Walking Hand-in-Hand with the Spirit

What is ATL?

Our ministry days with Reindom are Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Saturday. Our team does our sabbath on Friday, and we have “Ask the Lord” days (ATL’s) on Tuesday and Sunday. ATL days are when our team goes out and asks the Lord to lead us into ministry. That can mean just about anything. This has been a really exciting and freeing experience so far, and God has brought about many conversations and experiences that I never thought I would have. Our ATL days have taken us to Antigua, Parramos, Chimaltinango, the beautiful lake adjacent to Panajachel, and closer to home.

Please know, the stories listed below are just some of many, many more (praise the Lord), and I’m hoping to go more in depth with some stories in future blogs!

Antigua

In Antigua, we met a man* who barely had use of his legs and was walking around with the use of a crutch. He shared how he was so blessed because when he was born he couldn’t walk at all, but dragged himself everywhere with his arms. We got to pray for him and his family. It was hard to see this man’s condition and imagine how much this has impacted his whole life. But I was undone by how grateful he was and appreciative of all that God had blessed him with.

Later, several on my team and I got to talk with an older woman* who was weeping profusely. There was a Catholic procession for those mourning their deceased loved ones, and the woman was clearly moved. She had lost her mother years back, but the ceremony was stirring up a lot of emotions for her. She shared that she had no other family, and she never had children. I really connected with her, because it was right before the anniversary of my mom’s passing. I tried to encourage her that Jesus is the great comforter, and that, because He loved us and reconciled us to God through His death, in His resurrection we can have confidence in His perfect love towards us, and know with certainty that His perfect love covers us in every situation.

Parramos

In Parramos, we were walking through the central park, and came across some guys playing pick-up futbol, so we sat down and watched. When they finished, they started talking to us, we told them we were Christians, and they invited us to come with them to meet the head pastor of their ministry. We started following them down the street (God gave us peace about following them), and wound up at a Christian rehab center for guys who are recovering from alcohol and drugs, called: Association Nueva Vida y Paz (New Life and Peace Association). The pastor, Victor, hails from Philadelphia. He had a wild testimony! He was on drugs and in and out of jail for various crimes. At one point, he was going to get put in a penitentiary, and he heard the Lord saying to wait and see that He would get him out. The Lord did, and he ended up becoming a missionary in Guatemala with his wife for the last 30 years! Now, he works at the center with men who are in a similar situation that he used to be, and he gets to share the gospel with them, and lead many to Christ.

Little did we know how much the Lord’s hand was on that interaction! As I mentioned in my previous blog, part of our ministry with Reindom includes interacting with and showing God’s love to men who are homeless and/or struggle with alcohol and drugs. Through this contact, the Lord has allowed us to help three men access the facility, where – at no cost – they can live, receive help, and learn about the gospel for six months. Currently two of the men, E* and L* are still at the facility. One of the men left, because it is purely voluntary. With L, in particular, we got to meet his family and hear more of his story (keep an eye out; this may come up again in a later blog!), and it was powerful seeing them not only encouraging him to go to the rehab, but also to see how moved they were that we – as strangers – would step in and help him out.

Chimaltinango

This last ATL day was filled with sweet moments from the Spirit! God’s timing was so perfect. We all woke up late because we were recovering from lack of sleep, and sickness. We ended up leaving the headquarters late because we were waiting to see if we would be needed for ministry (although it was our typical ATL day, we were helping Reindom provide aide in Sumpango during the tropical storms). We missed the bus we were trying to get because we were waiting for several people on our team to grab rain jackets, and another person went to purchase food for El,* a regular of La Mesa del Rey. On the bus, we got to pray for a man who was begging and trying to travel to the US. I got to pray for him; Raquel gave up her lunch for him, and he ate it right after getting off the bus (who knows when he last ate). When we got to Chimaltinango, we were headed to Hope Coffee (a 3-story coffee shop we heard about – we also had decided to have a down day because we were all exhausted and needed to catch up on blogs and ministry work), yet made many stops along the way. We stopped in a Christian book store, and ended up getting their contact information so that we could discuss prices for a bulk order of kids bibles for the kids in Santa Marta. Kevin and I stopped at a music store to buy guitar strings for the ministry’s guitar, and the store was also selling several illustrated kids Bible stories. We got the story of Joseph and the story of Jesus for Reindom to use in their ministry. We then caught up with Raquel, who had purchased bananas from a street vendor and was promptly handing them out to different people she started conversations with. We, then, started heading towards the coffee shop and stopped to view a church. It was at that point that we met Oscar and his sister, Shirley. (Remember when I said God’s timing is cool! If none of those things happened, we would not have crossed paths with Oscar and Shirley!)

