Testimony

The Power of Prayer by Theresa Green

The power of prayer was never so evident than on my recent short term mission trip to Guatemala with Charlie's Lunch Ministries. The trip started out simple enough with team meetings, collecting supplies, praying for safe travel etc. Our team was assigned to do children's ministry 100% - the first team of its kind for Charlie's Lunch. Most teams will do some children's ministry but they also do medical and construction as well. At one of our team meetings Ralph the team leader shared that God impressed upon him that this trip was about Encouragement. He explained that one of the long time pastors of the first feeding center near Guatemala City was leaving soon to become a missionary in India and his church needs encouragement to see that God will provide another leader.

The power of prayer started to be revealed as we boarded the plan in Dallas in route to Guatemala City. As we looked around we were surrounded by several Christian Missionary Teams headed to Guatemala to provide some service to the people of the country. Medical teams, teaching teams, construction teams were all represented. Our first thought was - we should have gotten matching t-shirts - but God started to speak to me that He was using these people to answer the prayers of his children in Guatemala.

Our team was made up of 8 members from Albuquerque, 5 members from El Paso and the pastor's family from the first Charlie's Lunch feeding center. We were scheduled to do children's ministry at 5 feeding centers located throughout Guatemala. Our ministry was to join the Charlie's Lunch volunteers and help serve the children, and then we would ask the children to go ask all their friends and relatives to join us for crafts, skits, games, and bible lessons later in the afternoon. We would mingle with the children playing jump rope, doing crafts, coloring pictures and just spending time with as many children as we could. I was given the privilege to dress as a clown at three of the feeding centers - what a blessing that was. It gave me the opportunity to interact with the kids and have fun even though my Spanish is very limited. It also created an awesome opportunity to take pictures of each of the children - what child doesn't like to have their photo taken and with today's digital camera I was able share the photo with them there.

Each location touched our hearts in a different way. It was as Los Ocotes that God showed me that the purpose of this trip was for me to be encouraged. I have worked with Charlie's Lunch for over 8 years helping coordinate fundraisers, team supplies, and concerts. All of these efforts were an honor to help with but I was missing the sweet little faces who ultimately God was blessing. I remember tears coming to my eyes when at Los Ocotes a beautiful little girl came to play jump rope with us and she was wearing one of my daughter's dresses that had been put in a pastor's gift bag in previous years. I can't express how that touched my heart. Later that evening the church feed us a wonderful dinner and as I finished my meal I realized that the plate I had was one we had sent down 7 years earlier. I felt God was speaking directly to me in secret with only things the two of us knew about. Each location showed me little glimpses of work that my husband done on previous construction or medical teams in years past.

The power of prayer was amazing on the whole trip. One evening after a heavy rain our Guatemalan Pastor found himself stuck - a mud slide had covered the road. It was late at night and the area was dangerous. He called us and asked for our prayers for his safety and for help to get him home. We stopped our meeting and bowed our heads in prayer. The next day we learned he had placed a few phone calls to several of the Charlie's Lunch youth he had ministered to over the last 8 years and before he knew it a team of teenagers were shoveling the road clear and answering our prayers. It was becoming more obvious that an awesome army of God is being raised up at these churches that will some day soon make incredible changes in Guatemala and around the world. The pastor's family at the Church in the Clouds near Xela (sh?lãh) shared with us that the team that visited last year prayed over their family and their son and they were excited to tell us that all of their prayers were answered. Each Pastor asked specifically for us to pray for them and their communities. At the church services that we were privileged to attend during our trip we were always asked to pray for the members - they wanted prayer above all else. Even children 3 years old would come forward and ask for you to pray for them. At one service as we were praying for the congregation the pastor asked his church to pray for our team and before I knew it I had over 10 people praying over me - little children to grandfathers - what a blessing. WE can take a lesson from these dear people - they turn to prayer first in any situation. We have so much here in the United States that sometimes we forget to take our needs to God first instead of the doctor or the credit card. As Chris Tomlin's song "Your Grace is Enough" played over and over on my MP3 during the trip it resonated with me that God is Remembering His Children, Remembering His People and Remembering His Promise - we just need to remember to go to Him.

One of the most obvious powers of prayer was in a small community called Almolonga. This community is over 95% Christian and God has healed their land. The community sits in a valley of volcanic mountains and the land produces vegetables of incredible size. We spent a couple of hours walking the community and the market. The carrots were the most incredible example - the average size was that of an adults arm. The produce fields climbed almost vertical on the mountain - unheard of here in El Paso where our mountains are too rocky to produce vegetables. Streams of clear clean water pour out of the mountains to water the crops - this is even more amazing because most volcanic areas have water that is so acidic that no crop can grow. For a girl from Iowa these crops were truly amazing. God has truly answered their prayers.

As I entered the airport in Guatemala to return home I smiled as I saw the new fresh faces getting off the planes that were coming to serve the next week. I was assured that each plane will bring people that God was using to answer the prayers of his children in Guatemala. It is definitely true for me, short term mission trips bless you more than you are able to bless. I encourage any of you who feel God's call to serve His children to join a short term mission team and be blessed!