Wednesday, May 21, 2008

Gringos, children, and a divine appointment

Earlier this month a group from CC Gainseville came to help and minister with us. I went street witnessing with them twice. The first time we went to a park in the nearby district of Villa Maria. The park authorities allowed us to preach in a small amphitheatre there. I had brought along my mic and amp, which proved to be real useful. We drew in many children using songs and games, and balloons the gringos had brought. Then a friend and I preached the Gospel to them and to the parents and adults there.
A few days later, we went a couple blocks away from the church to the front of Ricardo Palma University. We walked around the area handing out tracts and getting into conversations with people. We split up into groups, and I went with Connor, one of the Floridians. We walked up and preached the Gospel to several people. He seemed real anxious to approach strangers and witness to them. In fact, he had more of a desire to do it than I had. And with good reason--I was doing all the talking! He didn't speak Spanish fluently. But I can tell he really did want to preach; he felt more bold being in a distant country with people he'll never see again. And I had to suffer because of it. :)
So as we were walking around I commented to him that most people here are reserved when you talk to them, not very open, don't like confrontation that much, and tend to agree with you a lot (sometimes because they just want you to leave). I told him I missed having a "challenge"--like and evolutionist or something. I haven't come across many people that don't believe in the Bible (as most here are Catholic and claim to believe it's the Word of God). Well, walking further we decided to talk to a young man sitting down. I got out a piece of paper and a pen and did the "survey approach" on him, asking him to answer some questions about his religious beliefs for a project (I use the info to remember and pray for them). Right off the bat he told me he was an atheist, with no religion. Wow. The Lord is amazing. One prayer answered. I thanked Him in my mind. "This has to be from You, Lord," I thought. I asked him why he was an atheist and he gave me some of the common objections, like "How can a God of love allow so much suffering and misery?" Well, as we talked a little he told us that he spoke English; he had lived in Miami for 5 years. Miami, Florida! Out of all the places in the world! Now I knew this was from the Lord. So Connor, his desire to witness to someone being granted, started to talk to him in English. We reasoned with him a bit, and he went from being an atheist to an agnostic. And then, after going through the Good Person Test, hearing the Gospel, and me explaining to him about the reality of eternity, he fully backslid into admitting there is a God. I told him, "You know there is a God." He looked down and agreed with me, but said he had very little faith. As we were talking the Lord gave me much love and compassion for him. Near the end of our conversation he wanted to know why we were out here preaching to him. We explained that it was because we cared about him and didn't want him, or anyone else, to go to hell. We talked a little more and gave him a Gospel of John. He thanked us and told us he was going to read the Bible. As we left we thanked the Lord for this divine appointment.
Please pray for Jean Paul.

4 comments:

Michael E. said...

That is awesome!!! Keep having that willingness heart to serve Him. You are such an inspiration brother. Keep on the GOOD work of the Lord.

Melissa's Life said...

Hey Aaron,
How are you brother and what have you been up too?

Melissa's Life said...

Aaron,
How r you my friend and what's new with you ?
melissa

Aaron Block said...

Hey Melissa, I'm doing well, still here serving the Lord...how are you?