For those of you who have been following the story of our friend and former gang-leader, Mario (who was previously known as “Clawfoot”), we felt like we should update you on something without waiting any longer.

To start with, we should mention that a few days ago we were planning to write you about the radical changes we were seeing in Mario. To our knowledge, he had been totally drug-free for several weeks.  He was regularly attending church meetings.  He was even refusing to fight with the opposing gang members who had murdered his brother, although they’d provoked him on two occasions.  (And despite the fact that for self-defense purposes he was always able to lay them out with one punch, he did express a couple of times that he actually felt bad afterwards…!)

In his free time, this young man was looking for work – an honest job, as he put it, and was also taking unprecedented care of his wife and family.  Indeed, Mario had even wanted to change some of his alternative clothing in order to dress more conservatively, and so since he didn’t have much money Larry let him borrow some of his button-down shirts!

Mario’s “new look,” together with the fact that he often carried his Bible with him and talked to the other gang members about Jesus, had earned him another nickname in the neighborhood… “Brother Clawfoot.”   And at times the youth in the gang even jokingly called him “Pastor Clawfoot.”

… However in the midst all of their joking these young men were also listening to their former leader, and probably secretly hanging on every word that he said… Many of them were even starting to attend our Sunday services themselves.

… But then something happened.

One afternoon Mario was just sitting down to talk with his cousin in the neighborhood plaza.  Suddenly, a double-cab pickup pulled up and 5 men with automatic rifles stepped out and ordered them face-down on the ground.  Mario’s cousin wanted to run, but luckily Mario stopped him so he wouldn’t get shot.

… Witnesses say that both Mario and his cousin were held at gunpoint with their faces to the pavement for about half an hour while the armed men hurled insults at them.

Then, in an instant, they ordered Mario into the truck.

…And in the blink of an eye, he was gone… “Clawfoot” Mario, even though he’d refused friendly invitations to work for the cartel on several occasions (and offers of the chance to take revenge on his brother’s killers), was finally recruited by force into the mafia that had long been courting him.

That night Mario’s family chose to join us at the evening church service, and the congregation prayed for them. While praying, one person felt strongly that within the week the family would have news about Mario.

Six days later,  the family did in fact receive news.  And though we can’t give you any details, we do know that for the moment Mario is alive and well, but that he’s still in a very dangerous situation.

So to close we just simply want to ask you to pray.  Though we have received news about Mario we also know it’s no secret that in a moment of anger the drug cartels often torture and brutally kill their victims… Please pray with us for a miracle, since there are very few precedents of the young men who are captured being released.

As for us, our hearts are breaking, but we know that God is still with us.

…And certainly, we’ve no doubt He’s with Mario.

So thank you for your prayers and bold faith.

In Him,

Larry and Kim Flathmann

With that said we also wanted to tell you that probably the most heartbreaking thing which happened yesterday was that in a moment of weakness our friend, Mario (“Clawfoot,” see last newsletter), actually agreed to start working for these drug terrorists.

So… please pray.  We do believe that Mario is still at a point where he can get out of this, but it will require tremendous, supernatural, will power on his part… And these next 72 hours will be critical.

Thanks so much for praying.

We will try to get more details out to you soon…

Love,   Larry and Kim

Having said all this, we repeat again that we don’t want you to go into panic, but if you have, please click here for a more detailed explanation of why we do not think we are in any immediate danger.

Our story begins…

For those of you who are ready to continue reading, we want to clarify that the real purpose of our letter is definitely not to cause panic, but to glorify God and demonstrate just how He is working through all of the disturbing things that are happening here… With that in mind, we wanted to share an experience we had a few weeks ago which we feel captures the essence of what is really going on, and how God is using it.

The story we’ve chosen to share actually begins as we were sitting down to start one of our in-home Bible study groups, which we do in the different houses of our church members on a weekly basis. Larry was lazily tuning his guitar as group members chatted, waiting for the others to arrive in order to start the evening with our regular worship time. All seemed to be going according to the usual plan until suddenly a young girl from a neighbor’s house raced through the door, frantically informing us that the sound of “gunshots” could be heard in the distance outside.

Immediately, the entire room was thrown into a state of turmoil. Some people rushed outside to see which direction the shots were coming from, while others jumped out of their seats to make sure their family members were safe. Still others fell into silence and remained frozen in their places, nervously waiting to hear word of what was actually going on.  And though we should probably say that the occurrence of gunshots in the distance is something that has become much more common than we would like, it never ceases to strike fear in the hearts of those who overhear it, as was evidenced by the fact that everyone in the group was consumed by panic for a few brief moments that night.

