Maria

Each time I leave for a trip, I ask God to reveal at least one of His trophies of grace. This time it was a young mother. Her name is Maria. Here is her story.

As we were working in a barrio called Don Bosco in Paute, Ecuador, we saw Maria pushing a stroller down the street with her head down looking very lonely. We were systematically going door to door trying our best not to miss anyone. Eventually we knocked on Maria’s door. She came to the gate (almost all the houses were located behind stone walls and fences). After introducing ourselves, she eagerly invited us into her home apologizing all the while for the appearance of her home. Maria has two small children, Steven age 3 and Wendy age 10 months. Sheila, my wife and I were suddenly connected with Maria as we have two grandchildren the exact same age. Steven, pictured below, is a the three year old who has several health issues. He does not speak or walk. Wendy appears to be perfectly normal.

Steven

Maria explained that her husband had to take a job many miles from their home that paid a better wage so that they could pay for the medicine necessary to take care of Steven. Freddy, her husband, stays away for three weeks at a time and only comes home for 4 days then must return. God worked things out for Freddy to come home for one of his visits while we were in her village. Maria invited us to come back to her home our last full day in Paute to meet Freddy. She went to a lot of trouble by preparing us a home cooked meal. On this night Maria looked so pretty. She put on her best clothes, put some makeup on her face, cleaned her house up and had everything just right.

Freddy said that Maria was different, in a good way. We began to share with him the same story we told to Maria. Freddy said that he had always wanted to know about Jesus and how he could know for sure he would go to heaven one day. This was a beautiful experience telling the story of God’s only plan for salvation and watching this young daddy as he absorbed the truth with great interest. Freddy simply followed the lead of our national pastor Richard as he prayed to admit his sinful condition and invited Jesus to come into his heart, forgive his sins and Freddy asked Jesus to become his Savior, friend and boss of his life.

Please continue to pray for Maria, Freddy, Steven and Wendy. Pray for Steven’s health issues. Pray for Maria as she is alone for such long periods of time. Pray for Freddy as too is lonely away from his family in unfamiliar surroundings. Pray for Pastor Richard as he and members of his church made a commitment to disciple this little family.

The Story of Mercedes

Mercedes

On the first day in Lazul, a small village near the city of Dug Dug in Ecuador, I had the privilege to meet an 87 year old lady named Mercedes. She was very kind and receptive. I was the first North American she had ever seen. As we spoke with her, we found out that she had never been told that she needed to have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. After sharing my testimony and the evangecube with her, Mercedes accepted Jesus as her Savior.

It is our custom to immediately start discipleship with new believers so my translator, Jessica and local church member David began to do a discipleship lesson with Mercedes.

The next morning, Mercedes greeted us with a big smile, showed us her totally complete lesson and invited us to continue with a new lesson. Soon after starting the lesson, she stopped us, went into her little mud house and brought out her adult daughter, Maria. She asked us to tell Maria about Jesus, which we did. Maria too accepted Jesus.

Later in the afternoon she stopped us in the village and introduced us to her granddaughter Philomena who was 18. She too accepted the Lord. It was a very special privilege to disciple three generations of women from the Barrera family.

Sam

On our last day, Mercedes wanted to give me something, a gift. She said that we had given her a special gift in Jesus. She wanted to give something in return, her food… a little sack of peas. I must admit that it was difficult to take it knowing that this was her food for probably a few days. My little 16 year old translator said, “Papa Sam, if you don’t accept it, it will break her heart”. I knew this was true. This reminded me of the lady who only had a penny, a mite to give. Some scoffed but Jesus said she gave the best gift, what she had.

What gift do you hold in your hand? Giving your time to go on a church planting mission is a great gift. If you can’t go, can you give what you have… your money so that others can go? Please consider going, please consider giving and by all means please consider praying for those who do go and who do give.