ATL’s

  Hey all,
   I just wanted to let you guys know what happened this past week. So we had been reading this book called across the spectrum. It is a book that two people wrote jointly arguing over evangelical stuff. For example we argued the first night whether the bible is inerrant or infallible. We argued with each other, but the whole point of it was to shake our box that we put God into.

   We also did ATL’s (Ask the Lord) this week. While doing one of these one of our teammates felt led to buy a pair of size 9 shoes. We still haven’t found the person we are supposed to give it to so we are praying that we find the person. During another one, after praying for a while a small group decided to do a prayer walk. Whilst on this prayer walk we passed by some houses and we came across one in particular, that I had seen the man outside of his house. I told the group that I thought we should go over and talk to him, and they said we should wait because he was in the back of his property. So we kept praying and then I noticed that the man had moved onto his porch. So I told the group that I was going to pray for him. So we walked to the or fork in the road, and I asked God if this is really what he wanted me to do, and I got a yes. So I decided against taking the person who I knew I would rely on translating and speaking and I asked one of my teammates to come with me. We both don’t speak much Spanish but we decided to try and ask if we could pray for him. He said yes, and proceeded to ask where we pray usually and other small stuff like that. And then he started walking towards his house and motioning for us to follow him. I said a quick prayer in my head against the fear I was experiencing about going into his home. When we got I immediately I noticed pictures all around the room of a women. He told us we could sit if we wanted and so we sat on his couch. Then it was a little awkward because we weren’t really speaking and so I asked him if he had a wife. He told us “no that she had died of sickness.” This opened up the conversation and we found out he doesn’t have any children, and that he has brothers and sisters living in Monterey. We then asked if we could pray right then for him and his family, and he said yes. So we all stood up and held hands. I asked if I was of if I tried to pray in Spanish and fall back on English and h said yes. So we prayed for him. Then we told we had to leave, as we were leaving he told us to feel free to come back any time if we want to pray.

   Another thing we did was visit a hospital in Matamoros. The way the hospital works is that the family can’t stay in the room with the patients, so they all gather around outside the entrance. We went during the night like around 6 pm and at first we walked around telling people we had free coffee and handing out the book of John. Then we pretty much segregated, from the Mexicans, I did this out of fear, but one of our people brought it to all our attention so I decided I would go talk to an elderly man. I introduced myself to him and he told me his name was Gorgio. I asked why he was at the hospital, and he told me that his son was in the hospital with a pain in his back. I continued talking to him and I learned that he had lived in the United States for fifteen years. I also learned that his wife and other son had died, and that they didn’t know God.  I asked if he knew God and he told me yes, both he and his son knew God. He told me that he had a pain in his lower back and so I tried to pray for him in Spanish, but I ended up praying for his son instead so I prayed a silent prayer for healing on his lower back. We then kept talking and then I told him I was going to go back to the group. He said ok, and then we all prayed and as we were leaving I walked over to him and told him it had been an honor to talk to him and that I would be praying for him.

   Then Saturday on our day off we went to the zoo in Brownsville it was a pretty cool zoo and it was a nice chance to take a break from going to malls and stores.

   I would love it if you all could pray against apathy and complacency for the whole group, because we want to go deeper but we have to work to be able to so yea, that would be awesome.