Everyone, that is, except a young member named “Josue” (translated ‘Joshua’ in English). In the midst of the surrounding commotion, thirteen-year-old Josue sat calmly, holding a baby which in the frenzy of the moment had been left unattended.  He began softly singing in Spanish – a song called “Jesus is my Shepherd.” A few minutes later, it was established that the gunshots were over and had occurred far enough away not to cause a threat to our immediate safety, so things settled down. And when the rest of the group decided to join Josue back in the meeting room to worship and pray about the situation, this young man was more than ready to begin.

And so, as the group sang, first half-heartedly as they recovered from the incident, and then increasingly more whole-heartedly, Josue continued to dandle the baby on his lap.  He alone lifted his voice to Heaven just as if nothing on the streets outside had ever happened. When our group had finished its prayer time and began processing the events of the evening, one of the group members shared her confusion about why God would allow these types of situations, and more importantly about how He would have us respond to them.  And as the others nodded, equally baffled about the divine purposes of God, Josue sat calmly, and then said only three words… “It’s harvest time.”

…And so it is.

Certainly, the harvest has not come without a price.  As we mentioned earlier, the sound of gunshots has now become a common occurrence and can happen at any hour of the day or night. And again, almost everyone we know has had some sort of encounter with the drug mafias.  In fact, the majority of our close friends can tell at least one story about some really scary experience, including being threatened, made victims of extortion, held at gunpoint, temporarily kidnapped, beaten up, having their vehicles car-jacked, etc. To give you an idea of the general crime here, there have been three police strikes, two jail-breaks, and at least three hospital “raids” by the mafias over the past year.  Hundreds of people have died in our area.  In fact, over two hundred homicides have been registered in the city over the past year and a half.  (Almost all victims were apparently involved in the drug cartels).  In addition, hundreds of policemen have been fired, sometimes from one day to the next, in government efforts to clean up the police force.  Hundreds of other people are also “missing” – some are being held for ransom, and many others who were involved in the drug movement have not been seen or heard from again.  Some businesses have shut down due to threats or extortion.  Hardly a day goes by when we do not see a detachment of soldiers, sometimes positioned with rifles to block off the street where we’re driving.  It’s also not uncommon to see police chases at any time of day or night.  To be honest with you, we’ve had stretches where for days at a time we’ve felt like the only reason for buying the newspaper was to read the updated death counts from the day before.

…So, needless to say, we were thankful to young “Josue” for his comment in our Bible study that evening, since it was then and there that we began to gain a new perspective, to try to see God´s perspective on the violence that surrounds us.

And do you know something?  Josue was right, perhaps even more than he knew…

Signs of the Harvest

We’d like to continue here with just a few comments that will help you appreciate the magnitude of the harvest that God is raising up here in the midst of all of the confusion.

Our friend, for example, is a Christian who works at an all-night convenience store. He has tried for years to share the gospel with a steady stream of ‘night-lifers’ who constantly stop in for beer and cigarettes. The other day he shared with us that to his amazement people have finally started “listening,” and that his customers are beginning to ask questions about the Bible – not out of ignorance, but because in their efforts to reflect on things they have actually gotten Bibles and started reading them!

And as for our own experiences, we are also quite shocked because the gang members in Tierra Blanca are showing real interest in church now.  Even the tattoo-covered guys who clean our windshield at local traffic lights are asking for Bibles…  We honestly feel bad at times because we forget to bring the Bibles or don’t have enough of them.

Yes, and the Catholic church, known here in Mexico mainly for its traditions of wordliness and saint-worship, also seems to be stepping up to the plate.  On February 19th of this year their was an area-wide “mass for peace” held in one of the local arenas, and more than 1,000 people were in attendance to lift their voices in prayer for peace.

Peace?

So … Will there be peace here in Mexico?  It’s difficult to say.  But we think there’s actually a more important question, the one Jesus left for all of us: “When the Son of Man returns, will He find faith on the earth?”  (Luke 18:8)

We want to be found with great faith – faith to continue working in His harvest, no matter what the situation is here in Mexico.

