The day we met Carlos!!

It was a Thursday afternoon, and the team and I were in the heart of Antigua, Guatemala. We had all afternoon free until our next ministry scheduled event and we had no idea what to do! I remember Ressie Mae looking at me in the town square and asking me “ Should we pray and ask the Lord on what we should do?” And of course I said yes! We prayed right then in there and just asked Jesus to show us where He wanted us to go. Right after I remember this excitement to go to the market where Kayla had gone before and met a guy named Samuel. Ressie Mae felt the same way, so we asked Kayla to take us so that we could all meet him! We were all so excited and were just chatting along the way. When we finally got there Kayla told us that it didn’t look like he was there. So we just started looking around at all the different things the stand that Samuel worked at had to offer. Then this man came out and started speaking to us in English!! Turns out this man named Carlos was Samuel’s dad!! We got to talking with him and quickly found out he was a believer and that he always supported missionaries and cared for them because when they give the Lord their “yes” they are being obedient to what God has called all of us to do. 

I felt led to ask Him how he came to know the Lord because he shared that his first language was “Kiche” which is an indigenous language that the mayans spoke natively! He was so open about his testimony, he started with telling us how his family is mayan so he had always remembered worshipping idols that were common in his culture. That was all he knew and what his family had always believed in. It wasn’t until one of his brothers had an encounter with Jesus. He wasn’t specific to how it happened, but he said “my brother surrendered everything at the feet of Jesus” and ever since that moment his brother brought everyone in his family, including Carlos, to Jesus. I was so moved by his testimony and vulnerability to want to share intimate parts of who he was and his story with us. I could genuinely feel the love of the Lord radiating off of him and that the Holy Spirit lived in him. He showed us so much kindness I just couldn’t leave without praying for him. It was truly an honor to pray over a man with such great faith and love for Jesus. Carlos had a radical transformation due to the power of Jesus Christ and the salvation we receive by the grace of God. He shared that he is teaching his children to live the same way, with treating others with respect and loving others the way Christ loves us. He is leading his family and is going to leave behind a legacy of strong believers wherever they may end up. 

I was so blessed by this conversation with Carlos. It was a true testimony to the way God loves us, the way he encounters us, the way he shows up for us when we don’t even ask for it, Carlos’ story is a true testament to the power of God. A man who grew up worshipping false gods and idols, to being transformed worshipping at the feet of Jesus, the one true living God. 

God is so faithful, he shows up when we ask him too, we just need to have willing and open hearts to receive what He has for us. We went into a situation with no expectations, just fully believing that God was leading us to go where he wanted. We left that situation having a full on encounter with the love of God and a new friendship with a brother in Christ that we got to learn so much from. THANK YOU JESUS!! 

This is just one story on how God is using the people of Guatemala to impact not only the community here, but also the nations!! God is equipping and sending out disciples from this very country, praise the Lord!!