The church we attended first was like a little oasis...for about 3 years or so. We met with people from Spain, Chile, Argentina, Peru, Ecuador, Colombia, Cuba, etc. We got so we could identify all the different accents! Especially we younger adults formed close bonds, and we were friends...both in and out of church. God did awesome things...both in and out of church! So even if something happened to only one of us, we could share it with the rest, and be encouraged.
Sometimes He did fun things for us, too! We met an Ecuadorian family who had immigrated as we had, although earlier. One day when they were at our house, Yolanda told us that when she was a teenager, she had babysat for an American family in Quito. There were three little kids, she said, two boys and a girl. She couldn't remember the last name, but it was something like Morris or Morrison...or Mor-something...I asked if it was "Moore" (my maiden name) and she said yes,she thought that sounded right. So I went to get a picture I had of me with my two brothers when very young (my sister hadn't arrived yet). When she saw it she got so excited! "Those are the kids I took care of!" She recognized us immediately. We could hardly believe it. I didn't remember being babysat by Yolanda at all, so it was a shock to find that we had met again 2/3 of the way around the world, in Australia, 20 years after the fact!
Yolanda started coming to the ladies' meetings, but warned us not to try to convert her! So we didn't. We just told her WE don't do the converting anyway... God does! Then one night, she dreamt that Jesus came to her and told her, "Make your heart ready for Me; I want to come in." And she did just that...
When I was pregnant with Dan, I once asked Jesus to not come back quite yet, because I wanted to know what it was like to have a baby, and be a mother first. Soon after that rather impertinent request, I had a dream: I was up in the air over the houses of the city, gently drifting upwards. Other people were also floating higher and higher. I heard someone say something about the four corners of the earth. Everything below me got dimmer and simply less and less important. Our houses, cars, everything on earth simply didn't matter anymore. Their value faded away. And I felt the most incredible JOY! I had never felt anything as intense, sweet, and all-encompassing. When I woke up, I said, "As far as I'm concerned, You can come back anytime You want!" Becoming a mother seemed so inconsequential when compared to the heavenly joy of going to meet Him in the air!
One evening I went to the church's mid-week meeting (Germán stayed home with the baby), but slipped out early because of something that was said unkindly about another person, from the pulpit. As I was driving home, I was suddenly hit with an intense urge to go see Conchita, a woman from the church. Since I still had time before I was expected at home, I went to her house. When I knocked on the door, she called out to come in. I said, "Conchita, it could have been anybody at the door! You should see who it is first!" And she replied, "I asked God to send someone to help me, and I figured whoever was at the door was that person."
Her 12-year-old daughter Sira was at an evening event at school, and her 2-year-old daughter Dina was fast asleep. Her husband worked the afternoon shift, and they didn't drive. The school was within walking distance, but the streets were dark, and Conchita wouldn't let Sira walk home alone. She would have to pick up Dina and walk, carrying her, asleep, down to the school to escort Sira back. That's why she asked for help. The situation was easily remedied. I drove down to the school and picked up Sira, delivered her to Conchita, who didn't have to disturb Dina...and I realized just why I had had the sudden urge to go to her. God had heard her simple prayer of faith.
I will share more on the next post! God bless you all.
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