During Steve and Mary’s 33-year service overseas, God demonstrated his perfect timing through a surprise interaction in Bolivia.
Nearby to the government hospital where Steve worked, was a barren town square. Deciding it was time to build up the plaza, the local community worked together to lay pavements, plant trees, and build a fountain as a centrepiece. Steve was given the job of finding some park benches.
He found an artisan called Victor* to make the benches in Potosí, a three-hour drive away, and as was the custom, paid him 50 per cent upfront for the materials. It was agreed Steve would pick up the benches in a month’s time, but when he went back, they were nowhere to be found.
“Victor said, ‘Well I’ve had some setbacks’ and so forth, and the benches weren’t ready. So he put it off for another month. This went on and on, until eventually I realised Victor was an alcoholic and had drunk away the money I’d given him.”
It didn’t take long before Steve wasn’t his only disgruntled client and Victor began sending his children to the door claiming he wasn’t home. After visiting month after month to try and get the benches, Steve gave up.
Ten years later, now living in Potosí, Steve decided to take a walk in the cemetery as people honoured loved ones during All Saints Day, celebrated on the first two days in November. Wanting to find out more about the customs, Steve ended up near where Victor lived.
“I heard a voice and turned around to a young man asking, ‘Do you remember me?’. His name, Felix*, rang a vague bell in my mind but I wasn’t quite sure who he was. He said, ‘I’m the son of the man that was going to make you those benches.’
“My first thought was, ‘Oh! Did your dad finally make those benches?’ Felix said, ‘No, he never did. But I was one of those little kids that would come out and talk to you at the door, and I don’t know if you remember, but on one of your visits you left my father a Bible.’”
Steve asked whether Felix’s father had ever read the Bible, and he said no – but he had, along with his brothers and sisters! They were so excited by what they read that they found a Christian radio station and a church. In God’s perfect timing, they all became Christians.
Felix shared that he wanted to go into mission himself, but needed to improve his English. Steve took him to the English school that Mary, his wife, had started, and Felix went on to become a mission worker. Having attended medical school, his sister did a rotation at the clinic Steve worked in too.
“It was one of those things that had been extremely frustrating at the time, but it allowed me to see how God is this great networker. He can pick up all the scraps you thought had gone to waste, and make something beautiful out of them in the end.”
*Names changed