(Every year, thousands of partiers flood Mazatlan’s streets for Carnaval. Hundreds of YWAMers also flood the streets to share the love of Jesus.)
The other night, I made a stranger cry.
I didn’t mean to. I promise.
But there I was, sitting at a café table in the middle of the frantic bustling streets of Carnaval, speaking to a middle-aged woman who only spoke in Spanish, and she was crying.
Her family. That’s what we’d been talking about. How many siblings did she have? Did she have children? What was her husband’s name?
“My husband is dead.”
….Oh….
And I felt absolutely terrible, because what the heck did I just do?! The poor girl is in tears. So I hugged her as she cried, prayed for her, and offered to bring her to our Ladies’ Ministry tent.
I led her to the tent, brimming with flowers and middle eastern fabrics and little twinkling lights. We got her coffee and a warm blanket to ward off the rainy-evening chill, and I got a friend to help translate.
The woman spilled her story to us. Exactly one year ago her husband died unexpectedly, and she was suddenly a single mother of three. She fell into a pit of depression for half a year, and the only thing that kept her from ending her life was her kids. She had no means of supporting her family, and no one from her church ever came to help or comfort her.
And so I sat and prayed as this woman, Aracelli, shared her story with my friend. My friend then shared her testimony and asked Araceli’s forgiveness on behalf of Christians for not helping her in her time of need.
As my friend finished speaking, Aracelli told us that she wanted to know who Jesus really was. She realized now that He wasn’t far away or unconcerned for her. He was a God of kindness and grace, closer than her breath.
And here’s the best part. As we told her about Jesus, she decided she wanted a relationship with Him!
After she prayed, we prayed for her too and asked God for words of encouragement to share with her.
Eyes still red and puffy from her tears, Araceli smiled. “I feel such peace now,” she said.
By Keisha (DTS staff). Photo credit: YWAM Mazatlan
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