Tonight I got a call from Argentina. It was Hugo. This time I recognized his voice and was delighted to hear about him and his lovely family.
The first time he called me, however, (July 2006) I was amazed. I was visiting Argentina along with Frances while hosting a wonderful ministry team. All thirty of us were seated at a long table eating dinner in a restaurant in downtown Buenos Aires.
I had a temporary rented cell phone and only a few pastors had my number. My phone rang. I answered. An unfamiliar voice on the line speaking Spanish of course, said, "Hello, this is Hugo." "Hugo? Hugo who?" (I knew a lot of Hugos.) "Hugo! Don't you remember me? I'm Hugo, the mechanic that used to repair your car for you. Don't you remember when your pickup had broken down out on the highway and you took me out there to get it started? Don't you remember that you talked to me about Jesus all the way out there? Don't you remember that you prayed with me to receive Jesus?" I was starting to remember,
but that was 17 years earlier! "My wife heard you preaching today on the radio and I called the church for your number." Now his whole family was serving Jesus and attending one of our churches.
Later we invited Hugo to bring his family out to the island church. I shot the above picture of him with his wife and 4 girls on a very foggy morning just before we got aboard the boat for the 3 hour trip. Two of their girls sang a beautiful duet that day. And my heart was warmed.
Tonight I heard again from Hugo. Thanks, Lord. You warmed my heart once more tonight!
Ralph
