Another Non-Typical Evangelism Tool

Passing Out - An Occurrence in Guatemala

When I came home from Guatemala, I told my friend Laura this story and she said, "Well I wouldn't use that as an evangelism tool, but God works in mysterious ways." Again, all I can say is I had nothing to do with this...

This past summer my college basketball team went on a mission trip to El Salvador and Guatemala. I absolutely loved it. There are so many stories to tell of God's faithfulness and protection - and just stories in general. But I got sick in Guatemala. And I'd like to believe it was because God answered a prayer I had prayed several days earlier in El Salvador while playing in the waves of the Pacific Ocean.
I recall thinking how great those waves were and how easily God could have wiped me out if He wanted to. And then I began to think of how powerful He really was and asked Him to use that power in us while we shared His gospel. I'd like to think that's where it all began...after all the powerful waves did shovel what seemed like a half-ton of sand in my ears. I told a teammate a few days later that there was still sand in my ear. But then I thought nothing more of it.
While in Guatemala I got a fever and slept on the bus while the team did a clinic. We were scheduled to drive a couple hours away to a game but for some strange reason (also known as God's Sovereignty) our coach decided we needed to eat right then and there. There being a Pollo Campero (fast-food chicken). "What about the Wendy's up the road?" someone suggested. "No, let's eat here," she said. So we stopped. I ate some mashed potatoes and was teased for my "mosquito eyes." That's what they look like when I get sick. And then I said, "I think I'm going to pass out," and proceeded to do just that. I was carried to the bus, and my head was placed on the leg of the evangelist of the group. My coach asked if there was a hospital nearby and one of the fast-food workers told her and our bus-driver to follow him on his motorcycle.
I'm told we flew on that bus through the streets of Guatemala - no easy feat when the bus is probably a foot narrower than the alleys it's passing through. We got to the clinic where I received medical attention. God was sovereign in so many ways. My heavy head had caused the evangelist's leg to fall asleep and I think that's why he didn't come into the clinic. Instead, he stayed outside and talked to the motorcyclist from Pollo Campero. With tears in his eyes, Jorge accepted Jesus as his Savior and said, "I've never felt peace like this before." That night, the man who drove a motorcycle for a fast-food chicken restaraunt became our brother.
The next day I saw another doctor who told me I had an ear-infection. I didn't make the connection until several months later when looking at my journal, but perhaps the sand from those powerful waves caused the ear-infection that made me pass out. Only heaven will tell...