I feel like I'm finally winding down. Maybe. Friday was a wonderful day. It was a full circle day for me. Definitely. We started up the road today. Headed to a part of the banana grove I hadn't seen yet. God kept sending us groups of people to share with. A group of women. A group of men. A new group of kids. A group of field workers heading to work. A woman at her home who invited 2 passersby to join us. A group of women in the middle of the field they were planting. A group of men who were just passing by. Another group of women heading to work. And of course more and more kids. Today was particularly meaningful because of where we were for most of the early afternoon. From about 11am - 1:30pm we were in the middle of several large fields that were being plowed and planted. The first two women we shared with were in the middle of a field. So we joined them there. One woman was completely stooped over. Even when she stood up to greet us she was still bent over at the waist. She was probably in her early 70s. We asked if we could share the story of God using some pictures. They said yes. As I began to share the Evangecube, another woman joined the group. To my amazement, it was the 1st woman I led to Christ on Day 1. She was smiling and encouraging the women to listen to the message. She stayed to listen and was so happy when both of her co-workers prayed to receive Christ. Jane sat down in a pile of dirt to write down their names. I moved to the road. I noticed that John D'Amour was sharing with a group of people. They all prayed to receive Christ. By then another group had gathered around me. Jane and I shared the Cube. They all prayed to receive Christ. Three older men walked by. They stopped to hear the message. They were unbelievably happy to hear it. When I showed them the picture of God's hand reaching down from heaven, they all reached out and shook our hands. They were completely into the message. They all three prayed to receive Christ. And on and on. Finally John D'Amour said it was time to head back to the Church Plant site. I couldn't believe how quickly time had passed. I felt like I had shared the message 'til I was practically hoarse. Yet I wasn't hungry or thirsty and had no sense of what time it might be. I had a surreal moment when I realized that we were living out, in real time, the passage in John 4:34-38. 34" My food," said Jesus, "is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work. 35 Do you not say, 'Four months more and then the harvest'? I tell you, open your eyes and look at the fields! They are ripe for harvest. 36 Even now the reaper draws his wages, even now he harvests the crop for eternal life, so that the sower and the reaper may be glad together. 37 Thus the saying 'One sows and another reaps' is true. 38 I sent you to reap what you have not worked for. Others have done the hard work, and you have reaped the benefits of their labor." Thank God for the "sowers" who went before me, planting seeds that they maybe thought would never be reaped. I'm talking about missionaries and pastors and evangelists and passionate people who came to this area before me, maybe even martyrs who gave up everything for the cause and now I was having the privilege of reaping the harvest. Unbelievable. It made me realize that every single "no" we had experienced was just another seed that would hopefully be reaped by someone else someday, in God's timing.
We headed back to the church for our celebration service. And it was quite a celebration! Come back tomorrow for the conclusion!!
