Barquisimeto, Venezuela

After we closed our seminar with prayer we were not ready for what took place. One after the other, many participants came up and wanted us to actually autograph their copy of the Envoy World Impact Seminar material. Dave Andersen and I both were mobbed like rock stars… only our hair is a lot shorter. I looked over and saw him feverishly signing one copy after another as I did the same, then came time for photos with all of the 165 participants……..To say the least we smiled a lot that day. It was remarkable and humbling.

Each day during the seminar people had the desire to tell us how they had been led into missions and how God confirmed it time and time again. This course, for many, was the grand finale, the finishing touch. One such girl was in our small course the year before where only 15 people attended.

As I translated for David she told us the story about how God was confirming his call on her life. She felt a call to Spain. She started checking out the mission agencies that she felt were reliable, but each time was told that she would need a year of English in order to be accepted. Checking into the best English school she found out that the course would cost her 50,000 Bolivares ( 20,000 U.S. dollars). She decided to look at another school that was not as expensive, knowing that the course was not as intensive. That course would still cost her some 20,000 Bolivares (8000 U.S. dollars). Because of the economic crisis in Venezuela she felt she had been dealt a blow that would take away her chances to serve God full time in Spain. Faithful friends encouraged her not to give up and also prayed with her that God would miraculously provide in some way. She felt a peace and said that it is God’s problem and not hers.

As she told the rest of the story tears began to well up in her eyes and a smile came across her face. She explained that when she arrived home one day her sister told her that she had received a call from a large department store in the city and that they were waiting on her call.

Dialing the number she wondered why they had called her. Some one picked up the phone on the other end and she explained who she was and that she was asked to call. “Hold on Please”, came the reply. Immediately a voice answered and congratulated her for winning. She was stunned and confused. The manager laughed and then explained that she would need to come down and sign some papers but that the prize was hers to claim. She asked how she had won. “From the drawing of course,” he said, “We drew your name out of the bucket where you dropped the slip of paper.” Now she really was shocked because she had never been in that store and she had surely never dropped her name in a bucket to win a prize there. “When can you come down,” asked the manager. “Immediately,” she said and started to hang up. “Oh by the way, she asked excitedly, could you please tell me what I have won?” The man laughed and said, “Well, you have won the grand prize. You have won an entire year of English classes!”

If I had not heard it and seen the girl with my own eyes I would say that it was just another sweet story, but God is proving to me day by day that he is indeed in the miracle business and that his plans will not fail.

Aint God cool?

Wick