Hello again,
Since another few weeks had gone by we just wanted to write you again with an interesting story of something that happened to Kim some time ago and a couple of important prayer requests related to things going on in our area. We also wanted to send special greetings to all our Houstonian friends, who managed to survive hurricane Ike (praise God) and the not-so-small inconvenience of being without power for some weeks afterward! (We write this under the bold assumption that you all have electricity again…!)
We have also been following all of the news on the recent election, and we want you to know that our thoughts and prayers are with you. We’re glad to have finally found the time to write you again. Hope you enjoy this update!
Well this story is somewhat overdue, since it actually happened a couple of months ago, and we feel bad for not having shared it with you for various and sundry reasons, probably in part because we were too busy, and also because we were not sure if you’d actually believe that this happened. We know we wouldn’t believe any of you if you tried to tell us something like this. But since we’re not responsible for whether or not you believe us, all we can do is tell you what actually happened. So here goes. 🙂
Can you believe that such a winning smile could need dentist work?
To start with, we should probably tell you that about a year ago Kim went to the dentist, who informed her that she had something like 7 cavities, plus a bunch of really worn-out crowns, and that it would cost around five hundred dollars to fix her mouth. Now that’s a pretty cheap bill by stateside standards, but even so Kim did not know where to come up with that kind of money, especially with all of the expenses coming up in the midst of construction. So like any good missionary, she went to another dentist, who for five bucks told her to just keep on brushing. According to the second guy, she didn’t absolutely have to do anything until the cavities started to hurt. Now that sounded like a plan…! Denial!! So Kim went away from the second dentist quite happy and murmuring “In the name of Jesus, I do not have seven cavities or any problems with my teeth…!” So great was her faith (denial?), in fact, that she forgot about all of her cavities entirely, and with the exception of a strict brushing regimen she hardly gave another thought to her mouth, which (she continues to claim) never hurt her or even caused her so much as a minor toothache.
Anyway, here our story jumps to about a year later, this past September, on an unusually rainy Sunday night. Both Larry and Kim were tempted to just stay home that evening, but instead gave in to the funny feeling they had that they needed to go to a revival meeting which was being held that evening in the downtown part of Torreon. The guy who was leading it is the type of guy that people here generally call an “evangelist,” not quite like the (weird?) TV evangelists that are sometimes seen in the states. But to be sure, this guy did have a reputation for being used by God in doing certain kinds of miracles – like cancer healings, and so forth. So since we had actually seen this guy do one other meeting before, and he had struck us as being very down-to-earth, and not at all fake or “show off,” we decided to go downtown just to check out what was happening.
By the time we got there, there was quite a crowd and the “evangelist” was right in the middle of ministry time. Kim felt lead to pray for a lady who was standing near the front, so she worked her way up towards the platform. After having talked to and prayed for the woman, she continued hanging out near the platform just to watch what was going on. When she saw that the lady she had prayed for was in line to receive ministry from the evangelist, she decided to stand next to her and continue talking with the woman while she was waiting in line. Just when Kim was ready to help her new friend up onto the platform, the evangelist turned around and in a booming voice ordered Kim to step up to the platform.
Now needless to say Kim was a bit taken aback, since she’d had no thoughts of actually going up there, and she tried to explain this to the evangelist, kindly offering to help the other woman up, but the guy just kept pointing at her and saying “No! You!“ until Kim finally found herself being “ushered” up to the platform. Standing there, she realized she was in front of quite a crowd, and she was just beginning to wonder what was going to happen to her when she heard the evangelist say “This woman is not from here, and God is going to do this for her as a sign of His love, since she isn’t even from around here!” While the crowd was cheering, and Kim was left wondering what exactly “this” was, the evangelist touched her and she felt a sort of tingling sense in her neck. Then she got rather dizzy and sort of fell backwards (you know, like they do on TV!), but she did not lose consciousness, and so the evangelist ordered for her to be stood back up. When she was back on her feet again he promptly told her to open her mouth.
Still wondering what was going to happen to her, Kim did as the evangelist said and opened wide. The next thing she knew, there was a big camera being pointed at the inside of her mouth (which means it will surely come out on the flyer for the next revival), and the evangelist was saying “God put gold in her mouth! God put gold in her mouth…!”
As the crowd went wild, Kim found herself being ushered quickly off of the platform, where she was met with a sizeable number of people wanting to take pictures of her mouth with their cell phones. After having appeased all of these anxiously-waiting crowd members, she spent the rest of the evening praying for people and sort of dancing around to lively praise music (which is what you do at these sort of evangelistic campaigns), but since she herself could not see the inside of her mouth, she couldn’t help but wonder what had actually happened there – or if the people were just getting excited because they were seeing the crowns that she had already had since high school.
Finally, at about one in the morning Larry and Kim arrived home. Kim, still nervous about seeing the inside of her mouth, decided to get totally ready for bed and then timidly peak in the mirror to see if she could see anything in the half-light of the bathroom. When she did so she was met with the total surprise (‘O ye of little faith!’) of seeing several little shiny little cross-like fillings in her molars! And, as evidence that God had did something in her mouth that no dentist would ever do, she noted that her wisdom tooth on the back left side (which is the only wisdom tooth she has left) had been filled to overflowing with some shiny stuff dripping down over it! Since no dentist would ever spend money on material to fill somebody’s wisdom tooth, but instead just happily charge them the labor to yank it out, Kim knew that this was unmistakable evidence that God had done something in her mouth that night.
The next day, Kim had a great time showing all of her friends, neighbors and construction workers her molars. To be sure, she was met with some pretty funny looks as she tried to tell people what happened, but nobody could deny or explain the unusual filling on her wisdom tooth.
So what’s the moral of our story? Certainly, we do still recommend brushing your teeth regularly. And try not to eat sugary snacks between meals. But if you ever doubt God’s love or provision for you, or if you’re told at some point that you need major dental work done, just come down to Mexico. You never know what might happen. 🙂