When talking with Oscar and Shirley, got into a conversation with two women, and we got to pray for them – the mom of one of the lady’s was in the hospital and needed surgery – and Oscar and Shirley joined us in praying. In a conversation afterwards, we found out Oscar is a street evangelist. He is Guatemalan, but he was adopted as a kid and grew up in the States, and he’s actually more comfortable speaking English. He came back to Guatemala a few years ago because he missed his home and culture, and the Lord was opening his eyes to the need. We invited them along with us to the coffee shop to hear more of their story. Oscar shared his testimony of how God saved him from a life of alcohol and drugs, and even healed his partial blindness. He also shared that God healed his sister (whom he reconnected with when he returned to Guatemala) of schizophrenia, and she no longer needs any medication. We got to invite them to come to Sumpango the next day to help with La Mesa del Rey, and encouraged Oscar to share his testimony with the men. It was such a God-send to have someone who has walked the life these men have, and who can share the hope of Christ on the other side of freedom from addiction. We can love and listen and encourage, but many of the men feel hopeless and don’t believe their life can change.

Today, when Oscar talked with the men and women at La Mesa del Rey, you could tell how much it was impacting the people, and he had many men afterwards talking with him. I pray that God will continue to bring fruit to this ministry, and that Oscar will continue to partner with Reindom even after our team leaves. It seems promising for sure; he’s planning on coming back next week!

Reflections on ATL

I’m so grateful for my team. The Lord has been so good to me in blessing me with them. They have truly been my family away from home, and are so loving and intentional. If that wasn’t great enough, our group as a whole has been so intentional with our time, both on ministry days, and when we go and do ATL. They step boldly into conversations with people, buy food to distribute to passersby’s as we walk, and are interruptible. They demonstrate the humility and generosity of Christ so well. And they push me to grow and to stretch out of my comfort zone that, before this month, I probably would never have found myself in.

A sermon I heard one time said that Jesus’ ministry was at the pace of 3 miles an hour, because He walked everywhere. He was never in a rush, and, rather than being a distraction quickly delt with or ignored, each person was seen and know. Each person WAS the mission. Imagine how different the lives of those around us would be if we walked with these kingdom eyes. How different would your life be? What if you chose to initiate a conversation in the grocery store and opted to be late to something else, or forgo the planned activity altogether? Or what if you radically decided to clear out one day a week to give to the Lord, to use however He wished? I challenge you to that, and if you take up the challenge, I would love to hear the stories that I know will come from it! This has been such a lifegiving exercise, and I promise you He will never disappoint.

*names are not disclosed for personal privacy.

Prayer Requests:

• For E and L, that the Lord would continue to reveal Himself to them, and that they would respond and invite Him into their hearts. For God to give them the strength to stay in the rehab and not quit.
• For God to break the chains of alcohol in Sumpango and all of Guatemala.
• For God to continue to bring fruit to Reindom ministry as they walk boldly and zealously and generously in their communities.
• For God my team to continue to seek to walk hand-in-hand with the Spirit not only on ATL days but each and every day.
• For God to stir up a heart in believers in the US to lay down control of our lives to God, to seek His will, and to be interruptible. For us to get excited about the unknown of a day walking with God; that we are excited for the conversations and places He will lead us into, and that we long to be surprised by Him.