The Boy in the Red Shirt

We walked the cobblestone streets, every step being led by the Lord. His hand was in every moment, as He guided us all around the town square, to the market, to the lake, and to the soccer field. His timing was perfectly woven into every decision.

One of my favorite days on the Race thus far. Bear with me, but if you want to read about how the Lord is working in everything, down to a simple footstep or minute on the clock, read on. (You might want to grab a snack, it’s a long one.)

 We spent the morning praying, making sandwiches, and writing out verses in Spanish to pass out around town.The day’s events truly began as we stepped onto the curb from our hostel. My team and I walked down the sidewalk to the corner of the block. As it began to rain, Aliseya and I thought we should run back to the hostel to grab our rain jackets. If we hadn’t stopped at the corner and turned back, we wouldn’t have ran into another team on that corner block (Instance #1 of seeing the Lord’s blessing of time). 

making sandwiches in the morning

ready to start passing the sandwiches out!

 A brief meeting with Team 217 – they showed us that they too had made sandwiches that day to pass out. Always a joy to see other racers throughout the city – and in the beginning of our day to start us off! We walked to the center square, and once we arrived, we asked the Lord where we should go. From there we walked diagonally through the square, turned right, turned left, and stopped. Aliseya asked, “Where do you think the Lord is leading us?” Almost instantaneously, Talaya says, “God told me to go this way.” So we head right, towards the market, and just a few seconds later we hear christian music BLASTING….in ENGLISH. So naturally we head straight towards the music, and we meet our first new friends of the day. Isa and Andrea, two Christians from Nicaragua who were working at a small clothing store. We conversed with them for about an hour, sharing stories, learning about how they both love to sing and play guitar, and having an impromptu worship session amidst the busy market road. It was so beautiful to start off our street evangelism day with two christians who were so excited about what we were doing. 

As we said our goodbyes, we began to head back to the center square. We stopped on the sidewalk and decided to pray over Isa and Andrea. As we were praying, a man named Nelson came up to us with bracelets for sale. We had met him a few days before at a coffee shop, and he mentioned to us that another team had given him a sandwich earlier that day. We gave him another, and he confirmed that the other team’s sandwiches were better. We talked with him for a bit and then continued on.

At this point, we felt like walking to the lake would be the best option. So we began our journey, about 7 blocks down towards the lake. But we did not travel far before Aliseya spoke up and said that we should turn around and go speak to a woman we had walked past. So we turned around and met another new friend, named Marisa. She was standing in the entrance of a school. After about 10 seconds of talking with her, she told us to feel free to go inside and check it out. So we walked in and the space opened up to a giant court where easily 150+ children were playing. We knew that we wouldn’t be able to give out sandwiches here because we couldn’t feed them all, but we stood around for a bit anyway. My team talked to some teachers nearby, and I noticed a boy in a red shirt. Although all of the other kids were playing games and sports, he was mopping the floor. He had a decent limp, and as he struggled to wring out his mop, I went alongside to ask if he needed help. He promptly said no. As I left to give him the space to mop, I turned around and he disappeared. I didn’t see him the rest of the time, but his eyes were ingrained in my heart.

We walked out to the entrance again and spoke with Marisa. We shared that we were missionaries, and she began to open up about her testimony, different traumas from her past, and her family dynamics. We got to pray with her and her daughter in the end, holding hands and hugging by the end of the conversation. Another beautiful encounter from the Lord.

We continued on towards the lake, but pretty quickly decided we should stop and pray. Aliseya prayed over Marisa and her family, and then I shared with my team about the boy with the red shirt that I had met. I prayed over him, the limp, his life, and the sadness I had seen. I don’t want to go too much into detail online but if anyone has questions about any part of these stories please message me because I would love to share these stories more in depth! As we were praying, a man walked up to us. He was selling bracelets he had made, but this man was different from the others. He was deaf. At first we didn’t realize that, but soon enough, Aliseya understood and went into ASL mode. It was the most amazing experience to see Aliseya be able to use her gift of sign language, and even though they learned differently, they were able to communicate, and the man, named Juan Carlos, was very happy to be able to communicate with someone. He started off the conversation by trying to sell us bracelets, but after learning that we were missionaries, he began sharing about the time he was held at knifepoint and had all of his belongings, including his hearing aids, stolen. He showed us the scars and we prayed over him and his daughter who was also deaf.

