Every Tuesday and Thursday our team goes to the children center to do ministry with the children. Our days consist of teaching them a VBS style song with motions, a skit with biblical themes and most importantly getting to show them God’s love.
Throughout the month I have been able to make deep connections with some of the older kids who are hungry to know more about Jesus. One of our boys has been especially interested in knowing all the details of why my team is in Brazil and even found what church we are partnering with here in the city.
This Sunday I was supposed to be leading our oldest kids group, but apparently I had been taken off of the schedule since another part of my group were hosting a teen event that my pre- teen group was going to join. Because of this I was left with no where to go but the main service. I then made my way to the service and found my way to a seat. While looking around from the back of the sanctuary I found two more of my team members closer to the front, so I decided to move up to sit with them.
Not even a minute after I had gotten up I am approached and squeezed by a young boy. I look down, and it is one of the children who we had been connecting with during our Tuesday/ Thursday ministry. This child said he found the location of our church and put it in maps. He showed his mom and she told him to “get dressed and start walking.” With the permission he was granted,he walked himself to church. He ended up joining us for the remainder of service. he was also given a Portuguese Bible, which he immediately started flipping through and reading verses. Throughout the sermon I was able to expand upon and explain in more detail certain topics that were harder for him to understand. I also got to teach him how the Bible worked, and by the end of service he was able to find all the verses.
Towards the end of the message our pastor asked if anyone wanted to accept Jesus into their hearts. When he said this, this boy hugged me with one arm and with the other he boldly raised in the air. I was immediately impacted by this moment and started tearing up. The presence of the Lord was so strong in that moment; another woman who also works at the school came over and we all started praying for him. The woman then told me to go up with the child as the pastor would pray for him. The boy wanted to but initially was scared to walk up, so I held his hand and walked him to the front.
There we stood, his arms still embracing my back and in that moment I could just feel that this boy has a powerful call on his life and will be a pioneer for spreading the gospel to people all around him. He was radiant. He looked up at me again with a tear in his eye and then swooped in for the hug. My heart shattered in thankfulness. Not only was I there to witness his salvation but I got to be a part in the planting of seed, the watering process, and then I got to see the fruit.
God’s timing is so crazy. I was just feeling a bit discouraged by how our kids ministry was going. The Lord reminded me that he always goes after the one. This boy was the one that we we going after in this ministry. It is reassuring to know that if his salvation was the only thing that came out of all the ministry we did here, it would all be worth it.
“What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he has lost one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the open country, and go after the one that is lost, until he finds it? 5 And when he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing. 6 And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and his neighbors, saying to them, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep that was lost.’ 7 Just so, I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance.” Luke 15: 4-7
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