Unexpected Blessings

Yesterday, was an incredible blessing from God - and totally unexpected. (Why do not we believe that God will do this all the time? I think if we as Christians expected more out of God and showed more faith, then we would see more miracles. But, that is another story.)

Earlier in the week, due to scheduling problems, buses, interpreters, etc., we didn't even think we would be at the church yesterday. Normally these trips arrive on Saturday, have a day of worship and acclimation, then 4 work days, then Friday is a day of traveling around the country to see its culture and normally some tourist stuff. The way our trip has worked is that we had dates picked out to include an extra day. We don't fly home until Sunday and that gave us an extra day. But the interpreter was not scheduled to work on Friday, no cooking was planned. No kids were supposed to come. But God had other plans.

We told Tom earlier in the week to make something happen for us to work and stick with what we thought was the original plan. So, he had construction team lined up to work for half of the day. We were all ready to mix some more concrete. (We were mixing about one ton at a time BY HAND, and have probably mixed 10 batches this week!). But God had other plans.

Before we got off the bus, we prayed as a team. I said, or rather God literally said through me, that Great things were going to happen. I called on that during our prayer. Remember, at this time we were all mixing concrete. But as we unloaded the bus, and got ready, some of the children showed up. Anita, the pastor's wife, asked us if we could come up with a lesson for them. We said sure, and it was some of the older kids as well, so Mike and I volunteered to teach again. (Darn, I sure was going to miss mixing and hauling a ton of concrete - Ha!)

As the kids came into the room, they kept coming, and coming, and coming. We had about 45 to start with. Mike and I looked at each other and said, "Ok, God you wanted this, show us what to do." God led us to the story of the Israelites seeing, then taking the promised land based upon his promise. Characters of Moses and Aaron, Joshua and Caleb, and Rahab, were all central to the story and gave us a chance to even include crafts like a faith reminder as a necklace and actitivies like marching around and shouting "Jesus." That sure got the attention of the guards at the park around the corner as well as the shopkeepers that we marched by. But it also go the attention of other kids. We had every table full when we left to go to the park a block away, but God had other plans.

When we got back to the church, we had about another 35 to 40 kids. They were everywhere. Standing, sitting in each others laps and just singing and praising God. Some of them had been there before, and some had not. I heard from three different kids, "This is my cousin, can he come in?" Well we kept going.

I learned earlier in the week that God wants us to never forget to offer salvation through him to the students. So as we got close to finishing, we went back to Romans (I know for sure, now, why God has had our Sunday School class study Romans for the last few months.) And as the pastor came, and as we actually asked if anyone wanted to be saved, the group started moving. First one girl of about 16, Erika, that Mike and I had been praying for. Next a girl of about 15 that was carrying her little brother that Mrs. Nell had been praying for, then another boy of about 10, then I lost count. We ended up with 15 students praying and crying and asking God to be their Saviour. We were almost speechless. Well we were, but God wasn't. God had other plans.

Oh, by the way, the construction team actually got more done without us, and had the workers outside crying and praying with them!

We hugged and cried and prayed and danced and shouted and sang, and God was smiling. Without a doubt, this was his plan for the day, this was his plan for this trip, and once we got the devil out of the way, God called his children to him. What a joy and what a honor to have been a part of it!

Thanks for your prayers and your support, and God has used them to serve his purpose here in Quito this week.

Praise be to God!

Richard