God's Plan, Not Ours

Plan Number 1 for Today: we thought we were going to a park, performing the drama, going to McDonald's for lunch, then going back to the park to perform the drama again because there would be different people.

We met Rafael, who is a local pastor and will be working with us today because he is starting a new church in the area, and he says that there have been two groups already who did the drama in the park on previous days so he suggests that we go to 2 nearby schools.

Plan Number 2: We go to one school, do the drama quickly, do the drama at the other school quickly, then go to McDonald's.

We went to the first school, and it was an amazing experience. It was a public school, but the teachers and staff were able to be very open about God and welcomed us in warmly. We performed the drama, and then went to play with the kids and pray with some of them too. A group of 5 of us went up to the two women in charge of the school, and we asked them to bring them kids who needed prayer for special circumstances in their lives.

They told us that the father of the first little boy she brought had been killed two years ago, and that he lived in a very violent place and his mother was struggling to provide food for the family. We prayed for him, and he was so glad to receive it, we could see it in his face.

The next little girl they brought to us was named Karen, and her family was going through some fighting and struggles. We prayed for her, and afterwards, she latched on to our LIT Molly, following her around and playing with her. Her fingers very slowly let go of Molly's as we left.

The next little girl they brought was named Jaquelin, and she was suffering similar circumstances to those of Karen. We prayed for her, and then she wrapped her arms around me and held on for 15 minutes. I was humbled that God put me in a place to love her for those few minutes we spent together.

As we were ready to leave the school, we realized that we had spent too long there, and could not make it to school number 2.

Plan Number 3: We would go to a piece of land that had just donated to Pastor Rafael by a non-Christian who wanted to have a church in the area, and pray for it, and then go to McDonald's.

Our bus couldn't make it up the winding lane to the land, so we had to park about half a mile away and walk the rest of the way. On the way, some of us were talking to Pastor Rafael, and he told us that he had a ministry in Chimaltenango, which is a nearby town, that reached out to about 200 nearby kids. He had some sort of Bible School he did with them, and then he would try his best to provide lunch for them because the kids came from very very poor areas. The reason he wanted to start a church in San Lucas, where we were, was because there were kids there who wanted to go to Chimaltenango, but couldn't because he couldn't transport them there.

When we got to the land, one of the first things we noticed was a sinkhole about 10 feet in diameter that had just opened up on the border of the land. Looking from a safe distance, we couldn't see the bottom. It was an amazing thing to see.

We prayed over the land for a long time, and several of us gave money to Pastor Rafael because he had nothing to build his church with, just the land. Next, Molly lead us in several songs.

We left the field after praying and singing, and as we were a little bit of the way down the path, a man came out of a building labeled "The Oasis" and flagged us down. He was an American, and he, along with his wife and several other people, ran the Christian orphanage for 60 girls that we were passing. They were about to start their computer class for the girls at the orphanage, when the power went out. He could hear us singing on the hill where the land was, and was curious to know who was singing the songs that he recognized.

Plan Number 4: We would enter the orphanage, do the drama, and then go to McDonald's.

We went to the orphanage, and were impressed by how nice it looked. Unfortunately, we ran out of time so we couldn't play with the kids too much, but there was one girl with cerebral palsy who us leaders held and played with during the drama.

Plan Number 5: We decided not to go to McDonald's, because dinner started an hour and a half after we left the orphanage.

Even though our day was absolutely nothing like how we imagined it would be, God used us in such an amazing way and it really was great that He messed up our plans.

(I'm really really tired right now, so I apologize in advance for any typos!)