an answered prayer
at en vivo each week at el pozo, we pass around a “luchador mask”, the masks that wrestlers wear here in mexico. inside the luchador mask are pencils and little pieces of paper for students to write down their prayer requests. “luchar” means “to wrestle” en español, so we ask students to write down the things they are “wrestling with”. we tell them each week that they can write whatever they want, that they can write their name if they want or they don’t have to, but that they can be sure that our staff will be praying for them. and that we do.
we get all sorts of prayer requests. last year we were asked to pray that the UDLAP aztecas football team would win the national championship…and they did! i hope God didn’t have to turn his head away from other, bigger world issues for too long to make that one happen! we pray for sick people, for tests, for homesickness, for traveling mercies, and for the students to grow closer to God.
each week ever since we started passing around the prayer mask, we have gotten a request from one of our student leaders. she has been dating a guy for 6 years who isn’t a christian. he comes to our ministry as well, and is a gifted athlete, a natural leader, and fascinated with the concepts of personal growth and leadership. what he’s been missing all along is faith in jesus.
so each week, when we read those little folded up pieces of paper, we find a note written in the same handwriting…pray that he can have faith in God, that he will encounter God, that God will work in his heart. i’m pretty close to this girl…she’s broken up with him before because she wants to marry a christian man, but she knows she loves him. my heart has ached for her…she’s asked me to join with her in praying that God will either change his heart or take him away from her. (i added “or give her the strength to let him go”) and so that’s what she and i and our staff have prayed, that seemingly against all odds, that God would work a miracle in this guy’s life.
so on tuesday night, an emotional night for our community as we said goodbye to the mcdades, imagine the tears that came into my eyes when he walked into the kitchen as we’re washing dishes and said, “kami and courtney, be here on sunday night at 7pm.” i said, “sure….but why?” and my dear friend said, “i’m getting baptized!”
so that’s what happened last night…i can’t imagine a better way to send nathan and erin back to the states than by God showing us all that el pozo is his, and that he is working in the hearts of these students, and by celebrating the new life in jesus christ of one of our students.
giving his confession of faith!
getting dunked!
dead to sin, alive in christ
tomorrow’s prayer mask just won’t be the same without abi asking for prayer for pako…but i’ll definitely be thanking God for answering this prayer of abi’s and of our community. today, i’m praying big prayers for el pozo, for the students and the community, because if i had any doubt, last night i was reminded that God DOES answer our prayers. join with me…pray for our upcoming retreat (not this upcoming weekend but the next), for our students, and for God to do big things through this community as we reach the halfway point of the semester and begin a new chapter of el pozo’s story as we said “hasta luego” to the mcdades today. el pozo has momentum right now…and we want to keep it up! thank you for your prayers, your support, and your love of el pozo!
much love – kami