So in closing, we’ll just say that we know that Mexico is no longer a “nice” place for vacationers…  But we’re not vacationers.  And in fact we feel the call to ministry here is stronger than ever.  So for as long as God wants us to be here, our plan is to stay.

Whether there will be peace in Mexico, we have no idea.  What we do know is that we can “open” our “eyes” and see the harvest around us (John 4:35).  That’s what Josue did.  And as long as there’s harvesting to do, we don’t want to be far behind him.

We don’t want to sound like we’re just taking things lightly, but the truth is that we feel there’s not a whole lot to worry about in terms of our personal safety.  As we’ve said before, the only time that we’ve had a direct encounter with the drug terrorists was a clear mistake on their part and could be explained by the fact that our truck strongly resembled the truck of the guy they were after. To avoid further problems we have painted and sold the truck and are now driving a slate blue (and totally unsuspecting) Ford focus.

Totally nondescript and definitely not to be confused with any drug mafia vehicles!

But even with that said, the more important point we’d like to make here is that it is totally unlikely that any real harm would come to us precisely because of the fact that we’re Americans.  Let us explain…

Though you may have heard about crimes committed against Americans in places like Mexico City, the most probable thing is that they were actually random crimes and not a result of the drug movement.  We feel it’s fairly obvious that since President Calderon has started his crack-down on crime, the last thing the drug lords want is to get more bad press or risk any more involvement on the part of American authorities by threatening the security of Americans in Torreon, which is not even a border town.  In fact, even the people that we’ve talked to who’ve been forced into the drug mafias confirm that there’s a penalty of death for anyone in them who accidentally “gets the wrong guy,” which as we think about it is corroborated by the fact that we ourselves were able to drive away from our encounter, since all of the bullet damage to our truck indicated they were only shooting at our tires.

And as if that weren’t enough, we should probably also say here that we are fairly well-known in most of the neighborhoods where we minister, and that the drug traffickers in these areas (if we don’t already know them or their families) most certainly have us ear-marked as people who are last on the list to be bothered by them and who are most certainly not to be confused with other people in the area. So in short we feel it’s safe to say that the people who are in much more danger than we’ll ever be are actually the Mexicans all around us, who in fact are being exploited on a constant basis and who for that very reason need our continuing ministry…

And so, as we talk about this last Christmas, we feel we should start in the same place that we know many of you start in, which is the renewed resolve we experience every mid-November to “make this year different” – that is not to allow our blood pressure to rise an average of 20 points (as it has every other year) in our efforts to “do” all of our “Christmas” things on top of our already busy schedules.

Yet even in spite of all of our fervent promises to ourselves every year to focus on the real meaning of the season, we have to admit that we would still always cringe inwardly at the word “Christmas,” since for us it usually meant trying to find gifts in Torreon for a bunch of Americans who already “have” everything, including all of the souvenirs sold in the tourist shops in Torreon (except for a few t-shirts which say “I got drunk in Torreon” on them). Christmas also means spending up to 7 hours to get across the border (due to crowds), driving across Texas at some odd hour of the night, and trying to balance visits to churches and friends along with 6 months of U.S. paperwork, visiting both families in the space of exactly 2 weeks, and driving back across the border to arrive home at 2 in the morning, unload, fall into bed, and immediately resume ministry and job activities the next day!

So needless to say, we were bound and determined that this year things were going to have to be different. One advantage we had was that we couldn’t buy gifts, since we had already sold our truck and would be having to travel home by bus. In a moment of divine inspiration, we decided to do charitable acts in the names of our family members for some of the people with needs here. That way, we could bring back pictures to show our families what we had done in lieu of presents. It seemed like our only viable option, since we knew we would be stepping off the bus on Christmas Eve directly into the arms of relatives who were eager to “have” Christmas with us. (We wanted to have something to give them, since no matter what people say it always does feel really silly to get a bunch of gifts from them without having anything to give back!)

So, to make a long story short, we had the really fun excuse of “having” to do extra charitable acts this Christmas, and we’re happy to say that it was the key to making this year truly “different.” We got to do all sorts of interesting things, like …

• buying a couple pairs of shoes for little girls who will probably never own new shoes again in their life.
• matching up “prayer partners” for people in our families as gifts, which will allow them to be involved in the lives of kids like “Heriberto,” who has had trouble sleeping since he was held at gunpoint by the drug lords warring for his neighborhood.

