or doubt but what seemed more to be a bone-chilling experience. I approached the dead man, the smell described
earlier just grew stronger and the flies were surrounding his body. I
have only seen three dead bodies in my entire life and I have never
prayed for anyone to be brought back from the dead.
Lauren Ricks (July 2011 W squad) has been in Swaziland where she and her team are working with preschool children but had an incredible encounter with one of their mothers. She needed physical healing:“My teammate Lauren sits on the floor below the bed and prays. Then,
Ashley does the same. Corine tells her why we have come. She asks if she
knows Jesus. Zandelay says, “no.” Kaitlyn shares the entire gospel in a
simplified way, emphasizing her forgiveness and that all she has to do
is believe in and love Jesus. I look to see that the room is completely
filled with neighbors who also do not know Jesus. Yes! Everyone has just
heard the gospel…
Zandelay speaks three words: “I love Jesus.”
