Fellowship Memphis

“This saxophone player is awesome!” I thought while watching a DVD in Colombia. “And the fact that he’s willing to give money away with his music and his talent makes it even better. I want to do what he does,” I thought.

Susie was 3 months pregnant, and Memphis was pretty hot in the summer of 2009. We drove around hoping to find an apartment. After selling everything we had in Colombia and coming to the states with about $500, we lived in Atlanta for 3 months then we felt God leading us to Memphis.

We had all we owned in our trunk and started looking around for a place to live and a job. At the time Art and Charlotte were going to the Czech Republic for a month, so we were able to house sit for them. The Sunday came when they were coming back, and we didn’t have a place to stay that night. With a little bit of fear, we wanted to trust that God would provide. Right before church we ran into Pete and Catherine. They asked, “Where are you guys staying?” Susie smiled, and I said the obvious, “We don’t know yet.” We saw the love of God through his people when they let us stay at their place for a month.

We were sleeping on top of blankets, Susie’s belly was growing, and after applying to all of the jobs I could, I starting doubting being here. That night I asked her, “Do you think I’m a good husband? Your sleeping on the floor.” To my surprise she said, “Well, God brought us here so that’s what really matters,” as she was getting comfortable to sleep. I finally understood that this was not about me. Understanding my unfaithfulness, the next day I got a job at Harvest Memphis as a 3D animator, and in the same week we got an apartment downtown.

We ran into some friends from Colombia that we didn’t know were here. They had to leave suddenly and wanted us to buy their furniture, but we couldn’t afford it. They called us the day we moved and said “We’ve been praying about it, and we feel God wants us to give you all of our furniture and we don’t want you to pay for any of it.” Around the same time our car broke down, but a friend that came from Canada gave us the $400 to fix it saying she felt it was the reason she was here. After all of this, we could only thank God for taking care of us.

Finally I was able to serve at Fellowship Memphis as a guitar player, and the first Sunday I was playing with Kirk Whalum. I almost passed out when I realized that he was the guy from that DVD I watched 4 years earlier. It’s an honor for me to serve every Sunday here at Fellowship, and I know I don’t deserve it. But the good thing is that it is not about me or my family. It’s about that great God that we serve. I’m thankful the huge FAMILY he gave us here in Memphis.