But probably the most amazing moment of our Christmas season was giving some gifts to “Jani” (pronounced like “Honey”), a single mother who had been struggling for some time with uterine cancer. Jani is actually part of Nina’s family, or rather her husband’s family, and we got to know her through them. (For those of you who remember Nina, we know we owe you more on that story! For now please do trust us when we say that this family is slowly but surely coming to Christ. )

Anyway, we should probably also tell you that we and members of our home group had already prayed for Jani before and that she had actually recovered considerably from her cancer. The only problem was that another lump had developed on her shoulder. It had started out small and been growing rather quickly, covering most of her shoulder area and even protruding into her neck. Jani was afraid to go back to the doctor because she hated being in the hospital for treatments, so the conversation on our visit focused mainly on convincing her to go. But as family members there continued to speculate among themselves about whether the lump would turn out to be cancer, Kim suddenly heard herself saying, “It doesn’t really matter if it’s cancer from God’s perspective. He is able to heal Jani from anything if He wants to!” And when the whole room stopped and stared at her (they were mainly new Christians) Kim realized she had to do something other than just slap her palm to her forehead and wail “Why did I have to go and say that?!”

So, since all her faith had gone to her feet (along with her blood), she glanced desperately around the room for someone to help her to pray. Larry was at home (the little scamp!) and so there was no one else there crazy enough to volunteer to pray with her. Suddenly, Kim’s gaze rested on Leonel, Jani’s 8-year old nephew. Ironically, Leonel was one of the “older” Christians in the room. He had been attending church and homegroup for over a year, and always showed marked interest in the things of God. “Aha!,” Kim thought, “the faith of a child.” This might actually work after all.

So, after what seemed like years of prompting, Leonel finally climbed up on his aunt’s bed and put his little hand on Jani’s enormous lump. Kim stood back and prayed a simple prayer, declaring God’s sovereignty over cancer. When she was just about done she noticed that Jani was sweating quite a bit and tightly grasping the small hand on her shoulder. When she straightened up after the prayer, Jani had a surprised look on her face. “I just felt something totally pop in there!” she said.

While Leonel innocently climbed down and people around started to speculate anew about what the lump had actually been and what had just happened, Kim finally caught her breath enough to say “Whatever it was and whatever happened, it happened because of God’s power.” Now this explanation was not as eloquent as she would have liked, but most people in the room seemed to understand it, so Kim was able to say good-bye to people gracefully enough before she went home – marveling at what had happened, breathing a big sigh of relief, and promising God never to open her big mouth so quickly again!

So, in reflecting upon our “Christmas presents” this year, we do think Jani’s gift was the best one. We did not give it, but God did, and what better gift could there be than a touch of His Spirit through the hand of a child? Certainly, it is reminiscent of a much greater gift He gave years ago, also granting a touch of His hand on this world through none other than a child, in that case a child who would one day be our Savior.

So, in conclusion, praise God with us. He truly answered our prayers this past Christmas, even the one about making the holiday season “different!” May Christmas continue to have fresh meaning in your heart, as you “recover” from the holidays and throughout the whole year long!

Since another few weeks had gone by we just wanted to write you again with an interesting story of something that happened to Kim some time ago and a couple of important prayer requests related to things going on in our area.  We also wanted to send special greetings to all our Houstonian friends, who managed to survive hurricane Ike (praise God) and the not-so-small inconvenience of being without power for some weeks afterward! (We write this under the bold assumption that you all have electricity again…!)

We have also been following all of the news on the recent election, and we want you to know that our thoughts and prayers are with you. We’re glad to have finally found the time to write you again. Hope you enjoy this update!

Well this story is somewhat overdue, since it actually happened a couple of months ago, and we feel bad for not having shared it with you for various and sundry reasons, probably in part because we were too busy, and also because we were not sure if you’d actually believe that this happened.  We know we wouldn’t believe any of you if you tried to tell us something like this.  But since we’re not responsible for whether or not you believe us, all we can do is tell you what actually happened. So here goes.

Can you believe that such a winning smile could need dentist work?

