This was my 3rd trip on mission to Guatemala, but my 1st one as a team leader. I love that God continually calls me to try something new and proves to me each time that He will accomplish His purposes in my life. There were many amazing moments in which the team and I experienced God working through and in us.
Many moments are still being processed by myself and the other team members. I realize there are many stories still in the making, but for this moment I would like to highlight one amazing thing I watched God accomplish.
One evening, the team and I were invited to the home of a Rio de Vida church member for a cultural dinner. Our two vans of missionaries parked on the side of the road of a neighborhood in Tactic where we would walk up a small hill to the church member’s home. When we stepped out of the van, I was looking around the neighborhood at the many houses set upon small hills and noticed a few kids several a few feet away.
A little boy who looked to be around 5 or 6 years old noticed all of us climbing out of the vans. He looked excited and began to run toward us, motioning for the other children to follow him. The other children appeared more cautious and didn’t join him, but he ran to us anyway and stopped directly next to me. He looked up at me very expectantly, so I knelt and asked him in my limited Spanish skills what his name was. He grabbed my hand and told me his name was Isaac. He then continued speaking to me in Spanish and I unfortunately couldn’t understand him because of the language barrier.
As he spoke, he took my hand and placed it on his neck. I thought he was merely affectionate, but I felt concerned about him running out into the street alone, so I asked him where his family was. He pointed to a nearby house on a hill where a lady holding a baby surrounded by a few other children smiled and waved at me. I waved back, but the rest of our mission team was already walking up to the home of the church member.
This boy seemed ready to follow us and was holding onto my hand, so I asked a translator to tell him it was time for him to go back to his house. I didn’t think much more of the encounter while we enjoyed the cultural dinner, which lasted about 3 hours.
When we were walking back down the hill to the vans, it was dark outside and I was surprised that the little boy Isaac was waiting for us by the vans. This time, he was passing out candy to the mission team and had colored a picture of a rainbow with the words “I love you” written at the top. He handed me the paper, and I gave him a hug, completely amazed that he was standing in the dark waiting for us. He did have an older sister with him this time, and she wanted to take a picture of us.
A translator helped Issac communicate with me, and he said that there was something he had been wanting to tell me. Isaac told me, “My throat is sore, it hurts when I swallow” I thought back to how he had placed my hand on his throat hours before and had been trying to speak to me. I asked him if he wanted me to pray for his throat to get better and he nodded. The translator helped me pray for Issac that his throat would stop hurting, that he would be healed of any sickness, and that his family would be blessed. I have no way of knowing other than faith that God answered our prayer and healed Isaac.
This moment has had a significant impact on me. During Jesus’; ministry, He would visit various towns where people who had heard He was coming would bring sick people to Him in faith that He would heal them. The same thing happened to apostles such as Peter as he continued Jesus' ministry. When people knew, Peter was coming to town, they had faith that God would do something for them. I believe that Isaac saw the missionaries getting out of their vans and knew someone would pray for him. I feel honored that the LORD allowed me to be a part of this moment in this little boy’s life.
We have been told before that when people of Tactic who are familiar with Impact Ministries see one of the vans, they know they will receive a blessing from God. As Christians, we need to consider: do people know us for our walk with God? Do they see God in us enough to have faith in Him because of the testimony of our daily lives? Like how Isaac saw the van full of missionaries and ran to us, having faith that he would be prayed for, do people in our lives know we will pray for them? Do they know we are Christians without us having to say that we are?
Mrs. Megan Hoover
Middle and High School History Teacher
