As you know, during the past year or so of our ministry here in Central Mexico, God has been leading us to work more and more with the youth in our surrounding neighborhoods. Unfortunately, these young people have been the main object of the drug-terrorist movements that have suddenly overtaken this country.

As the months have gone by, we’ve come to realize that the area where we work has become one of the most dangerous places in all of Mexico.

But through it all, God has consistently opened the doors for us to have opportunities to speak into the lives of these youth, and we believe it’s no mistake that He has placed us here from the beginning.

Right now, the young people that we work with are facing a very difficult situation…  To give you an idea, they are literally afraid to go out of their houses – since they are being held at gunpoint almost every day, and since six more have been kidnapped from the area since we wrote you our last newsletter.

In light of the situation, it is not only unrealistic, but also extremely dangerous to try to minister to these young people by conducting open-air events, or even regular church or youth meetings within our neighborhood.

But we have a very unique opportunity.

As you may remember in our last newsletter, we sent out a request for you to pray that God would provide us with second vehicle that would be big enough to enable us to take groups of youth at a time to special functions or activities.

Less than a day after we sent the request, one of our prayer supporters responded, offering to donate a ‘97 Chevy Astro van to our ministry, with the only condition that we were able to pay for repairs on it to make it driveable – which would cost an estimated total of $1,000.

In short, we believe this vehicle will be a practical help to us in the fight to keep our youth safe and off of drugs, and an instrument in the effort to share with them about how Jesus Christ can change them.

And so it is with tears that we thank you in advance, for considering how you might donate to help us take advantage of this opportunity in order to help touch and save the lives of youth here in Central Mexico.

Thanks also for your continued monthly donations to our ministry, as Larry has all but quit his secular job here in order to give more time to the needs which are rapidly arising around us.

Finally, thanks again for your prayer support. It is truly the foundation of everything we do.

Bless you,

Larry and Kim Flathmann

Donation info:

Please send your donations (which are tax-deductible) to:

Project Friendship
P.O. Box 90669
Houston, TX 77290

Checks should be made out to Project Friendship with Torreón Missions on the memo line.

*Note:  Extra donations may also be used to fund more special activities with the youth, daily living expenses, and Bibles (we would like to get around 150 Bibles – about $500 – because we’ve run out and people continue asking for them everywhere…)  Thank you.

In case you wonder why we need a bigger vehicle…

this is how the youth cram into the back seat and trunk of our hatchback right now!
(In this photo we were on our way to a life-changing crusade at a nearby church)

Evidence of changed lives

Mario, with his Bible, his Christian music, and his son… One month before he was kidnapped.

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

Yet again, the months have flown by.

As usual, we’ve been extremely busy. We wish we could tell you an upbeat story of how things are going…  But unfortunately a story like that is not on the agenda for this time, since, as some of you know, our lives have been deeply touched by tragedy these past few months, and we thought we shouldn’t let more time go by before we gave you some of the details…

To start with, we should tell you that our friend and gang-leader, “Clawfoot” Mario, whom you may remember from our last newsletter, had been doing pretty well these last few months.  He was not totally clean, but had significantly reduced his drug use and was gaining interest in talking with us and in hearing about the things of God.

…But then one night our cell phone went off at around 3 a.m.

It was Mario.  He was crying.  It turned out that his brother, ‘Jorge,’ had wandered out of his gang’s territory and been caught by members of an opposing gang a few hours earlier.

Mario told us that his family had gotten a call and then rushed to the local emergency room… But by that point it was too late… Jorge had died from internal bleeding due to the knife wounds he’d received that night.

…The next day turned out to be sort of a blur,  as have been most of our days now since then.

First, there was the wait for several hours at the Justice of the Peace while the officials finished preparing the body for burial. Then sadly, there was no funeral, since due to the high number of homicides in our area local authorities are now hesitant to allow public mourning. And even though Jorge’s death was not specifically drug-related, they thought it better not even to allow a wake for him that evening.

… So instead of a ceremony that day the only thing we saw was the angry fists of Mario shoved into the dirt over his brother’s grave, where just moments earlier his family had buried the young man with a wheelbarrow, in haste.

…And when everything was over, and the people at the graveside finally managed to pull Mario up from having collapsed in the spot where his brother was lain, the only person he was willing to have take him home was “Larry…”

…So we walked him to our car.

