Ice Cream Man Meets Jesus

     It was about 8:00 am in the Masatepe area of Nicaragua and a storm was coming.  Our Grand Poobah “Bob,” informed us, the village we were going to go to was not accessible in the rain.  He said we could make it there, but if the rain came, we would be stuck in the village.  That did not matter to the medical team; we all agreed we would go.  We refused to let the threat of rain stop us.

     When we arrived at the host church, there was not a cloud in the sky.  Immediately we set up for clinic.  The thought was, we would start quickly and see as many patients as possible before the rain came.  When the rain got close enough, our bus driver was going to bus us out before it was too late. 

Outside the medical clinic towards the end of the day

     Clinic was going great, we were seeing patients quickly as well as sharing the gospel and praying with them.  You could tell God was blessing or efforts of being obedient and going where he called us to go and not turning back because of the threat of getting stuck. 

     The day ended up being absolutely beautiful. Clinic had gone so smooth that members of the medical team were able to take turns going out to do street evangelism.  My turn came up to go and I took Carri with me.  Carri had never had this opportunity before; she was excited that we were going together.  It was something different, a change of pace from medical.  It was a special treat of sorts.

Inside the medical clinic

     My first opportunity to share the gospel outside the clinic was with the ice cream man.  He had a cooler attached to a bike.  In the morning he would load his cooler with frozen juice and head out on his bike selling frozen treats to the locals.  The ice cream man had heard that the Americans were in a village close to Masatepe where he lived.   So that morning, he loaded his cooler and set out for our site in hopes of prospering financially.  He knew we were going to draw a crowd and he would be able to make money.  

  

     I asked the ice cream man if he knew whether or not he would go to heaven when he died.  He answered, “Nobody can know that answer until you die.”  I asked “can I share what the bible says?”  He kind of hesitated and then said “I guess so.”  While I was sharing the gospel another local man stood close by praying.  I thought it was pretty cool, some random guy praying while I was sharing the gospel.

     When I was finished sharing with the ice cream man, I asked him “Do you want to accept God’s gift of eternal life through Jesus Christ so that you can know for sure if you will go to heaven when you die?”  With a huge smile and no hesitation he said “Yes!”  I asked if he understood what we had just shared from the bible. He said “yes, I now understand and believe that Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life.  I now know that no one goes to heaven except through Jesus Christ.” 

     I prayed with this new believer as he gave his life to Christ.  He prayed confessing the fact that he was a sinner, he asked Jesus to come into his life, he accepted the redemption that had been paid on the cross and he surrendered his life to Jesus  asking Him to be his Lord and Savior. 

The Ice Cream Man
Just before sharing the gospel with him

     When we were finished praying the man behind us was so excited.  He had tears in his eyes.  Come to find out, the ice cream man was his brother.  The man, he was the pastor of the church.  He shared with us that he had been trying for years to reach his brother for Christ and he always refused.  He always thought it was foolish to believe in such nonsense.  He said that he finally surrendered his brother’s destiny to God.  He told me “I prayed and said to God, I know you love my brother and I am asking that you send someone from far away into his life that can share with him the truth.  I pray that when this person comes, my brother will accept the truth and believe without hesitation because it came from you and not me.”  He smiled, shook my hand and said “You are that man God sent and today my brother is saved!”

     The ice cream man did not live close to his brother’s church.  From what I understood, he rode his ice cream bike at least an hour to come to the medical clinic just to make some money from the crowd that was going to be at his brother’s church that day.  

Riding an ice cream bike for over an hour to a remote medical clinic makes about $1 - $2 American dollars.  Meeting and American who refused to quit because of the threat of rain and finding Jesus, Priceless!

John 14:6 

Jesus answered, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

May my life be the proof and evidence of His love!