Luke 10 stories are bound to be interesting stories always.
The fact of the matter in this case was: A group of 3 people going into a foreign, Spanish speaking country for 7 days without money, transport, food or a plan, except trusting God for Devine appointments along the way.
How can you not see God's hand working in a time like this, where you have to trust Him for everything? When we are weak, He is strong.
In Salta we said chao to the rest of the Hidden World group and with an excitement/slight nervousness inside we started hitchhiking in the direction of our end destination 1300 km away.
Our first man of peace, Tito, came to meet us that afternoon in the main street of Gonzalez, a small dusty town a few hundred kilometers along the way. He took us to the local campground where we could pitch our tents for free and had access to hot showers, 24h security and BBQ facilities.
And yes, that night Tito treated us to the best Argentinean meat on the BBQ that I have EVER tasted and a 1.5 liter tub of ice cream. Every time we wanted to thank him, he stopped us by saying, "Don't thank me, thank God."
The next day we spent the afternoon praying at the bedsides of patients in the local hospital. Later a woman, Dora, came to our campsite and after she heard we are Christians, she very excitedly invited us to her church that night.
We got to share in church about our faith journey, all in very broken Spanish. A woman in church, inspired by our testimony, felt to give us 3 bags full of Argentinean pastries and meat patties to continue our journey with.
Dora prepared the patties and some tea for us in her humble "tienda" shop that night and although we really couldn't understand much of her Spanish, there was no denying how passionate she was about Jesus.
The 3rd day we decided to move on, but we were less successful with lifts and ended up camping behind a petrol station only 160 km further along the road.
Early the next morning we found out why we were not supposed to continue to the next town just yet... God set up a Devine appointment with 4 young Argentinians who pulled an all nighter, still walking around with beer bottle in the hand.
They came to us out of curiosity and started chatting. In the end the one girl shared her heart with us about her mom dying 3 years ago. We got to pray with them and speak truth and life into their situation.
In a short random conversation God connected us on a deeper level and although we will probably never see them again, God used us in that moment for His glory.
After spending a less pleasant night sleeping in front of a coffee shop at the bus station in Corrientes, we decided to actively search for our next man of peace on the couch surfing website.
Elias, a friendly, intriguing young man opened his modern house for us, totally trusting us strangers in his house while he went to work. That night we got to share about our different cultures, Global Challenge, our journey and what we stand for. We were planting seeds and asking the Holy Spirit to water them.
The next day we had a great day on the road with a truck driver generously sharing his Mate. (A herby tea that you drink through a steel straw)
When he dropped us off, we were ready to go and search for a spot to sleep at the Formosa Airport that night (300km away from our end destination). But a Charismatic Catholic family stopped next to the road as we were walking and decided to give us a bed, food and even a sightseeing tour of their city. What an unexpected blessing. It was God providing again.
It reminded me of 1 Chron 17 where David wanted to build a house for God's ark, but then God promised him a house and a lot of other blessings instead. It is amazing how we want to do something for God but then He comes to show us how much HE loves US instead.
Our Luke 10 story turned out to be a faith building success story once again, as God provided in all our needs and set up people of peace with amazing hearts and conversations along the way that could only be God ordained.
It just goes to show how God's power is activated when we continually and intentionally search for Him in everything we do.
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