Testimony by Bernie Slingerland, evangelism coordinator, Mesoamerica Region

On a plane to Panama, that left Guatemala 3.5 hours late.  It is needless to say I was not very excited about this, but the Lord had one of His Divine Appointment planned. There was man seated next to me, who started to talk with me, named Guy. He was born and raised in Israel, and he has lived in the Panama for the last 18 years. He grew-up in an Orthodox Jewish family, but he no longer practices. We begin to talk Panama, then, he wanted to know I did, so I explained I am a missionary in the Church of the Nazarene. Then, I asked him if he celebrated Christmas to this he said, they have some special dinners and the rest.  Then, I shared my personal testimony, which led to sharing the Gospel. I asked him if he had heard the Gospel before and he said, “no”! So he was asked if he would like to be “born again”? He responded, “yes, I would!” So while the plane was half was from Guatemala, Guy accepted Jesus Christ!” I just happen to have a copy of the Jesus Film in Spanish, Hebrew, English, and other languages. Guy was excited to know he could watch it in Hebrew. More importantly he was excited to “born again” in the Christmas Season!

Two days later, a similar situation happened to my daughter Hannah Slingerland. She was flying to Panama from Dallas, and her flight was delayed 3.5 hours in Dallas TX. Hannah is a Freshman at Mount Vernon Nazarene University, in Mt. Vernon, OH. Anyway, a 30 year old man from the US, who was born in Panama was seated next to her. He wanted to talk, and shared about Panama and his work in the US. He asked Hannah about what she does in the US, and why she going to Panama. Hannah, shared, she is a student at MVNU, studying childhood education. Also, she was going Panama to be with her family, who are missionaries. ??? began to ask more questions about the mission, and he shared that his father is a pastor. ??? shared that he has not been walking for the Lord, and he believed he needed to do something about it. So Hannah shared the Gospel with him, and invited him to pray and be “born again”.  He did, and he was very grateful for the conversation and prayer.

It does not matter unless we are the ground in the air, people need to know they can be “born again”!