Yesterday, our teams were finally able to serve in the community of Chichicastenango. (We have been in quarantine for most of our time here thus far for the purpose of respecting community guidelines and individuals’ safeties.)
It was an absolute honor to serve the people of Chichi. We partnered with the police in ministry by giving bread and praying with the people.
Suppose a brother or a sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you says to them, “Go in peace; keep warm and well fed,” but does nothing about their physical needs, what good is it? -James 2:15-16
I didn’t know what the day would look like, but I knew Jesus did.
Our day started with prayer, asking the Lord to lead us to the right people and asking that he would bless those we served, both with the bread loaves and with the Bread of Life.
Then Jesus declared, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty. -John 6:35
Next, we all piled into a small pickup truck bed and drove into town.
As we wound up, down, and around the only road that leads into town, I prayed, thanked God for the day, took in the sunshine and beautiful views, and breathed in the fresh mountain air. (I love car rides!)
We arrived in town at the police station, gathered our baskets full of bread, prayed with the Chichi police force, and started walking.
Guadalupe, one of the officers with us, started by knocking on the door of a home she felt led to enter. We were greeted by an adolescent boy and a barking dog. We entered the home and prayed over a woman in a wheelchair. She couldn’t understand us, and we couldn’t understand her, but I held her hand and prayed over her. She cried. I cried. We blessed her with the bread and left.
Every interaction, despite the language barrier, was a divine appointment, completely ordained by the Lord:
from the next woman we stopped to pray for walking down the street (an elderly 3.7′ woman, weighing maybe 50 pounds total, who could only speak Chiché*), to the family on the corner (selling peanuts and woven textiles, with a daughter who spoke seven languages), to the man at the market sitting on the steps all alone (with the most beautiful blue-ringed eyes), to the man who approached me and could barely bring himself to look me in the eyes as he asked me for bread (he was drunk and without work, but was hungry).
It was interesting; while the interactions were vastly different, every person went through the following stages as each conversation played out:
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Confusion: “What do these people want? Why do they want to pray for me?” (To receive prayer, information, food, or anything here costs money.)
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Hesitation to accept prayer: Again, “What do they want from me?” Or “I don’t need prayer for anything really.”
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Accepting of prayer: “Okay, yes, actually, I do need prayer for ____.”
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Surprise and thankfulness: Genuinely, no one knew the bread would be given to them and were sincerely surprised and so grateful when it was gifted to them. They were not expectant of receiving the bread (even the man who asked for it).
Every person the Lord led me to talk to was meant to receive gifts from the Lord. I believe deep in my heart He is pursuing each of these people relentlessly.
‘I was hungry, and you gave me something to eat. I was thirsty, and you gave me something to drink.’…‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you or see you thirsty and give you something to drink?’…The king will answer them, ‘I can guarantee this truth: Whatever you did for one of my brothers or sisters, no matter how unimportant they seemed, you did for me.’ -Matthew 25:34-40
