A few days ago, we woke up to the worst news you could hear: “there’s no water.” That meant no showers, no bathrooms, and no drinking water. When you’re doing manual labor in 90+ degree heat, that news is devastating. So, we ate breakfast and started walking. We went to a nearby house that still had water & filled up jugs for the day. After that, a few of my squadmates and I decided to walk to a local store to get some electrolyte water… we never made it to the store.
On our way, we were stopped by a local woman whose hose still had running water. She kindly offered for our entire squad to come to refill. After the others left, she invited six of us into her home. She showed us to her backyard, then allowed us to swing in her swings & lie in her hammocks. We then relaxed for a couple of hours in the shade of a beautiful tree under string lights. The woman, along with her twin sister, served us ice-cold juice, cookies, and fresh fruit. As we were about to go on our way, we asked the women if we could pray for them. They then asked us to come inside, and they informed us that it was the ten-year anniversary of a suicide in their family and they had a service to attend later. I then got the honor of praying over the home and praying for peace over the family.
When you are a missionary, you learn very quickly that plans are tentative. When I say tentative, I mean that rarely do our plans play out exactly how we intended them to. There are maybe a handful of days that I could recall where we did exactly what we planned on doing. Today was no exception. We did not know what today’s plan was when we went to bed last night, but we definitely did not intend on having to hike for freshwater. An occurrence that originally felt like an inconvenience led to one of the most joyful and peaceful mornings that we have had on the race so far.
This morning, our leader told the pastor of our host church about the experience and he was blown away. He kept questioning what had happened and asking if we were sure it was the same house that he was imagining. Apparently, the woman is devoutly Catholic and tends to be very cold towards the community. He was amazed that she had invited us into her home, and on top of that allowed us to pray for her. This is a prime example of Jesus using undesired circumstances for His good. Tonight, we will have an opportunity to meet up with her again, and maybe even share some more of Jesus with her!!
If you want to pray with our squad, here’s what we are praying for right now:
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chances for revival in the two short weeks that we have left in this country
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continued health & safety
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all of the individuals in Ukraine
Love y’all!!
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Prayers and love