Eight years. That's how long Operation Mobilization Ecuador, with some help from a local church, have ministered to the people living on Santay, an island across the Guayas River from the port city of Guayaquil, Ecuador. It didn't seem like much was happening, but after sowing for nearly a decade, the people are opening their hearts to a Holy Ghost visitation.
Indeed, until recently the team has been discouraged by the lack of response from the Santay Islanders. However, they are now seeing God’s hand in the people’s lives—and the people are responding.
Three weeks ago, OMer Riana van der Berg and co-worker Steve Cabezas from the church visited an elderly man on the island, named Modesto Arana. Arana constantly had pain in his legs and had not been able to walk for 13 years.
Van der Berg and Cabezas prayed with the man. “We asked God to heal him and to take away the pain in his legs,” shares van der Berg.
A week later, they visited him again. When they arrived, they discovered that the pain had left him and for the first time in 13 years, Arana was able to stand. “He was so happy!” remembers van der Berg. “We prayed again that God would heal him completely and that he would be able to open his heart and accept Christ.”
A while later, van der Berg and Cabezas returned to visit Arana. “He prayed and invited Christ into his heart,” she says. “He couldn’t stop crying as he was praying. Next time we will take a Bible to him and we will continue to support him in his walk with God.”
OM team member Tabitha Moore witnessed the change in another life on Santay Island. Elsa, a woman who had lived on the island for 30 years, had a great fear of water and never learned how to swim.
Two months ago, Elsa was going from one side of the island to the other in a small canoe with Eva, a young mother, and Eva’s baby girl. As they rowed, a large wave hit the canoe and overturned it, throwing Elsa, Eva and the baby overboard.
Even though she couldn’t swim, Elsa had no time to think about herself—a little baby needed help. Elsa began yelling to save the baby as she struggled to stay above water. However, the baby was not visible, as the sinking canoe had trapped her underneath. Elsa went down several times and was taking in water, though she still shouted for someone to save the baby. At this critical moment, another large wave pushed the canoe just enough and the baby surfaced. Eva grabbed her baby and swam to shore.
But Elsa had gone down and thought she was never coming up again. “Elsa told me she figured it was the end for her,” says Moore. “When she was preparing herself for her final moments, a miracle happened. The next thing she knew, she was at the surface of the water and swimming!
“Elsa told us that when she made it to the shore there was not a doubt in her mind that God had saved her, Eva and her baby,” continues Moore. “She told me she knew at that very moment that God had a plan for her.”
Elsa decided that going to Bible meetings and just listening was not enough. She began to pray, not just in her house but also in the community. “This is something completely unheard of for the Santay people,” Moore shares. “God has great plans for Elsa and Santay.”
Sometimes God also works through a movie, noticed OM team member Darren van Rensburg. He and the team visited a woman on the island named Verónica and gave her some counseling regarding her husband and difficult marriage.
In the evening, they showed the movie Fireproof at a school. “A man spoke to me afterwards of how much the movie had meant to him, as he had marriage problems,” he remembers. “Unbeknown to me, this was the same lady’s husband.”
Weeks later, the team learned that this couple had been about to divorce. But through the counseling, movie and conversations, they decided not to. “And besides that, the man began to read his Bible every day and, according to his wife, is a completely different person,” says van Rensburg.
Van Rensburg is overjoyed with the changes the team has seen in people’s lives recently on Santay. “It is harvest time!” he exclaims. “God is responding to years of sowing, especially I think to our recent prayer focus. To Him be the glory!”
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