David and Goliath and Rain

A film team prayed for several weeks that God would not let it rain in the town of Yalu on one special night. They had invited 5,000 people to view a film. With the help of a local radio station in Yalu, Mano Con Mano (Hand in Hand), a ministry in Guatemala, invited Central Cakchiquel people to see David and Goliath—in their own language.

In the recent past, the road to Yalu had been nearly washed out due to heavy downpours. One more heavy rain would probably cut off it off and hinder showing the film.

The day the team prepared to leave for Yalu, a horrible downpour began. Rivers of water ran down the roads. They set off, nevertheless. Just moments before, a huge billboard had fallen across the highway, obscuring the right lane, yet the entire caravan made it past safely. Minutes later the entire highway was closed in order to remove the downed sign. The team traveled on, praying the rain would discourage no one, and that God would even use it to make the event more effective in some way.

As they drove onto the dirt road that led to Yalu, they noticed the skies were blue. It wasn’t raining! In fact, it hadn’t rained at all and the road was in great shape. They made it all the way into Yalu without difficulty, and found hundreds of kids awaiting their arrival. The children’s program went off without a hitch. The church youth provided six piñatas and even more kids came in droves.

To avoid the bright sun outside, the team had to set up the projector inside. Over 300 kids crammed into the community center, sat on the floor and watched David and Goliath (produced by Viña, a vernacular media ministry). The kids watched intently and heard the message of God’s might and how faith and obedience brought victory. Then at the end of the video…it began to rain.

One of the youth group girls said to her pastor, “Pastor, we need to pray that it stops raining.” They prayed, “O omnipotent God, you are able to stop this rain, and we ask you to do that so that this event can go on as planned.”

The rain stopped completely within 15 minutes—and never started again.

Next, the adults crammed in to see the JESUS film, while the kids played outside with the youth group, peeking through windows to catch what they could. People sat on the hard floor, or stood for two hours straight to see the entire movie. To hear Jesus speak their native language was, for most, a first. It was riveting to see the response of the audience.

The pastor then shared a gospel message which was translated into Cakchiquel. At the end, a prayer was offered. When asked to declare their decision by raising a hand, over 30 people complied and kept them up. Even some of the crowd that was waiting outside accepted the Lord and raised their hands. What a commitment people made to do this publicly in front of friends, neighbors and family.

The event ended with serving 700 people a meal of bread with beans—a delicious sandwich treat—and hot coffee. People were polite, thankful and very warm. Several men talked about their decision to accept the Lord, and lamented that there is no church.

The team formed a circle and praised God for what He had done. He was faithful in providing the opportunity for men, women and children to hear of His love and respond. And He answered their heartfelt prayer, “Lord, please don’t let in rain tonight in Yalu.”