"Prayer Walking"

The following is an excerpt from an email dated July 2004:

What a Missions trip...what a team.  We were privileged to be part of a terrific team to Oaxaca, Mexico for 7 days.  We ate incredible well...lots of different kinds of real Mexican tacos, beans, guacamole, etc.  The food was great...The Lokers took such good care of us.


Oaxaca, Mexico needs the Lord desperately.  There are probably 70 people groups there who have never heard the true Gospel.  There are very few churches.  In some villages, when people come to the Lord, they are run out of their village.  It is a very hard place.  One of our ministries there, besides children's programs and construction/painting was "Prayer Walking."


The missionaries would choose a village and we would break up into groups, walk through the town... (and)  pray for the people in the village, that their hearts would be softened to the Gospel and that God would raise up people in their village who speak their own language to tell them about Jesus and His love for them....


"Prayer Walking"... what an incredible ministry.  It is simply praying, asking God to show you how to pray for these people, and allowing Him to orchestrate your prayers.  We experienced several times, both prayer teams, going in opposite directions, praying the same Scriptures, singing the same songs for the villages we were in.... It was amazing to see God work in our midst.


It is not our might, not our power, but God's Spirit moving that can change the hearts of men....


There is no better investment of our time and monies than in the heavenly Kingdom because it will last for eternity...


Love and blessings,
Donna

What struck me about this letter is that the writer, a pastor's wife, is currently sorting through her earthly belongings, giving family heirlooms like hand-crocheted afghans to homeless people in her community, preparing to sell the home and join her husband as full-time missionaries.

Billy and Donna, Guatemala 2009

I firmly believe that prayer changes circumstances and softens hearts.  It also changes the one who prays.  Mission trips also bless those in the foreign country, but they also bless those who participate by coming. 

Personally it is exciting to think that maybe we had a tiny role in God eventually leading this precious couple to follow Him even more radically.  May His name be glorified, and may He be exalted through the obedience and dedication of Billy and Donna Hires.  Please pray for them as they listen and discern where and when to go.  Pray that their house would sell, and that every detail would fall into place as they formally join the Missionary Ventures family.