Joni: Hi, I’m Joni Eareckson Tada with “Wheels for the World.” All this week, I’ve been telling how we take wheelchairs and Bibles around the world, and whenever our “Wheels” team members come back from overseas, their lives are changed! Take my friend, Manny Gallardo, who works in the IT department here at Joni and Friends. Welcome, Manny, glad you’re here.
Manny: Thank you. Glad to be here.
Joni: And you’re just not a high-tech kind of guy; you’ve got a heart to serve. What made you decide to go on a “Wheels for the World” team?
Manny: Well, Joni, that’s a good question. Being in IT and working with computers, it’s like you have to understand the complete inner workings of a computer, there is so much that happens from A to Z. And when I first stepped into “Joni and Friends,” I found out about “Wheels for the World” and it was just something that I knew that I was going to do. I didn’t know how; I didn’t know where, and I didn’t know when, but I knew I was going to do it.
Joni: Oh, cool!
Manny: And so I prayed about it and talked to some people about it and Cuba just kind of came on the horizon, and it just seemed like a great fit. And I just decided that was what I wanted to do, prayed about it, and off I went.
Joni: What did you see when you were in Cuba?
Manny: That’s interesting because we have this perceived thought or this thing about Cuba that there is propaganda, it’s socialist (communist) and when I went there I tried not to have these preconceived thoughts and notions. When I got there, I could see the poverty, I could see that the conditions weren’t like what we have in the U.S., but at the same time, I saw another side of Cuba: I saw people that were so humble—people that were very loving and welcoming. You have all the rhetoric and propaganda from the Castro regime, but outside of that, the people are just amazing.
Joni: Well, you’re good with high tech skills in IT departments, but what skills were you able to bring to the wheelchair distribution?
Manny: Well, I’m not the best mechanic; I don’t know if God gifted me with mechanics, but one of the things that really helped out—I was teamed up with a Cuban who is supposed to be my assistant and we kind of just double-teamed, and he was very good with mechanics. Cubans don’t have a lot there so they are very resourceful and the guy that I was with was just an amazing mechanic. He taught me a lot of things and by the time I was done, I felt like I was a full-fledged mechanic.
Joni: What is wonderful is that you speak Spanish and so you fit right in. Tell us one story that really gripped your heart.
Manny: One thing that has resonated was a mother and her son who came in, and we got one of the “Joni and Friends” wheelchairs for them. And of course, we prayed before we went to get the wheelchair and then we bring it back and work on it (we must have worked on it and hour, hour and a half and finally got the measurements for this child). At the end, we said, “Is it okay if we pray with you?” And the lady said it's okay. I prayed in English and we had an interpreter there that prayed in Spanish (who by the way wasn’t a believer). But after we finished I look up and this lady is in tears and I knew that right there and then that was the reason that we do what we do: that we go to bring hope, we go to minister and we go so that God can use us to deliver His gospel and His love. That lady was just penetrated with the Holy Spirit. It was just amazing!
Joni: Well, Manny, I hope you can convince the rest of the guys in our IT department to join you on another “Wheels for the World” trip. And, friend, don’t forget, if you’re interested in serving with Wheels for the World stop by joniandfriends.org today and see wonderful photos that we’ve posted of Manny’s outreach with “Wheels for the World” in Cuba. You can get all the details right there at joniandfriends.org. Thanks, Manny!
Manny: Thank you Joni.
Joni: Que Dios le bendiga. (Spanish for “May God bless you”)
Manny: Dios le bendiga. (Spanish for “God bless you”)
© Joni and Friends, 2013
Compliments of Joni and Friends
PO Box 3333 Agoura Hills, CA 91376