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By Gary Wornica

The ministerial education network in Latin America overflows with passionate students that expend extraordinary effort just to study with their peers in a Bible institute, ISUM or the Facultad. Whenever I begin to take for granted the commitment of these students, it does my heart well to reflect upon their stories.

When I saw Julio Plata enter the cafeteria at a Facultad module in Juarez, Mexico, I knew that he would have an interesting tale to tell. He had just spent a painful week in the hospital with an inflamed pancreas, gall bladder stones and a paralyzed intestine. More than anything he just wanted to be able to study with the rest of the Facultad students so that he could finally complete his master’s degree. If you would like to read the rest of his story, just click here.

As I sat across the table from Julio, he shared, “On Wednesday night before the surgery that was scheduled for the following morning, I felt a strange sensation in my body, like the continual beat of a heart. I asked my wife what time is was and she said 3:24 am. I knew that Jesus was healing me!”

Julio told me that the next day (Thursday) the doctors were astonished because the MRI that they took before the surgery now showed that the pancreas was normal and that his gall bladder didn’t have any more stones! Julio was released from the hospital on Friday with instructions not to fly and to eat only certain foods.

 What did Julio do?

He bought a bus ticket that day and started a 26 hour bus ride that night to arrive in Juarez, Mexico just in time to complete his master’s degree!

Every morning I saw Julio walking outside for exercise and throughout the week everyone noticed that he was gaining back the weight that he had lost. I must confess that I probably would have stayed home to recuperate instead of taking that grueling bus ride to be able to study with my peers. Julio knew that the Facultad only offered the classes that he needed to graduate in Mexico during the module in August of 2008 so he trusted the Lord and God healed him! I hope that I never take for granted again the commitment of students like Julio Plata.