To start with, we should probably tell you that about a year ago Kim went to the dentist, who informed her that she had something like 7 cavities, plus a bunch of really worn-out crowns, and that it would cost around five hundred dollars to fix her mouth.  Now that’s a pretty cheap bill by stateside standards, but even so Kim did not know where to come up with that kind of money, especially with all of the expenses coming up in the midst of construction.  So like any good missionary, she went to another dentist, who for five bucks told her to just keep on brushing.  According to the second guy, she didn’t absolutely have to do anything until the cavities started to hurt.  Now that sounded like a plan…!  Denial!!  So Kim went away from the second dentist quite happy and murmuring “In the name of Jesus, I do not have seven cavities or any problems with my teeth…!”  So great was her faith (denial?), in fact, that she forgot about all of her cavities entirely, and with the exception of a strict brushing regimen she hardly gave another thought to her mouth, which (she continues to claim) never hurt her or even caused her so much as a minor toothache.

Anyway, here our story jumps to about a year later, this past September, on an unusually rainy Sunday night.  Both Larry and Kim were tempted to just stay home that evening, but instead gave in to the funny feeling they had that they needed to go to a revival meeting which was being held that evening in the downtown part of Torreon.  The guy who was leading it is the type of guy that people here generally call an “evangelist,” not quite like the (weird?) TV evangelists that are sometimes seen in the states. But to be sure, this guy did have a reputation for being used by God in doing certain kinds of miracles – like cancer healings, and so forth.  So since we had actually seen this guy do one other meeting before, and he had struck us as being very down-to-earth, and not at all fake or “show off,” we decided to go downtown just to check out what was happening.

By the time we got there, there was quite a crowd and the “evangelist” was right in the middle of ministry time.  Kim felt lead to pray for a lady who was standing near the front, so she worked her way up towards the platform.  After having talked to and prayed for the woman, she continued hanging out near the platform just to watch what was going on.  When she saw that the lady she had prayed for was in line to receive ministry from the evangelist, she decided to stand next to her and continue talking with the woman while she was waiting in line. Just when Kim was ready to help her new friend up onto the platform, the evangelist turned around and in a booming voice ordered Kim to step up to the platform.

Now needless to say Kim was a bit taken aback, since she’d had no thoughts of actually going up there, and she tried to explain this to the evangelist, kindly offering to help the other woman up, but the guy just kept pointing at her and saying “No! You!“ until Kim finally found herself being “ushered” up to the platform.  Standing there, she realized she was in front of quite a crowd, and she was just beginning to wonder what was going to happen to her when she heard the evangelist say “This woman is not from here, and God is going to do this for her as a sign of His love, since she isn’t even from around here!” While the crowd was cheering, and Kim was left wondering what exactly “this” was, the evangelist touched her and she felt a sort of tingling sense in her neck.  Then she got rather dizzy and sort of fell backwards (you know, like they do on TV!), but she did not lose consciousness, and so the evangelist ordered for her to be stood back up.  When she was back on her feet again he promptly told her to open her mouth.

Still wondering what was going to happen to her, Kim did as the evangelist said and opened wide.  The next thing she knew, there was a big camera being pointed at the inside of her mouth (which means it will surely come out on the flyer for the next revival), and the evangelist was saying “God put gold in her mouth! God put gold in her mouth…!”

As the crowd went wild, Kim found herself being ushered quickly off of the platform, where she was met with a sizeable number of people wanting to take pictures of her mouth with their cell phones.  After having appeased all of these anxiously-waiting crowd members, she spent the rest of the evening praying for people and sort of dancing around to lively praise music (which is what you do at these sort of evangelistic campaigns), but since she herself could not see the inside of her mouth, she couldn’t help but wonder what had actually happened there – or if the people were just getting excited because they were seeing the crowns that she had already had since high school.

Finally, at about one in the morning Larry and Kim arrived home.  Kim, still nervous about seeing the inside of her mouth, decided to get totally ready for bed and then timidly peak in the mirror to see if she could see anything in the half-light of the bathroom.  When she did so she was met with the total surprise (‘O ye of little faith!’) of seeing several little shiny little cross-like fillings in her molars! And, as evidence that God had did something in her mouth that no dentist would ever do, she noted that her wisdom tooth on the back left side (which is the only wisdom tooth she has left) had been filled to overflowing with some shiny stuff dripping down over it!  Since no dentist would ever spend money on material to fill somebody’s wisdom tooth, but instead just happily charge them the labor to yank it out, Kim knew that this was unmistakable evidence that God had done something in her mouth that night.

The next day, Kim had a great time showing all of her friends, neighbors and construction workers her molars.  To be sure, she was met with some pretty funny looks as she tried to tell people what happened, but nobody could deny or explain the unusual filling on her wisdom tooth.

