Carnivals & Cul-de-sacs
Chris Lawrence reports from Colorado
Saturday, June 21
Our 3-day wilderness experience in Rocky Mountain National Park was soon contrasted with the inner city.
This morning we headed to downtown Denver to do some evangelism and help a partner ministry invite people to a Christian carnival (every Saturday our project will do evangelism outreaches).
That's how I found myself with 4 other students, knocking on doors of random residences. Not many people were home -- or actually came to their doors. But a few expressed interest in the carnival, especially after we told them about the free food and music.
Still, we were hoping for more. At the end of a cul-de-sac, we prayed that God would somehow use us that day.
Crossing Language Barriers
We saw a man painting his house, and we approached him and said hi. His name was Benjamin, originally from Guatemala City. He spoke in broken English, and seemed focused on his work.
I told him about how I had visited Guatemala for my job, and told him about the places I had visited there. I explained much of this in Spanish, hoping to connect with him in his native tongue. One of the other students who spoke Spanish also chimed in on our conversation.
I could sense that he was very lonely. We asked if there were any specific ways we could pray for him.
He told us that he was really upset because his wife was still in Guatemala, unable to return to the U.S. because of a glitch in her visa paperwork. His children lived in Nevada.
He missed his family tremendously, and was having trouble connecting with a local church -- he said he was a Christian.
We listened for several minutes and then prayed for him. We encouraged him to seek a good church in the area and then said our goodbyes.
I really think God had purpose in our interaction with him, though the full results of it remained unseen.
Following Jesus in the Congo