An opportunity to share my faith

So I finally made it to Antigua, Guatemala where I am learning how to speak Spanish. Just so you know, I am in a Guatemalan Internet cafe right now and am trying my best to use a Spanish keyboard. All the punctuation marks are in weird places, and there a bunch of other weird characters on this beast.

The first day of language school (yesterday) was wonderful. I started off the day with my daily quiet time, and this time I prayed that specifically on this very day that God would give me an opportunity to share my faith. When I got to the school, I was really hoping that at least one person there spoke German. I was ecstatic to find that there were TWO people there that spoke German! One is from Germany, and the other is from Switzerland. I wasted no time in introducing myself and acting like I was meeting a famous person, the German was totally caught off-guard, and a little freaked out. But she was cool once she realized I was just a crazy kid.

Anyways, I met a bunch of new people from all over the world. I LOVE this kind of stuff, meeting so many new people from so many different places. After the first lesson, I was talking with some of the students and was like, "Dude, we need to go hang-out tonight!" And they were like, "Yeah, yeah!" So, I went home and told my host parents (in Spanglish, mind you) that I would not be eating dinner at their home that night. So, once the students get together for a walking tour of Antigua, I was like, "So are all of you going out to eat tonight?" And no one had planned on eating out, and I can't go back to my host family and say, "Just kidding, I really AM eating here tonight!! HAHA!" No. That would be really not cool. So, to make a long story short, I ended up eating by myself in an empty sit-down restaurant.

After dinner, I met-up with 7 of the other students to go do something. Well, their idea of doing something meant going out to a bar and drinking and smoking. Well, even though I don't do either, I had no problem going because the bible says to be in the world, but not of the world, and also for those in frequent contact with the world, to make the best use of it for God's glory. So, I went in and as I was about to sit down, Jennie called me on my cell phone (it's really Mark's cell phone) and I went outside to talk with her. When I came back, all 7 of the students were sitting around a table drinking beer and margaritas and smiling at me with a curious look on their faces. They wanted to know who I was so excited to get a phone call from, and I started to tell them about Jennie.

I began to explain how Jennie and I are "courting" and not "dating." I explained how we are building our relationship toward marriage and we want our first kiss to be on the altar. Well, when I told them this, everyone's jaw dropped to the floor. They were astounded that anyone would be crazy not to kiss before marriage! They were like, "How on earth can you be in a relationship like that and not kiss!?" I told them that I can't, but God can. There is no way I would be able to not kiss before marriage unless God was the one holding me back. I kept on talking about how I can't take any credit for anything, but it's all God.

They noticed by this point that there was something very different about me, I was the only one not drinking, I wasn't smoking, and I kept talking about this "God" who was so "awesome." They started asking all kinds of questions about God and I shared my testimony with them. I also got to explain why Jesus came to earth and died, and why Christianity is not about doing right or wrong, but about an intimate relationship with God. Well, they kept asking questions, and as I looked around the table, I saw people who were from Germany, Switzerland, Holland (a lot,) and Canada. Most were looking at me and smiling and nodding their heads while I talked. One kept asking why God would allow such bad things to happen in the world. Another had "heard it all before" (even though she didn't say that, her body language was enough to tell) and left the table early.

I was so excited to see most of them be so receptive. I just kept going on and on about how God is such an intimate part of my life, and how I can't do anything without him. Even though by that time I had forgotten that I prayed that God would give me an opportunity to share my faith, He did so in an amazing way; to 7 people from all over the world all at one time! When I got back to my host family, I realized that I had forgotten about praying for that very thing that morning. I immediately started praising God for using a messed-up, broken person like me to spread the good news of Christ. That was just this first day, I can't wait to see what God is going to do tonight and every other night this and next week.

Tonight we are going to another bar to "get drunk." So pray that I will be a light in the darkness. It's not about me, or by my own power, but to God who is the greatest satisfaction we can experience.

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