By Stephanie Duncan
FEDERAL WAY, Washington--Last winter our youth minister, Kevin Graham, took several teens to an Acquire the Fire youth conference.
There, Carrie Lang and I were inspired to participate in a mission trip with Teen Mania Ministries.
We began a series of fund-raisers--selling candy, cleaning houses and accepting generous donations from family and friends--and raised $1,800 each. We were determined to go and nothing was going to stop us.
What at first seemed an impossible dream, God brought to life. Without faith in God and the generous support of the Federal Way congregation, family and friends, it could not have happened.
We went to Garden Valley, Texas, for training in evangelism and learned a drama about the life of Jesus Christ.
Then it was on to Guatemala. After each performance, the team leaders gave an altar call. Then the rest of the cast talked to the audience. We explained the drama, answered questions and if they desired, we prayed with them inviting them to accept Jesus as their personal Savior.
I saw God work in so many lives it was amazing. After one drama, my group singled out one man in the audience. He had a sign around his neck that said, "I am deaf, and I can't speak."
We surrounded him and began praying for him. About 45 minutes later, he jubilantly began to say: "I can speak! I can speak!" (He was investigated by some of the leaders, and the village people confirmed that he was never able to speak). We were witnesses to a miracle from God!
One day we were ministering in Central Park for the second time. We saw a man who began helping us by sharing his testimony. Later we found out that he had seen the drama the previous day and had committed his life to Jesus.
I was amazed that he had accepted Jesus as his Savior the day before, and he was immediately ministering to his people. Our five groups of 25 people each took the message of Jesus to thousands of people. We believe that just over 1,000 people accepted Jesus.
The experience of leading someone to Christ is an amazing feeling of fulfillment. I pray that everyone will have that experience.
Copyright © Worldwide Church of God, 1998