In addition to the many miracles and works of the heart that occurred privately, for us there were two particularly striking miracles of healing that we personally witnessed. Both occurred at the crusade meetings in Pucallpa.
The first involved a middle-aged woman that Anita and David (the young man who was interpreting for her) prayed for. The woman had a tumor on her knee about the size of a baseball and almost as hard. Anita laid her hand on the tumor and began to speak the prayer of faith, even though by her own confession, she had doubt in her heart. Lord, we do believe, please help our unbelief. As she prayed and David interpreted, the tumor began immediately to soften and shrink dramatically. Anita's hand went down as the tumor got smaller. All three of them were shocked and amazed by the results and continued to pray in earnest as the tumor continued to shrink. The next night, the woman came back to the crusade, climbed the steep stairs up to the platform and gave testimony and demonstration that the tumor on her knee was completely gone!
The second involved a little one-year old baby. The parents had driven for several hours from a jungle village to bring the child to the crusade. The child had some form of dysentery and had not been able to keep food or liquids on his stomach for many days. The child was completely limp and lifeless. His little feet were hanging down as though he were dead. The child was not dead, but neither was he responding to any outside stimulus. Anita led the parents in a salvation prayer and then prayed for the little boy to be healed. Following the prayer and with no sign of immediate results, Anita and David continued to pray for others.
The following night, the parents returned to the crusade with their son. The father took his son up onto the platform in order to give testimony to the child's healing. The little boy was eating and drinking normally. He was playfully moving his arms and laughing as his father told the crowd what Jesus had done for his little boy! The prayer of righteous woman is powerful and effective and Jesus is indeed the same yesterday, today and forever! It was a bonafide miracle of God!
Also, the Lord sent an angel in response to a word of knowledge that Jim called out at the church in Lima and popped my right ear open from some hearing loss I had begun to experience during the past several years. I wasn't thinking about it. I wasn't praying about it. I wasn't asking for it. It was just a demonstration of the mercy, grace and sovereignty of God!
In closing, let me say that our exposure to the people was absolutely the most wonderful and compelling part of the trip for us. To be allowed, as ambassadors for Jesus, to walk among them, to hug them, kiss them, worship, dance and pray with them is something we will never forget. To witness the way they received and honored us with their food and other resources was just amazing. We will not forget them and I am hopeful that we will see them again, during our remaining earth time.
Dave and Anita
. . . shocked and amazed . . . as the tumor continued to shrink . . .
. . . He was playfully moving his arms and laughing as his father told the crowd what Jesus had done for his little boy! . . .
. . . To be allowed, as ambassadors for Jesus, to walk among them, to hug them, kiss them, worship, dance and pray with them is something we will never forget . . .
