This is Heart, the cashier that works at the convenience store near where we lived in Africa! He is kind, funny, and you’ll always find him with a smile on his face.
ALT is a form of ministry that we do on the race and it stands for ask the Lord. This hasn’t been something we’ve spent a lot of time doing until our first few weeks in Africa.
One day we split into pairs and spent time praying about where the Lord wanted us to be that day. Some people prayer walked around town and down to the beach, or wrote encouraging letters for the squad but this is not what I heard. The second I closed my eyes to pray all I could see was Hearts face. I kept praying but I knew exactly where I needed to go, so Lydia and I nervously made our way to his store!
Every country we’ve been in so far we needed translators, so speaking English around town makes sharing the gospel much more available, but equally as nerve racking. This is the first time on the race that I walked into a place with the pure intention of evangelism.
So, Lydia and I walk to the back of the store to buy RedBulls and gain enough courage to start a conversation.
Once we get ourselves together we walk to the counter and ask about his day, his family, and if he has any prayer requests. He told us about his family in Bangladesh and how he moved to Africa alone to support them. He told us of tragic family loss and the hope he has with his store. We asked if we could pray for him, and he was cautious so we didn’t get to pray with him but prayed for him outside.
This was not how I expected it to go, but it was how we introduced ourselves and why we were in Africa to him. We continued to go to his shop every day, always making conversation and becoming friends. Eventually another group of people did get the opportunity to pray for him , which is SO amazing!
The picture at the beginning is a selfie he took with Lydia and I the first day we walked into his store asking if we could pray for him. This is the last picture we took together before we said goodbye.
This was such an unexpected friend that made leaving so hard!
We talked about how we were going to Guatemala and how we volunteered for free in each country. Before we walked away Heart said “ I want to go America and do things for God one day “
Lydia and I never ended up praying for him and there was no crazy God moment, but I know that the Lord is moving and our time spent with him was planting a seed.
Evangelism is not easy, ministry isn’t always what we think it’ll be but I think that’s the whole point. We went to the preschool for ministry and it was amazing, but Heart will always be one of my favorite memories and friends from this country. He taught me that the simple things in life still matter to God. That making friends in town will never go to waste even when I don’t see fully what’s happening.
These pictures have been pulled up on my phone a lot the last few days. They make me smile for so many reasons! I’ve found it so hard to write blogs about specific stories because these opportunities aren’t from me nor accomplished by me. The Lord was so sweet with this friendship and this story it continues to make me smile 🤍