After we said goodbye to Juan Carlos, we journeyed on towards the lake. At the corner of the block we turned and sat on the stairs of an old church for a few minutes. We prayed for Juan Carlos again and thanked God for the encounters we had already had. As we prepared to leave, I shared with my team that I had met a woman a few days prior at a nearby area, and maybe we would run into her again. We crossed the road, and it was as if I blinked my eyes, and my friend Maria, who I had JUST told my team about, was suddenly in front of me. I introduced her to my team and we gave her 2 sandwiches. She was homeless and shared that she was doing very bad. We got to pray with her, and as we were with her, we saw our new squad leaders ride by on bikes! As they rode over to join us for a minute, we realized once again that if we hadn’t stopped to pray for Juan Carlos, the timing would have been different and we wouldn’t have ran into the leaders. Time after time, the Lord was just weaving His clock into every minute of our day.

sitting on the stairs of the church praying over Juan Carlos

 We walked on after saying goodbye to both Maria and the squad leaders. We were close to the lake by now, and a few different people had stopped to offer us boat tours and opportunities to see monkeys. We spoke briefly with a man that I had also met previously, and introduced him to the team. Then, we continued on, walking alongside the lake for a few minutes. As we arrived at the lake, two things were shared. Aliseya mentioned that she felt the Lord tell her earlier in the day to focus more on the encounters than giving away the sandwiches. Michaela shared that she felt like we were going to end up giving all of the sandwiches away in one encounter. 

arriving at the lake (biggest lake in all of Central America!)

 So walking alongside the lake, with it getting later in the day and still having about 20 sandwiches on us, we stopped next to a soccer field. In the field we counted just about 20 kids and coaches, all practicing soccer. That is when we had the realization that we knew where the sandwiches would find their home! We stood on the side of the field for a few minutes, contemplating if we should go up to the coaches or wait, and ultimately decided we should walk over to the other side of the field and ask two women who were sitting down. We found out that they were mothers, watching their kids practice, and when we asked if the kids would like sandwiches, they eagerly accepted the gift. As we handed them the food, the coaches yelled for a water break, and all of the kids sprinted over to us shouting and just filling the air with joy. They grabbed at the sandwiches, expressing their thanks (in English – go kiddos!) and asked us our names and where we were from. This was ANOTHER MOMENT, yet AGAIN, that the Lord’s timing was perfect! If we hadn’t stood contemplating for 5 minutes who to give the sandwiches to, we wouldn’t have gotten the opportunity to meet all of the children on their water break.

All the kids playing soccer before we gave them sandwiches

passing out the sandwiches!

 We left the field filled with joy and decided that we should start heading back to our hostel for the evening. We didn’t know if the Lord was done with us for the day or not, but felt like it would be heading in the right direction to go back. A few blocks into the walk, we saw a group of police officers standing on the side of the road. Aliseya said, “I feel like we should pray for that policewoman.” I asked, “Do you want to stop and pray? Or keep walking?” And Aliseya said, “We can keep walking. I’ll pray as we walk.” So for the first time that day, we chose to keep walking as we prayed instead of stopping. 

As Aliseya finished her prayer, our minds turned to the idea of dinner. We considered pizza or some ice cream to celebrate how the Lord had worked in the day. All of a sudden, Aliseya comes up to me and says, “Jessie, do you recognize that kid?” And I turned around to see a boy in a red shirt with a limp turning the corner. We all stopped in our tracks. Out of 150 children, one stood out. Aliseya had not even seen him at the school, but she remembered that in my prayer earlier I had mentioned the boy with the red shirt who was limping. This was yet another moment that we knew God’s timing was perfect! If we had stopped to pray for the policewoman instead of continuing to walk, we would never have seen him! Michaela shouted, “We need to go talk to him!” So we turned around and headed back towards the corner. Aliseya told me she had seen him crying, and rubbing his eyes. When we turned the corner he was sitting, but as he saw us he stood up and kept walking. He was with another kid who was also walking away. I shouted “Hola!” to them as we caught up. We went through introductions, and began asking them about their home and school. Consalo and Rinado were their names, and when we asked why Consalo  was mopping, he shared with us that he had to if he wanted to attend school. Just 11 years old and working so hard to be able to receive an education. The conversation was short, and I ultimately went into brain freeze mode. Aliseya asked if we could pray for them, and so after they said yes I prayed. 

We saw the enemy trying hard to stop that conversation from happening. When they saw us they walked away, and when I was trying to ask if I could pray for them, my brain totally froze. But ultimately we were able to share God’s love with them, and I know that everything happened for a reason. It’s hard to describe how speechless and just in absolute awe my entire team felt after so many insanely DIVINE encounters we experienced. The Lord is working up and down these streets. Everywhere. After we left the two boys, we thanked God for increasing our faith and showing us His mightiness and sovereignty. We finished the night out by heading back to the hostel (and we did celebrate with ice cream and pizza if anyone’s wondering). 

God is good, and so was this pizza.

A song we often sing on the race has these lyrics: “Even if we can’t see You, You’re moving. Even if we can’t hear You, You’re moving. You never stop, never stop moving.” 

We did see Him move today, but I share this story not just to share how the Lord increased my faith, but to remind you that there is so much that the Lord is doing behind the scenes as well. You don’t have to see these incredible works to know that He is ever present, weaving incredible works with His hands all around you.

Thanks for sticking with me on this one!