Divine Appointments

Or, "If You Put Sheets on It, They Will Come"

July 21, 2007

Long ago, in a galaxy far, far away...oops, I mean 2 or three weeks ago in remote Choluteca, a Honduran pastor spoke a prophetic word to the poor peasants his church works with, "Mission teams are coming, and you need to be ready." He had never heard of me or my church.

Meanwhile, back in Tegucigalpa, I had been praying for someone, anyone to visit me. I have invited a zillion people from my church, so many I have a reputation, and when I returned in March and saw the spare bedrooms in the apartment Rafael rented for me I immediately went out and bought bunkbeds in order to be ready for houseguests.

I thought the fulfillment of my prayer was a visit from an American friend who was transferred from Honduras to Spain two years ago. She arrived Tuesday and was due to leave on Friday. However, this was only a 'down payment'; while I was on my way to the airport, I got a call on my cellphone. Allen Rainey wanted to know if I could house a mission team from my home church consisting of 10 men. Well, sure! On Friday? Piece of cake!

This SonLight Power team was scheduled to go to Guatemala to do solar power installations, but there was a lynching of a suspected child-trafficker; they doused him with gasoline and burned him. Missionaries Virgil and Dara Stoltzfus told the team not to come (Dara emailed an eyewitness report AND PHOTOS.) (Please pray for the people in Guatemala.)

Allen talked to his group (four father/teenage son teams) and they all felt called to go ahead, even with airline change fees of more than $300 per person. But then Allen forwarded the email and pictures to Continental Airlines, and Continental agreed to change the tickets AT NO CHARGE (that is the most miraculous part of the whole thing.)

Meanwhile, Allen was already contacting Meilyn Chan and her husband, Mauricio Moncada, who was going to translate for the team. The team had a place to stay, with me, but they needed a project and the Moncada-Chans had already been scouting for future trips. Meilyn cast about in her mind to think who might have a project for them on short notice, and she thought of her cousin Tita, the wife of a pastor in Choluteca. She called her cousin's cellphone.

Meilyn: I need to talk to you.

Cousin Tita: Great, I'm in Tegucigalpa right now; I'll be over in half an hour.

(Tita arrives.)

Meilyn: I have ten men coming on Friday and they need 2 churches or schools in which to install solar power.

Tita: No problem, we have several that are off the grid.

Meilyn: They need a place to stay.

Tita: No problem, one of the church members owns a hotel in Choluteca.

Meilyn: What about feeding them?

Tita: No problem, one of the church members owns a restaurant.

Meilyn: How will they get there and get around?

Tita: No problem, one of the church members owns a minibus and can bring them from Tegucigalpa, and we have enough members with SUVs to take them out to the sites.

!!!

Allen usually ships the equipment ahead of the team, but had been unable to do so this time, so he had paid more money and gotten folding solar panels that would fit in the luggage. Therefore the equipment was not stuck in Guatemala; all they lacked were poles to mount the panels and storage batteries. I had already scouted out a solar company in Teguz for Allen, so Meilyn bought the batteries and poles on Friday afternoon, and on Saturday we headed down to hot, hot Choluteca, where it is so hot "even the devil strips down to his undershirt."

When I left them they were working on the equipment in the driveway. Co-leader Lance Brown was teasing Allen, "What is it you do with your time? It only took two days to arrange this mission trip, so obviously you've been leading us on!"

So not only did I get "someone, anyone" from my church to visit me, I got ten men! In the natural course of events, I expected to have to wait until the 2008 mission team season, but God swept aside all obstacles in a breathtaking manner and dropped them in my lap. I'm going to get more bunkbeds because I think the floodgates of visitors have now been opened!