“An open door just a few doors down”

Heidi, Maria, Faviola, and Raul after Maria was baptized

It took a considerable amount of time, effort, and money to get from Paraguay to Panama in order to meet up with my team mates for a short term mission trip. We had all traveled to the Darien jungle to evangelize the surrounding area, as well as, encourage the church there and teach some classes. We were excited about the possibilities! We stayed at the Hotel Felicidad in Metiti and traveled down the road to the church building everyday. A young woman, Maria, was a guest at the same hotel in which we were staying. She told us she was from Nicaragua and was traveling with her husband. He worked all day in the jungle while she and her daughter, Faviola, sat around the hotel. Since the ladies of the local church were preparing lunch for us, we decided to invite Maria and Faviola to join us. They really enjoyed themselves. Then, Maria started asking some questions and wanted to know more about this “church” that she was seeing. We shared the Gospel with her and she decided the next day to be baptized. It is interesting that we had all traveled from different parts of the world, but through a chance meeting in a mutual location, another soul was added to the Book of Life.