Finally, we come to the last of our stories from our recent trip to Belize, Mexico, and Florida. Here they are briefly…

1) As we walked down popular 5th Street in Playa Del Carmen, we were approached by one of the beggar-looking salespeople that was selling waterproof cell phone cases. He also asked us if we wanted to buy weed, to which our response was, “No thank you, we’re Christians.” He was pleased with our response, so he began talking about God and how reading the Bible had helped him get through his long prison sentence. We learned he’d only just been released. He’d been in jail for murder for nearly twenty years if I remember correctly. We proceeded to tell him our testimonies and asked him if he’d like us to pray for him. He said he’d like to, so we found a little alcove outside of a hotel, laid hands on him, and prayed for him to be filled with the Holy Spirit. Manuel received the Spirit very quickly, quietly but fluently speaking in tongues as the first manifesting sign. Afterward, we spoke a while longer, offering him guidance and encourgaing him with the Word. Manuel declared that he felt washed clean and kind of light. Praise God for the Holy Spirit power!

2) While swimming at the beach in Playa Del Carmen, one of us lost a good pair of Ray-Ban sunglasses quite a ways out in the waves. They immediately sunk to the bottom and it was impossible to see where they went because of the murkiness of the water. We searched and searched for about ten minutes, trying to feel them with our feet, and also scouring the seashore to see if they’d be washed up by the waves. We then stopped trying to solve the impossible by ourselves and took a break, asking the Lord in prayer for His help. Various fleshly thoughts rose up as we kept searching, but we quenched them, choosing to believe that God is a God of miracles and that He cares for us even in these kinds of situations.

Suddenly, after twenty five minutes of looking (including renting sets of goggles and snorkles), faithful Elisabeth (just 7 years old) suggested to look further out. Don went with the suggestion and almost immediately he stepped on something that felt like the arms on the sunglasses. He grabbed with his toes and pulled them up out of the water!!! – A huge ocean, deep mirky water, constant large waves, and nearly half an hour since they’d been lost, yet God knew exactly where they were! We just had to exercise faith until He revealed it. Thanks to God – our most merciful, gracious, all-powerful Lord!

3) Please keep Trevor – the manager of the condo we rented in Playa Del Carmen – in your prayers. We got to share the Word with him quite a number of times over the course of our stay. He was very interested, but he said he wasn’t ready to make a full commitment to God and His ways. We’re not sure exactly what is was that was holding Trevor back from moving forward into the fullness of God’s blessings, but God knows, so we shall hope and pray that the seeds that got planted will be watered over time and that one day Trevor will take the plunge, so to speak.

4) When we first arrived in Florida, we had a vacation package to use up, so we stayed at a resort where we had to attend a presentation. The first sales representative was named Elvis and, while getting to know us, he asked about our lives. We took the opportunity to share with him our traveling ministry and he listened eagerly. He then proceeded to share with us many special things about his love for God and his desire to be used more by Him. Elvis said he prayed along these lines every day that he went for his walk out amongst God’s creation. He had been baptized by full immersion, but he knew – after hearing the scriptures from our lips – that he wasn’t yet filled with the Holy Spirit.

We were very excited to hear these things, so we offered to pray with Elvis when he took us to view the staged condominium. We told Elvis that this meeting was all for him – it was an answer to his prayers as there are no coincidences, only God-incidences! Elvis agreed, so he hurried things through so we could all get to the condo as soon as possible.

Elvis received the Holy Spirit very powerfully almost immediately after we started to pray for him. It was a very emotional experience for him. It was so touching to see a big, strong man cry before the Lord in humility and thanksgiving. Please keep Elvis in your prayers. We only got to spend a brief amount of time with him, but at least we were able to encourage him regarding the most important things and then direct him to our website.

5) While checking in to a hotel in Boca Raton, Florida, we met Rogerio the porter. He was a really sweet, cheery man from South America, trying to get fully established in the U.S. in order to be able to bring his family to be reunited with him. Although no specific conversation transpired between us about God, we felt moved to offer him one of our cards. As soon as he saw the logo, his eyes brightened and keenly declared that he was a Christian, too. We asked him if he had been filled with the Holy Spirit, speaking in tongues as proof, and he said “yes.” He had been water baptized, and he believed exactly what we share as part of our traveling ministry. Praise God! Rogerio shared a few brief stories about his missions work in his home country, and it was wonderful to listen to his enthusiasm for God’s work.

One thing we were able to encourage him about, though, was with regards to praying in tongues every day. We discovered this is something he’d neglected to do, so we emphasized the importance of exercising the Holy Spirit like this, quoting scriptures like Jude 20. Praise God for the way He connects us together with all kinds of people – from complete unbelievers to those that have already been born again but needing wise counsel.

6) We met Mark and Pat while swimming in a hotel pool in Naples. We’d gone to Naples to visit some old friends. We chatted with Mark (an airline pilot) about life in general for a long while before we got on to the subject of the Lord. After a time of sharing testimonies and scriptures with him, his wife joined us all and we shared some more. It was great to hear about their own paths toward the Lord. They had some very interesting experiences, had both been water baptized, and were keen to tell others about Jesus. In particular, Mark had just been miraculously healed from prostate cancer.

We asked our standard question from Acts 19 and, although they both believed they had the Holy Spirit, they were open to hearing what we wanted to explain from the Word. They listened intently and were soon keen to pray with us. We met after dinner in our hotel room, and they both received the Holy Spirit. Pat was in tears. She was very happy and she said she felt tingly all over. Mark was peacefully joyful and he later texted us with a lovely message. They had to leave to head back to Texas, but please keep them in your prayers with us.