Thursday was an incredible day! Three people accepted Christ as their Savior!! During our debrief on Tuesday night, Tori had reminded us that physical therapy was our way in, but our true mission was to share the Gospel. She challenged us to get out of our comfort zone and invite our patients to accept Jesus Christ as their Savior.
For the majority of the week, I had been working with Watson as a translator. Not only is he a translator, but he is also a pastor at a church in the countryside. For years, he has been preaching to his mother, Margarette, about the Gospel, yet she refused to accept Jesus. She frequently responded with, "I am a good person. The bible says not to kill people and I do not kill people." On Wednesday, Watson's mother, Margarette, came in for back, knee, and ankle pain. Just like Tori had challenged us, we had that difficult conversation and I asked her, "Do you accept Jesus Christ as your Savior?" Just like she had told Watson many times before, she said no. I had explained to her that nothing I do to help her is guaranteed and the only guarantee that I could ever provide her is that accepting Jesus Christ is the only way to eternal life, free of pain and suffering. I invited her to come to church the next day to worship and pray with me. She accepted the invitation and promised to be there. I challenged her to think about what Watson and I had said and that I would revisit the conversation again on Thursday at church.
On Thursday, my first patient did not accept Jesus and despite my efforts, she just flat out refused. I was feeling discouraged and shared with Tori my frustrations and told Tori, I just want a patient that can declare their love for God. When I went to get my next patient, to my surprise Margarette showed up at the clinic and stated that she wanted me to look at her knee again. I began to evaluate her knee and continued our conversation from the previous day. I said, "I will ask you 5 times throughout this session if you will accept Jesus Christ as your Savior." The first time I asked, she said "Yes." I was in shock and had her repeat her response I squeezed her as we both cried. Then I left to get Tori and cried tears of joy. It was a beautiful moment. Watson, Tori, Margarette, and I prayed together as we wept and rejoiced in union with our sister in Christ. God is so good and His love is ever so present here in Haiti!!
That night I had the privilege of sitting beside Maragarette at church listening to the sermon Sam shared of Peter getting out of the boat and- by faith that Keaus is who He says He is- walking on water and worshiping together. This day was so amazing because our God is so amazing!
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