Laying hands on a Van

Laying hands on a Van

 

My family were able to enjoy the FMC community retreat in Moyobamba Peru in the heart of the Prelatura that we serve in. It was a chance to get to know the new missionaries who just arrived in the country, a time for rest, and a beautiful chance to attend daily mass at the cathedral, and we even had time for some FUN!

The last day of the retreat we as a community were ready to ventured off to a swimming hole about 45 mins north of Moyobamba.  Since most of us missionaries do not own a vehicle, the single girls team and my family needed to find our way to the swimming hole.

We decided to take a taxi. Once we arrived at the taxi terminal we were able to fit the single girls team and my family all in to one van, which was a relief because traveling to an unknown place in a foreign country isn’t always the same as in America . We were quickly on our way for a day of fun. I somehow ended up sitting in the front with the driver with Julianna and Gabriel in the back with the girls team.  Our driver was a young gentleman named Nelson in his mid to late 20’s, wearing shades and dress in a nicely pressed taxi uniform. Windows down and his radio playing a mix of Peruvian and American music from the 80’s.  He was curious to know what country we were from and how long we would be visiting Peru, I explained we were all from the United States and that we were Catholic missionaries and that we live about 3 hours south of Moyobamba serving in small pueblos not to far from one another . About that time one of my single missionary sisters asked me in English if we would like to pray the rosary. So all 7 of us began to pray the rosary; It took a minute for Nelson to realize that we were praying because we were praying in English. I felt a bit upset at my self that I did not explain to him before hand that we were going to pray the rosary and  a bit shy to ask him to turn down his music. (Even though one of the songs that came on during the rosary was BELIEVER from imagine Dragon.)  However the Lord used my shyness and the awkwardness to begin a beautiful conversation with Nelson after we were finished praying.  Once we made the sign of the cross Nelson immediately asked if we had been praying I said “yes we were praying the rosary, asking for Mother Mary to intercede for us and for others”.  It was a perfect chance for me to ask Nelson if he was Catholic. He replied that he has not been to church in a very long time. That he is not Catholic nor any other religion.  The rest of the ride consisted of us talking about the United States and different Languages, and his desire to learn English.  Soon we arrived at the swimming area, I noticed that there were no taxi’s waiting to return with swimmers, so I asked Nelson how we would be able to get back to Moyobamba from here. (After all it wasn’t in my plans that day to be stranded in the middle of NO WHERE.) He was nice enough to give us his cell number and he told us to call him an hour before we were ready to leave and he would pick us back up. What a relief that was!  

We had a wonderful time at the swimming area and enjoyed wonderful community time with all the FMC missionaries. We were ready to head back around 2pm, so decided we should call for Nelson to come and pick us up.

After about an hour wait, just as he had promised, We could hear Nelson coming down the road to pick us up. The music setting the tempo for Gabriel and the single team to practice on their dance moves before Nelson came to a complete stop. The young man was so professional and wanting to offer his best. He jumps out of the van and opens the doors and we all piled in, this time one of the single girls jumped up front. We were all loaded, doors closed and ready to go. After adjusting the volume of the radio our driver Nelson started to turn the van around in the middle of the road and once he put it in gear the van would not move. We were cross ways in the middle of the rode. Nelson tried many times to get the transmission to go into gear. The mood in the van got a bit quite, those whom were not paying attention , now were attentive to the fact the van was not moving and that we were stuck in the middle of the road. Nelson again adjusted the volume of the radio but this time he turned it down right before jumping out of the van and crawling up underneath the van. All at the same time he had pulled is phone out of his pocket to make a call. At that time I mentioned  to everyone we should say a prayer for the van. As we were sitting in the van we all placed both of our hands on the van. Gabriel grabbed the window, I placed both my hands on the roof and between all 7 missionaries in the van we had it pretty well covered. While we began to pray and we begged Christ to  send down his angels to help. We asked that any evil spirits be gone from the van and that we, with Christ help make it back to Moyobamba. You could still hear Nelson trying to make a call from under the van at the same time we were praying. Nelson finally came around to the drivers side; and the person on the other end finally answered. Nelson was explaining that the van would not go in gear, he  sounded a bit nervous, and embarrassed, explaining that the van was full of passengers. Nelson showed is concern about how we were going to make it back. Meanwhile with the looks he gave us when he returned to see us with our hands strategically placed on his van, I am more than positive that this young man, at this time was thinking we were all a bit strange; he just could not say anything to us because he was still on the phone. And on his behalf when he returned   from underneath the van, he came back to the drivers side to see seven missionaries laying their hands on the roof of his van, on the seats, on the windows, and you can bet that our feet were doing some pretty silent work of their own, all as we prayed for Gods help. By the end of Nelsons conversation with the gentleman on the phone he sat down in the drivers seat;  we at this point were praying the Our Father, and about to wrapped up our prayer for help when he tried to put the van in gear again.

It was a prayer answered, the van went into gear! You could hear Nelson, tell the man on the other end “NEVER MIND”, the van went into gear were on our way.  Nelson hung up the phone and told us the van must have been possessed with brujas (witches). Sitting from the back I replied to his comment, no worries we just prayed for your van, and we will make it back to Moyobamba. We did in fact make the 45 minute trip back to Moyobamba . We pulled to the back of the taxi terminal,  and we were just feet away from entering into the terminal when the van would not make it any further. Praise God for answered prayers.

Since my time here in Peru, as a foreign missionary,  I have learned that there are so many ways that we can evangelize those God has sent us to,  and sometimes he just wants us to have faith in Him, and lay hands on a van. I cannot help but pray that next time Nelson’s van is not working that instead of making a phone call, he would remember the small miracle that God preformed, and that he would choose to just lay his hand on his van and call on Christ for His help !

#LayingHandsOnAVan   #DrivingOutDemons   #InTheNameOfJesusWeCastOutEvil

 #GodHearsOurPrayers

#MissionLifeInPeru   #UnBrokenAreWe

Karen Del Castillo

Catholic Missionary

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