Our friend Enya

I am currently in the middle of a quite long travel day and I wanted to tell you about my friend Enya.

2 weeks ago I traveled from Poptun, Peten back to Antigua for debrief and training. The first night before everyone got to the Hostel, a few of us were sitting at the kitchen table and enjoying the fellowship we had to offer to one another after not seeing each other for several weeks. Two of our leaders were worshiping at the end of the table – keep in mind that our squad has not yet taken over the hostel and there are still many random people here. In the middle of a conversation and song a girl pulls up a chair to the table and sits. She doesn’t say anything, just bobs her head back and forth as if she knew what was happening. Lindsey and Aaron began talking to her and I really do not remember much of the conversation except that 1. She doesn’t believe in the Bible and 2. She was on a journey to find herself

Aaron continues to talk to her for a few minutes and tells her why we are in Guatemala and explains the redeeming love of the Father. She seems interested but is still hesitant and has many questions. She says the Bible is confusing and hard to understand.

This is where the Lord starts speaking to me again to give up my Bible – I fight Him and I want to leave the table. I had already given my Bible away once in Guatemala and I was not ready to do it again. I almost got up and left the table and conversation several times because I was persistent in telling the Lord I was not giving away my Bible again.

“If I gave you a Bible that was a little easier to understand would you read it?” I didn’t even want to believe the words that had just exited my mouth.

“Yes!”

I won’t lie – my heart dropped and a part of me wished she would have said no so I could keep what the Lord so kindly provided me with just a few weeks prior.

I walk over and explain to her how to read it and where she should start. Several moments pass by and more conversations about our trip and how we got here. Enya asked what we are going to do for the night – sleep was the general answer. We returned the question to her “I guess I am going to read the Bible” ????? Our jaws dropped and we were in awe of what the Lord had already done. We sat around the table for the next hour or so reading John and answering so many good questions Enya had – we prayed for the Holy Spirit to reveal the Words of God to her heart and that the Spirit would be at work within her.

Enya was staying at the same hostel as us, but due to our squad being such a large group she had to move hostels the next day. The next morning we are sitting around the table eating breakfast when Enya walks by with a book in hand. We look at each other and are about to ask “did you give her that book?” When someone said “Enya! Where did you get that book?” She pointed to the book shelf and explained why she picked it up. Our jaws drop – it’s Kingdom Journey’s by Seth Barnes. We couldn’t believe it – we already saw the Lord at work here. This book is the reason many people come on the Race, the stories of peoples lives being transformed while on the Race, and the process of finding the Lord in abandonment, brokenness, and dependency. We shared these things with Enya and she throws her hands up and laughs – she walks away kind of in awe of what is happening but also a little skeptical and weirded out.

Enya leaves and we get her Instagram so we can stay connected. I plan to get lunch with her a few days later. I walk into the restaurant we were meeting and she is sitting down with 4 other girls from my squad! We order food and when it arrives Enya says one thing “can we pray?” We looked at each other again in awe of what the Lord was already doing. We sit and share stories and laughs. Enya asked what our plans were for the next day – we told her we have a worship service to go to the following afternoon at a specific coffee shop. “Okay! See you tomorrow afternoon then!”

Maggie and I wait close to the door for Enya. We are ecstatic for what the Lord had already done and expectant for what He would continue to do. She comes in and we are all so happy to see her – we soon realize it would also probably be the last time we would see her due to plans for the squad the next day and Enya would be gone by the time we got back and so this made it all a little bit sad. We are talking to her near the door and two ladies walk in – Enya’s jaw drops. She knows one of the women and is so excited to see her. We ask for the story behind it and she says “Oh my gosh! I met her 2 weeks ago at the kite festival in Sumpago and she said her brother owned a coffee shop here but I didn’t know it was this one!” We laugh and at this point we are not surprised by another thing the Lord had made Himself real to Enya. We celebrate and soon walk into worship.

My heart burned for this girl. I had seen the Lord work in so many ways over the last couple of days with her that I knew He was running after her so fast and she continued to catch glimpses of Him. I could not leave knowing that I would probably never see her again and truly did not think I would see her in Heaven at this point. I continue to pray for her and I finally grab her and ask if I can share a word with her. We go outside and I share the Gospel in full – tears are falling from her eyes and the biggest smile I have ever seen on her face. She accepts Jesus and my mentor Lindsey walks up and says “Welcome to the family!” We ask Enya what her plans are and she says “I want to go with you guys.” We laughed and truly wished we could’ve made it happen and I even prayed about what the Lord had next for Enya. “Wanna go hike the volcano with us tomorrow?” Lindsey says. “Wait, can I really?” Lindsey looks at me and I look at Lindsey and tell her that she’s the boss and we smile and know that Enya would be joining us the next day. We go into worship again and realize we get to take communion with our sister who just accepted Christ. An announcement is made “who here has never taken communion and tonight is their first night as a believer?” Enya’s hand goes up and so many peoples faces lit up. She also really wanted to be baptized that night but every fountain we tried to go to – we were advised against getting in the water. She wanted to be baptized so badly that while we were in Taco Bell she stops and listens very intently and we ask what is wrong and she says “I hear water.” We were not able to baptize Enya but believe for the Lord to provide that in His timing.

We hiked Acatenango the next day and saw the literal beautiful creation the Lord has so graciously made for us. (We also slept in tents on the side of a volcano when a 5.8 earthquake happned so I can check that off my bucket list) With every eruption that came we sounded like little kids who had never seen it before – but the beauty of it never ceased. The next morning a group summits and then we head back to the Hostel. Enya visits us and brings us flowers and we knew it was the Lord’s timing for her to continue on her journey to not find herself, but to find who she is in the Lord. 

Prayer Request:

Enya is currently still in Guatemala and doesn’t plan to go home – pray that the Lord would use her wherever she goes and that she would draw near to the Lord. I am excited for what the Lord has for her.

My squad and I are about to step into a new country with a new language that none of us know – pray for discernment in how to minister to people.

We get a couple of Sabbath days before we dive into ministry – pray that we would truly find rest in how we need it and that we would delight in the Lord in that time.

Intercession has been a large topic of discussion for what the Lord is speaking over us for our time in Romania – pray for what that would look like and discernment in how to execute what the Lord has asked of us.

We will be in Romania for the next two months – we have an all squad month and all 29 of us will live in the same house and work with Hope Church, a ministry in Craiova! It is also cold in Romania and many of us did not pack for European winter considering we probably have never even been that cold – if you want to help supply warm clothes to us you can venmo me @alyssanphllps

Love well,

AP