Ricardo y Familia

        I think I'm falling in love with this country. Every hour I spend here, I feel closer to Jesus. I shared the Gospel for the first time today. It was incredible. The words just flowed! I hardly had to think, the Holy Spirit just brought the right words to my mouth, all I had to do was open my mouth and speak what the Lord laid on my tongue! Going to the village, I was so nervous. I didn't know what to expect at all! What if the people are mean? What if I draw a mind blank? What if, what if, what if!

         The first house was a bit awkward, I admit. The man seemed pleased have us pray for him, and the look on his face when we gave him a Bible brought me close to tears. We visited a near-blind man, he was so happy when we asked to pray for him. He was the first to invite us inside his home. The poverty really touched me...It was a small, dirt floor home was built out of mud and concrete, with a colorful pink roof. The room had an old wooden chair and couch, a mop made from old rags in the corner, and an aged, framed picture of the last supper hanging cockeyed on the burgundy walls. The man warned us his neighbhor who he claimed "had a horrible, horrible temper" and we best stay far from him. After we prayed with him, I joked that he could now pray for us as we talked with the bad tempered man. He thought that was real funny.

         As we got to the bad tempered man's gate, nobody wanted to speak to him. We were all afraid he'd lash out and reject us. Finally, I felt an urgency in me to go speak to him. I took a step and told me team, "I'll talk to him. I can do it." My team was stunned. This was my first mission trip, first time evangelizing and the youngest of the group. And me, a "tiny little white girl" volunteers to go talk to a buff, shirtless ( no, he was not "hot", haha. ) Hispanic man whose stomach was covered in scars, with a reputation of anger and rage. Craziness. But as I said, I'm getting to be crazy in love with Jesus!

Talking at first was intimidating, but soon, the words just flowed. The man was soaking up every word I spoke. he was thirsty for the love of God, you could see it in his eyes! You could hear it in his questions! We must have talked for a good 15-20 minutes. Halfway through, I realized no one but me and translator were talking, and my entire team is a good couple feet behind me. I suddenly became fearful of what if I was screwing it up! So I breifly glanced back at Amanda to see what her facial expression was. She caught my eye and gave me a big smile and nodded at me. Then I knew I was doing good and there was nothing to worry about. I asked him if he'd like to accept Christ, but he proceeded to say he wanted to read, "this book" ( the Spanish Bible I gave him while talking ) and learn more for a better understand. I think a seed was definitely planted.

 I loved his little boy, Ricardo. He stole my heart. We visited another woman and her children, and again, I got to practice evangelizing. Afterwards my team was speechless, saying how they did not realize I had such a gift and leadership ability. Mrs. Jo-Jo ( my team leader ) suggested that perhaps I had a spiritual gift of evangelizing. All I have to say is God sure did answer my prayers!