One team is Spain is regularly prayer walking, looking for people of peace, and creating intentional conversations that naturally lead to spiritual issues. Team Expansion worker, Dionna, tells about one walk, where God opened the door to Noni’s café!
A month ago, we decided to meet for prayer and team time in Nívar at a café, instead of at our office. We enjoyed a beautiful, quiet morning together at the café and met our waitress, Noni, who happened to also be the owner of the café. We were able to share a bit of what we had studied that morning; we asked her opinion and Noni was surprisingly open to share with us what she thought.
Later that week, we returned for our weekly prayer walk and two of my teammates specifically went to visit Noni. The conversation went deep pretty quickly when Noni opened up about two big concerns that have been robbing her peace: a large debt she owes to the town government due to closing her bar during COVID and the fact that her teenage son has expressed the desire to move to northern Spain to live with his dad, Noni’s ex-husband.
My teammates shared the story of the persistent widow with Noni and her response immediately was, “Wow, that’s my story!” As a team, we offered to pray persistently for her and her situation.
A CLEAR INVITATION
We continued to visit her each week, sharing with her portions of Scripture the Lord brought to us. Noni remained open to hearing us and repeatedly welcomed us in her café. This past week we decided it would be good to give Noni a clear invitation to read the Bible with us, so we set out to do so! Noni replied that we could come in the late afternoon during the week, while not too many people are at the café, and read together.
She then went on to say that she’s been telling other people about us. She said, “I was telling the schoolteacher about you guys the other day. I told her, ‘I don’t know what it is about these people, but I just feel so much peace when I’m around them. It’s as though every time they come to my café, I feel like I am protected.’”
Apparently, the schoolteacher isn’t the only person Noni has mentioned us to; she has shared about us with other workers at the café and also her friend, Maribel, who was visiting that day.
LIGHT AND PEACE
As the conversation ended with Noni, Maribel stopped my teammates on their way out. With tears in her eyes, she said, “Thank you guys for coming. You all radiate a light and a peace that is palpable. It’s like I have goosebumps right now just seeing the peace that accompanies you and how it affects me.”
She then turned to my teammate Christian and said, “It’s like when I see your face, I’m looking into the face of Jesus.” Maribel began crying and my teammates were able to comfort her in that moment. They explained that the peace she senses in us is the presence of the Holy Spirit, giving her that same desire for hope and peace. She affirmed that she needs hope and expressed in that moment that she too would be interested in seeing how we read the Bible with Noni and that maybe she could join the next week.
Another man, Roberto, who was sitting a few chairs down overheard the entire conversation and he chimed in that he would be interested as well. Even as my teammates left, they could overhear the conversations going on in the café, men and women talking about spiritual things. The presence of God in that place was undeniable in that moment. Praise God!
PERSON OF PEACE
It is evident that God has not only given us a person of peace, but He is already using Noni to share with her natural network, AND He has given us a meeting place (which MANY people pass through!) where we can openly read the Word with Noni.
- Praise God with us for this incredible answer to prayer.
- Join us in praying for Noni’s needs—her debt and the sadness she feels as her son prepares to move away.
- Please continue to pray for an open door in this town to share with Noni and others who will hear through her!
This story reflects Team Expansion’s first three Great Passions: God, Prayer, and People. Learn more about our passions and how you can get involved with us at teamexpansion.org/about/what-we-do/