Miracle of the Season
“God, you can do all things. You can break through any obstacle, power outages, translation problems, and even my foolish pride.” I asked the Lord to break through.
This Advent season is our anticipation of the birth of Jesus. This year, Advent comes immediately after my trip to Ecuador. While in Ecuador, I was reminded of the miracle of the Advent season, the humble circumstances in which our Savior was born.
My ten-day trip helped me to remember humility, mainly because of communication challenges. When I arrived in Ecuador, my friend and YWAM colleague Maria Isabel, the director of YWAM Guayaquil, and Wayner, a 21-year-old volunteer from Peru, met me at the airport. Wayner was recently accepted into Guayaquil's next Discipleship Training School (DTS). I became his roommate, and he became my constant companion. Neither Maria nor Wayner speaks English, and my Spanish still needs to improve. However, the language barrier was not the only challenge.
Power Outages
Due to widespread drought, the lights were out throughout the city and the country. We navigated with flashlights to the 3rd-floor apartment, which also serves as the YWAM office. My previous trips to Ecuador were very different. On one occasion, I taught at the first University DTS. On two other trips, I was the first and last speaker at the School of University Ministries & Missions (SUMM) and a speaker at the University of Guayaquil’s MBA class. Maria had dozens of staff and students living in a large rented house near the university. Her leadership and the SUMM helped us send out new leaders of university ministries in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, and Venezuela. But now, she works out of a tiny two-bedroom apartment with electricity and wifi available only a few hours a day.
In terms of modern conveniences, this trip was similar to my first experience leading an outreach team in 1987. Showers were icy at 12,000 ft in the Andes Mountains of Peru. I’m not unfamiliar with cold showers, and I didn’t mind experiencing extended quiet times because we could not communicate. But some communication was critical. Because the wifi was frequently down, the translation apps on our phones were rarely available. I realized I have been taking modern technology for granted. I needed to be humbled. And I needed our humble Savior to help me.
A Full Schedule
Maria did her best to inform me about the schedule, which included a week of speaking engagements and teaching at the National Staff Conference. Due to the national drought, Ecuador’s limited hydroelectric power made everything difficult for Maria, especially setting up meetings and translators. Maria put me on the phone with at least one of my translators. One asked for my notes in advance, which I promptly sent to him to help him prepare.
On my first night, we jumped in a taxi and crossed town without traffic lights to a large Assemblies of God church, where I was scheduled to speak to their young adults. Thankfully, they had a generator for lights. But their hyped-up praise band, and the loud traffic noises echoing through the open auditorium were distracting. My translator introduced himself as we were invited to the excessively elevated platform. As I began my message, he said he could not hear me, so instead of looking at the audience, I had to turn to look at my translator when I spoke. This was more than just a communication problem. I was losing God’s peace.
Humbling
My message that first night was about emotional and circumstantial obstacles to spiritual growth, which comes from the WHO I AM young adult retreat curriculum. As I spoke things that keep us from knowing our identity and purpose in Christ, I used the word “Humility.” He didn’t know how to translate the word, so I said, “Humilidad.” Then I saw a giant rat walking across the floor of the church.
As you might imagine, I was not sensing God’s presence. I knew the message was not landing in the hearts of the people. The pastor understood the message and invited me back to speak at their Wednesday night service. Still, I was discouraged and began to think about how my translator failed and how the rat distracted me. I needed more than a translator; I needed Jesus.
God reminded me that the keyword of the night was “humility.” God began to humble me. I prayed, “God, you can do all things. You can break through any obstacle, power outages, translation problems, and even my foolish pride.” I asked the Lord to break through.
Following Instructions
The next night, I was at a small Pentecostal Church where several elderly men and women took turns walking up to the altar to sing a solo. They all sang out of tune. It was horrible. I nearly forgot “humility.” God can break through any circumstance, but we miss Him if we fail to humble ourselves. So, I asked God what He was doing. He reminded me of the verse from 1 Cor. 14:26, “When you come together, each of you has a hymn, or a word of instruction, a revelation, a tongue or an interpretation. Everything must be done so that the church may be built up.”
I commend the congregation for their faithfulness to the Bible’s instruction. I taught about Table Fellowship as a mission strategy, exhorting them to welcome neighbors to share meals at their tables. Jesus modeled Table Fellowship. It is the strategy God gave to Paul to encourage Jewish believers to share their stories with Gentile believers. To close, I encouraged someone to volunteer to pray. One lady came up and shared a prayer concern for her daughter. Then, I asked for another volunteer to pray for the woman’s daughter. Several came forward to pray. Prayers continued until the congregation prayed and rejoiced at the altar. Jesus loves it when we humble ourselves, no matter the circumstances.
Why Did I Go?
I was in Guayaquil to support Maria Isabel and the work we started there years ago. We looked at another house that could work well for the next DTS in January. We met with Andreas, a former YWAM student who is now a lawyer, to share the vision and ask for his advice about how Maria could raise enough money through investors and donors to purchase a permanent house for YWAM Guayaquil.
After a few more days of speaking, first at the big AoG church, then at a high school and a Vo-Tech college, we took a seven-hour bus ride into the Andes Mountains to YWAM Aqua Viva in Baños. Two more YWAMers joined us on that bus ride to the Ecuador National Staff Conference. One of them was Gustavo, a 23-year-old YWAMer who knew a little English. He decided we would spend all our time together talking. Gustavo arranged for us to sit together on the bus ride. He crowded me, and he demanded my full and constant attention. I was getting exhausted.
Knowing Our Stories
Then, while teaching at the conference, I had the participants do one of the story exercises for the WHO I AM Weekend Intensive. My translator read my 30 questions about their story. For answers to positive experiences, the participants took one step to their right. For negative experiences, the participants took one step to their left. We did the positive questions first. Gustavo didn’t move. He did not know his father. He did not live in the same home. Nobody helped him at school. He did not have a happy childhood. When the negative questions were asked, including homelessness, parental abandonment, drug abuse, jail time, etc., Gustavo took a step to the left for every one of them. My heart sank when I could literally see his story. God humbled me again.
A Season of Miracles
Maria was grateful that I came to Ecuador. She has scheduled the first WHO I AM Weekend Intensive in South America and invited me back to teach in the next DTS. A lot’s already lined up for 2025, such as the WHO I AM Weekend Intensives in NJ (January) and TN (March). In a little while, we will be able to announce some even bigger news. This is a Season of Miracles.
I pray you experience the Miracle of the Season. I pray that you experience the humility of Jesus. Christ our Savior is born!
Have a blessed Christmas.
John