Laborers for His Harvest

“Ask the master of the harvest to send out laborers for his harvest…”

I was so blessed to be able to help host a mission trip recently. And even more blessed because all of the participants were from Minnesota! It was a beautiful week getting to know everyone and getting the chance to work and pray alongside them. With the added help, we were able to complete a work project, visit several pueblos to pray with the inhabitants, and provide Masses to other pueblos with the help of Fr. Evan.

Though the devil tried to discourage us with constant vehicle breakdowns, injuries, and crazy weather, we continued to praise the Lord, and He worked wonders both in us and through us.

The part where I saw God work most clearly was this: we were celebrating Mass in the chapel in the pueblo of Aypena. There was an older woman in the pew next to me, and she appeared to be in a lot of pain. She mentioned that something hurt, but I could not distinguish what it was (my Spanish still needs work).

I felt God calling me to pray with her, but when Mass ended she disappeared. In our missionary huddle, we were asked to voice things that we felt the Holy Spirit brought to mind. I hesitated, but said “I keep hearing the words ‘neck pain.'” One of the missionary kids immediately walked away and came back a moment later saying “that woman over there has neck pain and she wants us to pray with her.” It was the same woman I had seen earlier. 

We took her into the church and prayed over her neck for healing. She said it was a little improved. So we prayed over her again. No change. Finally, one of the missionaries asked if there was anything else going on in her life. The woman immediately broke down crying and began to describe how all of her sons lived far away, and one of them was sick. She poured out her heart to us. We prayed with her again: this time specifically for her sons.

After the prayer she appeared to be a little lighter—as if a heavy weight had been lifted from her shoulders. I praise God that He allowed us to minister to this woman in her need, to touch the part of her that was hurting the most and bring some measure of relief to it.