This week has been one for the memory making, at times not so good of memories and other ones that will not be forgotten in decades. Monday afternoon 4:30 pm I remember feeling disappointed because the girls took late naps and we hadn’t been able to play school all day. I was planning on leaving with Emma to go grocery shopping within minutes of this tragic experience on our ally. I was in the kitchen with Megan while she was eating her snack after nap and Emma in the living room with Juan looking out the front door. All of a sudden we hear three gunshots that rang our ears as if it was on our doorstep. Juan instantly slammed the front door shut, locked it and ran into the kitchen with Emma where Megan and I were. I froze thinking that there was a shooting in our backyard because literally our glass windows shook. Juan insisted on going outside to see what happened and all I remember was yelling at him to STAY in the kitchen with us. While Juan opened the front door he saw our hispanic neighbor, for privacy matters I will call him E, walking around with a machete. Juan asked him what is going on, he told Juan that three young men followed him to his house (which is three doors from our ally) and put a gun to his chest telling him to let them in his house and take anything they wanted. To protect his wife and children he told them no and tried to get away from the shooter. The shooter tried shooting him in the chest two times and BY GOD’S MIRACULOUS mercy E was able to dodge the bullets that were literally 6 inches from him. The shooter then tried to shoot E while he was on the ground from dodging the first two and yet was able to escape the bullet AGAIN. Three shots were tried for his life and God spared E, each and every bullet. God spared his family! God spared our family, if my girls didn’t take a long nap we would have been on our porch starting our lemonade play-school theme. E was literally just walking down our street like he does everyday, like we do everyday, and the robbers chose him to follow and attempt robber midday. It could have been us, they passed our house, they tried killing E next to our house! It was GOD’S plan that this happened when we were home and by our home. Juan and I scared out of our minds if the shooters would return had a hard time leaving our doorstep. We prayed for E and his family and had a DEEP conviction to go to his house and give him the gospel, food, and a Bible. By God’s grace, Juan was able to share the gospel with him, pray with him, and talk to him for over an hour. E trusted in Jesus as his savior that day. This experience is something that Juan and I have CRIED over the past two days. We have been questioning God, fighting God’s will, and battling contentment over the fact that we have been waiting six months to be on the mission field. Our departure has been delayed over and over and over again due to Colombia’s strict international travel ban. We haven’t seen God’s purpose in this, we have’t seen the “bigger picture” until this week. If it is ONLY for the salvation of our neighbor E that God has put our missionary journey to Colombia on pause then this waiting period was TOTALLY worth it. We finally see God’s purpose and meaning in this. We finally saw a piece of God’s bigger picture. The fact that God gave E a second chance of life and an opportunity to find TRUE eternal life in Jesus, WE ARE BEYOND AMAZED. E should not be living! God saving his life has given E an eternal home in heaven. Writing this I am still welling up in tears because life is so short. It could have been my Juan walking down our street, since he runs everyday. It could have been me coming back from the corner store like I would go to on an almost daily basis, it could have been us in the cross-fires with the girls on the porch, but God chose E to experience this near to death experience so that he would search for a hope and meaning only found in Jesus. Needless to say, after this experience we have decided that it was time to move in with my parents for the remaining few weeks we have in NJ before our departure to Colombia. Today was our last day in this home and we couldn’t have imagined a better way for us to go then being used by God to bring someone from darkness to light, from sorrow to hope, from fear to faith. This is Juan and I praying over what I have called our ghetto house, saying our goodbyes to the memories and experiences that have shaped our faith, dependence on the Lord, and some of the most humbling experiences we have ever encountered.
Mama's Bilingual Play-School 