A birthday party and an unexpected gift
Have you ever been to a 100-year old’s birthday party? I can’t say I had until this past month. Remember Papa Wayne? He is the missionary gentleman I wrote about previously. I have known him almost my entire life. He is the one who donated a large portion for the construction Casita #2 in memory of his precious wife Martha.
Well, Papa Wayne recently turned 100. He is still an active missionary to Mexico and lives in Mexico City. He threw a celebration of the Lord’s faithfulness, and Michael, Reina and I were privileged to be invited. We flew to Mexico City to attend the celebration. What an experience that weekend was!
1) Reina has never been out of her home state of Chiapas; which meant she had never been on an airplane and experienced the takeoff or landing. It was quite a thrill and a little scary for her! She white knuckled the take-off while holding my hand.
It is a sweet privilege of ours to gently expose Reina to aspects of life outside of Chiapas.
2) We thought we were going to celebrate Papa Wayne – and that we did! But we also met many amazing missionaries, pastors, media preachers, and business people who have been blessed by Papa Wayne’s many years in ministry. We met inspiring missionaries to Columbia, Brazil, the US and Mexico. Reina was treated like a queen as people recognized that SHE is the name and face of our ministry. One of them spoke a prophetic word over Reina about the impact she will have through her life and about her destiny. She was blown away as we were as well!
3) It was also very impressive hearing how the Lord called Wayne while serving on the US Enterprise during WWII. Amazing stories. On that ship he dedicated his life to Jesus and never turned back. That led him to serve, to share the Gospel and be a conduit of blessing. One of his favorites was to put the roofs on thousands of new church buildings throughout Mexico. He is an inspiring speaker and to this day, continues to share the reality of God’s power and love.
One of Wayne’s quotes is; “I only have 1 life to live and I’m in the last quarter but I want to live every day for Jesus.” He just never stops!
Many new friends were moved to help pray and support us as well.
You JUST NEVER KNOW what God has in store!