So what’s the moral of our story?  Certainly, we do still recommend brushing your teeth regularly.  And try not to eat sugary snacks between meals.  But if you ever doubt God’s love or provision for you, or if you’re told at some point that you need major dental work done, just come down to Mexico.  You never know what might happen.

1. Before you read this, sit down.

2. Don’t miss the pictures. (Though you might not open them in front of younger family members.)

3. Kim’s mom does not know about any of this yet, so please don’t mention any of this to her. We will eventually tell her about it, but we want to choose the right timing.

We just wanted to send off an emergency prayer request to you guys – We’ve decided to send a financial update this month instead of our regular newsletter, which should be on it’s way, but we did want to send this message off quick, since a few days ago something happened to us that was rather scary and we wanted to ask for your prayers.

What happened was that while we were driving home through one of the neighborhoods we minister in on Saturday night we suddenly saw a surprise, in the form of man with an automatic rifle, who had jumped out of the sidestreet and pointed his gun directly at us, about three feet away from our front windshield. Being the perceptive people that we are, we immediately understood that this guy was the type who is interested in making a real fashion statement, since he was dressed all in black, with a black cloth over his face. After getting a good look at us, and apparently realizing that we were not the person or persons he had been intending to point his rifle at ( !), he started motioning angrily for us to pull over, seeming to want us to get out of the truck. When he saw that we were too shocked, confused, and afraid to comply with his request, he and another man (similarly fashionably dressed) decided to approach the truck from either side, attempting to break the glass of the passenger side and driver’s side windows with the butts of their respective rifles. As we peeled off (since the first offender had courteously stepped out from in front of our vehicle), we heard several loud gunshots from behind (That would be “annoyingly loud,” to be accurate.)

As we ducked down and raced away from the sound of the gunshots the only place we could think to go to was to our friends house, who lived a few blocks away, and whom we had been originally going to visit. By the time we got there we could tell that thankfully the noise from the rifles had died down and that there was no evidence that the men had been following us. All the same, though, we jumped out of the truck and practically banged down the door of our friend, who happened to be just closing up his shop for the evening. He quickly tried to calm us down, and when we were sure that we were in no further immediate danger, he loaned us his phone to call 911 (actually “066″ – again, to be perfectly accurate) at which point the operator on the other line responded nonchalantly that she’d see what she could do about things. When we called once more half an hour later, to see if it might be safe for us to leave the neighborhood, she responded that the police units were still “on their way” and that it was not a good idea for us to go anywhere, since guerrilla warfare action between two warring drug lords who were fighting for control of the neighborhood was “at a climax” that evening. (Here you may refer to the ever-witty subtitle of our article… “Oh, that’s nice to hear!”)

A few minutes later the police secretary’s report was seconded by a guy on a bicycle, who, when we attempted to warn him not to go in the direction we had come from, told us that he himself had just heard a shooting a few blocks in the other direction … So since we were feeling quite tuckered out from our adventures for that evening we decided to spend the night there, where we got a (miraculous) two hours of sleep amidst the periodic shouts and cars racing furiously down the outside street.

The next morning we showered, and (since things appeared to have calmed down) groggily made our way to a ten-year anniversary event (of all things ! ) for our church, where (you can be sure) we did not miss any opportunity to talk with people about what had happened the night before. And as we discussed things, we learned that the area in which we minister is now being invaded by a coastal drug mafia (now challenging the formerly-dominant Juarez mafia) in response to a police crack-down they felt from the state of Durango, which happens to be the state we cross into to minister. What happened to us that night was that the coastal mafia was looking for a mid-level Juarez “pusher” in that neighborhood, and we just happened to be driving by in a truck very similar to his, neighbors say. Please pray for this man because later on that night they did actually find him and kidnap him. In hindsight we think the men who were looking for him had obviously mistaken us as being family members of his (it was dark, and it looked like we were driving his truck…). We suspect that when they detained us they were trying to kidnap us in order to obtain information on him.

Now with all that said, you might be asking yourself what our motive might be in sharing this, the latest of our adventures, with you. Could it be just a cruel attempt to make your blood pressure rise, or fall, (as the case may be)? No! The purpose of this email is none other than just to keep all you prayer warriors on your toes! That’s right! (You just knew you were doing something important up there on the other side of that border, didn’t you?)

