While leading a missions trip to the Dominican Republic, Neil Bruinsma saw a man healed in a surprising way.
One of my favorite things is helping people realize they can hear God speak.
At the center of Adventures trips is listening prayer. It’s a part of everything we do, from nightly debriefs to setting aside entire blocks of time for God to lead us into ministry we wouldn’t have found ourselves.
There’s not anything mystical about it, but every time God does something amazing, something that only He can do, I get excited.
That’s what happened in the Dominican Republic. One night during debrief, I taught about Listening Prayer and about how it will be the basis for our trip. I led the team in this exercise and we paused in silence for about a minute, waiting for the Lord to speak to us. Then we went around the circle and each person shared what they saw or heard.
Lydia saw a picture that stuck with me.
She saw a bucket filled with different colored pills being poured through a sieve. But only one pill made it all the way through. It was then picked up by a doctor and carried away.
I felt like the Lord gave me the interpretation of this picture and I shared it with the team. I felt that the different kinds of pills represented all the different ways we as people try to medicate ourselves through pain in life—whether it be material things, relationships, or even actual drugs.
I felt the doctor represented God and He picked up the only thing that He trusted to give as medication: Jesus.
This was all nice sounding but didn’t really mean much…until the following morning.
While a group of us walked around the community inviting children to the Vacation Bible School, we were invited into a house where we met Isidro. He greeted us warmly and was obviously excited to have us as visitors. He kept going off in Spanish like we were long lost friends, forgetting to let our friend Hector translate for us.
When he said he was 75 years old, I said he seemed to be pretty healthy for his age and had a lot of energy. He responded by talking the chronic stomach pains he has had for several years, left the room, and then returned carrying a stuffed plastic shopping bag full of bottles bottles and boxes of medication.
Isidro said that he had tried all these different kinds of medication to relieve his pain but to no avail. At that point I think at heard an audible bell dinging like I was on The Price is Right and had just won a kitchen set; this was just like Lydia’s picture from the night before!
With enthusiasm I explained to him about Lydia’s picture and how I felt it was meant for him. He excitedly responded, “Si, Si!” Hector, Jeremy and I laid hands on Isidro and prayed for his healing. As we finished, he thanked God in Spanish, “Gracias, Senor! Gracias, Senor!”
The next day I went back with Hector and Lydia to check on Isidro. He was excited to greet us and said he was feeling much better. We prayed for him again, and then following day I found him on the street and ask how he was doing. His answer was that he felt better than the day before!
God healed Isidro!
It is times like these that make it all worth it. I love seeing people realize that they can hear from the Lord and seeing God’s Word come to pass.
Do you want your students to grow in their faith while serving God on the mission field? CLICK HERE for information on our youth group trip to the Dominican Republic in June!
For the 3 week Ambassador trip (ages 14-18) to the DR, CLICK HERE!
