By Gerald Coates
During the COVID-19 pandemic, 80-year-old Pastor Manuel Sánchez found himself confined to his home in Chile, unable to visit his congregation in person. With churches closed and hospital visits impossible, the telephone became his only lifeline to his people.
One day, a desperate call came from a church member in the intensive care unit. Struggling to breathe, the member told Pastor Manuel, “They’re about to put me on a ventilator. Please pray for me.”
Pastor Manuel began to pray, but in that moment, he sensed the Holy Spirit prompting him: “Blow into the phone.”
He hesitated. Blow into the phone? It seemed strange. But then he remembered — the word for Spirit in Scripture is the same as the word for breath or wind. He recalled how God breathed into Adam the breath of life, and how Jesus breathed on His disciples and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit.”
So in obedience, Pastor Manuel blew into the phone.
To his amazement, the person on the other end was immediately healed — rising out of the hospital bed, no ventilator needed.
That moment sparked something extraordinary. Word began to spread. More calls came—hundreds of them over the months of lockdown. People from all over Chile (and even as far as Canada) asked for prayer. Pastor Manuel found himself wondering: Will the Spirit still move if I blow into the phone from Chile to Canada?
He blew — and again people were healed.
A Gift of Gratitude
One day, a businessman reached out in anguish. “My son has stage 4 cancer. Would you call him and pray?”
Pastor Manuel did. He prayed and blew into the phone — and once again, healing came.
Overwhelmed with gratitude, the father called Pastor Manuel and said, “I want to give you a house, a car, and a bank account, so you’ll be provided for the rest of your life.”
But Pastor Manuel gently refused. “I can’t accept money for the gift of God,” he said.
The man paused and asked, “Then what can I give you? I just want to say, ‘Thank you.’”
Pastor Manuel thought for a moment and said, “Well, our church needs a building.”
The man didn’t hesitate. He funded the construction of a new church.
Hearing the Spirit
What might the Holy Spirit be saying to you?
It might not be to blow in the phone, but the Spirit is indeed blowing.
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Gerald Coates is an ordained elder who serves as the strategic catalyst for global collaboration on the Free Methodist Church USA National Leadership Team and as the director of global engagement for Free Methodist World Missions. He previously served as the senior pastor of Moundford Free Methodist Church and as the director of Light + Life Communications.
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