My Father was going to Die

In 1978, my father was going to die. Argentina was hosting the FIFA World Cup and YWAM was putting on a huge outreach to the contestants and fans. My father believed he was supposed to go but he also felt like he was going to die there. A terrorist group had been threatening to wreak havoc during the competition. When Loren Cunningham heard about it, he prayed that God would extend my dad’s life like king Hezekiah in the Bible.

There was another catch. My father had applied for permanent residence in the United States and while the request is being processed you are not allowed to leave the country. In ignorance, he had already left once on another speaking trip. Fortunately, they let him back in, albeit with a court date to decide our fate. It turned out okay that time but even if he survived in Argentina they would probably not let him back in the country.

During the outreach, he preached on the streets every time like was going to be his last. He expected a bullet at any moment. He made it through the outreach but one day at the end he caught the flu and collapsed on the floor. They thought he was having a heart attack so they put him in an ambulance. The ambulance wouldn’t start so they brought a bus to give it a push. The bumpers locked and as they tried to disconnect them, my father heard an almighty banging and scraping as the ambulance began swaying back and forth. In intense chest pain, my father thought, “Is this the way I’m going to die, in a crashed ambulance?”

He finally got to the hospital and it turned out that it was a viral infection in his lungs. He also found out that other YWAM leaders felt like they were supposed to be willing to die in Argentina as well. It made everyone a little more zealous in their endeavors.

So my dad didn’t die but now he had to try to get back into the country. Sure enough, he was flagged. They even had his name in a special book. They did let him in but another court date was set. This time he was told he had to leave the country within a year and would not be allowed to return for at least another year. If he didn’t comply, he would be deported and possibly never allowed to return. But not long after, we heard some other news that would send our family on a completely new adventure.

One day, Loren Cunningham made a public announcement that another leader in YWAM, Don Stephens was working on buying a new ship in Venice, Italy. Afterwards, Loren came up to my parents and asked them if, with what was going on with us, they thought they should join Don and the new ship. My parents were already way down that road.

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