No, seriously though, we don’t want this news to scare any of you or to scare any further groups from coming down, but we did feel it would be irresponsible not to tell you about these kinds of important changes in our ministry situation, since the neighborhood is just blocks away from our church and since in fact we have just started a home group there. Even before this incident we had started to see all sorts of interesting stuff there, like police convoys going in and out, and even a search inside our friend’s house in a scare about an alleged shooting, though we didn’t actually see or hear anything at that time. Anyway, though, apparently the fighting has broken out in full now, because we did in fact find two bullet holes in our truck the next day…

Our pickup

“It doesn’t look like a drug dealer’s truck, does it?” Oh, well. Anyway, does anybody want to buy a truck? We need to get at least three thousand dollars out of it to be able to buy another decent vehicle… (Alternatively, we could paint it a different color for around $400), but the real problem is that the windows are tinted glass, which is illegal here, but the tinting is not the peel off kind. We are currently looking in to having the glass in the windows changed…

Bullet Holes

From the position of these bullet holes , we can assume that the men were shooting at our tires in order to detain and possibly kidnap us. (You can see from the marks that these were not toy weapons they were shooting with.)

To see a few more photos, see the photo album of our recent adventure

Because of the way they were dressed and the particular drug dealer they were after, we can assume that these men were from the “Zeta” drug cartel faction. Apparently these guys are bona fide terrorists, recruited and trained from youth. The “Zeta” group is actually one of the groups that’s been causing trouble in Nuevo Laredo, and the ones thought to be responsible for the death of the N.L. police chief last year just hours after his inauguration. Recently the “Zetas” have been trying to get attention here in the Laguna because, as we mentioned above, the Durangan police have made them “mad.” (Here you may refer again to the subtitle of the article.)

Anyway, the reason we’re telling you all this is simply to emphasize that there is no explanation for how two highly trained gunmen could have missed taking out our tires with their automatic rifles from a mere three feet away. No explanation that is, other than the grace of God. It’s important to understand that the Zeta group takes no prisoners. The fact that they were trying to shoot at our tires that night does not mean that they were trying to avoid hurting us, but rather that they were trying to keep us alive long enough to get information about the person whose truck they thought we were driving. We tell you this not to scare you, but to honor and glorify God’s name, since we don’t know of any other precedents of people coming out of this type of encounter alive.

But God was with us that night, and we really want to give Him all the glory for His protection. Just the other day God had Kim turn in her Bible to Psalm 3 — She couldn’t remember exactly what the psalm said, until her eyes popped out as she read “But you are a shield about me oh Lord; / You bestow glory on me and lift up my head.” (v. 3) Psalm 10 is another really appropriate psalm.

So… Please pray. As we mentioned above we had already seen the signs that a situation was brewing here but did not know how to read them well enough. Apparently recently there have been quite a few people found dead, even decapitated, or missing, and there have been other sorts of threats like bomb scares and shootings, even in some of the nice residential neighborhoods. Many of the nightclubs here stayed closed last weekend and there has been talk of implementing martial law in some of the dangerous areas.

In response to this we have already adjusted our schedules, and (as we mentioned above) we’re currently working on trying to change the look of our truck in order to avoid any further “confusion” ( ) between us and the people who might be targets of drug terrorist groups. We feel that both of these things are pretty important factors, since most people say it’s still safe to be in conflict areas in the day and early evening, and that the drug cartels don’t typically target civilians, unless they’re relatives of drug cartel members or just happen to get caught in the crossfire.

Anyway, though, we do ask you and thank you for your continual and faithful prayers. Pray for the men who detained us, that God would touch their hearts. Pray for God to provide the finances for us to paint or sell the truck. Pray for the government here, which for the first time in Mexican history is refusing to bow down to the drug lords. And pray for us, since even now God is giving us the opportunity to minister to the families of people who are heavily involved in the drug movement.

Above all, praise God with us, who by means of this incident has clearly demonstrated that nothing can happen to us which doesn’t pass through His hand…

Love,

Larry and Kim

P.S. If you’d like to know more about the “Zetas,” here’s some info from Wikipedia: “Los Zetas”

Photos of the bullet holes in our pickup from when we were mistakenly stopped by members of the drug mafia. They confused our pickup with that of a drug pusher they were going to kidnap. We raced away and they shot at us, and by God’s amazing protection, only two bullets hit us, even though they were right next to us!

Click on a photo to view it larger, then you can scroll back and forth.

Bullet Holes