What ensued from that moment on in the life of Mario has been harrowing.  We ourselves have been in contact with the family in some form or another almost every day for the past three months. There have been nights of wrestling Mario into the car, or bailing him out of jail… Nights of restraining him, taking him home “high,” confused and crying…

Nights of trying to find words for a mother who’s been left without a son.

But even in spite of all this, the hardest thing by far has been avoiding the constant, daunting temptation for “Clawfoot” Mario to take his revenge on the other gang members, who, due to the slowness of the justice system, are walking around scot-free just blocks away.

…One evening was particularly hard.  It was one o’clock in the morning. Our assignment, as usual, was to take Mario home in accordance with the pleas of his family.

But for some reason that evening Mario had fixed his gaze on the direction of those few blocks… Unfortunately there was no talking him out of the fact that he stood within walking distance from his brother’s murderers. And he’d been staring that way for hours… Completely unwilling to move, talk, or even look in any other direction.

Larry, unable to physically control Mario by himself if push came to shove, stood only with a hand on his shoulder, not saying much.

Two a.m. – After another hour of silent staring, and of considerable coaxing, Mario finally collapsed into our car.

The ride home was quiet as Mario continued to stare coldly out the window.  And when we got to his house and he stumbled out of the car, all we could do was look at each other in despair.  In terms of keeping Mario from taking revenge, we wondered how many more nights we could manage like that one…

It wasn’t until the next day that we found something strange in our car… It caught the light as Kim moved the passenger seat… Big, blunt, and shiny – it was a knife... Several inches long.   It was just sitting there where it had been laid on the back seat the night before.

Now… We feel it’s important to say that before then we didn’t even know that Mario had carried that knife on him, so it was impossible for us to have asked him for it….  It’s also impossible that something that big just sort of “fell” out of his pocket.  So the only other explanation we have is that without saying a word, Mario had left it there… On purpose.

To be sure, we would be lying if we told you that there haven’t still been many hard nights…  But since that night we’ve somehow gained a new sense of assurance… In the unspoken language of Mario and his gang, he has let us know that he’s given up something…  Indeed, it seems that “Clawfoot” Mario has given up his rights to revenge.

…And as far as the knife goes?  Well, right now we’re actually using it to cut vegetables in our children’s feeding program… Technically, it’s still Mario’s, so for a long time we had it just sort of stashed in a compartment of our car…  But since surely enough he never once said a word to us about it, we actually don’t mind coming across it in the kitchen from time to time.  In fact, seeing it there has oddly become a symbol of hope…  Certainly, there still are nights when we’re glad he doesn’t have it.

“Put your sword back in its place…
for all who draw the sword will die by the sword.”
Matthew 26: 52

Mario Before:  (November 2009)

Mario before he gave his life to Christ…

Mario now

Mario, now clean, with Daniel Fonvielle, an evangelist friend of ours, after a special service that Daniel did while visiting Torreon.

Facts on Crime in Mexico

• In the Mexican city of Juarez there were well over six hundred homicides related to organized crime from January to April of this year.
• The city of Gomez, in the middle of our metropolis area, ranked 5th overall in the nation for number of homicides from January to April, with a per capita rate similar to that of Juarez.
• There have been over 3 thousand homicides in all of Mexico related to organized crime this year so far…

Three thousand lost…

… One saved.

Note: Please pray specifically for the families of “Voty,” “Guero,” “Panchillo,” and “Gera,” who are four other young men whom we’ve lost in the area of our church neighborhood, just in the space of time that it’s taken for us to get our thoughts together and write you about ‘Jorge…’ …Thanks for your prayers.

Kim wrote the following letter to our friend Jorge, who was killed on Feb. 13, 2010 by a rival gang.

Mario and his younger brothers meditating on a photo of Jorge days after his death

April 2010

Jorge… We miss you.  We know that in some ways death is definitive…  At least from this side of things.  And though it may seem easy to say that we did the best we could with you, in our hearts of course the truth is that we wish we could have done more.

Our last words to you were about God’s plan for your life and about making a decision.  At the time you weren’t ready, but we know that you were listening.  So we hope you prayed the prayer of the thief on the cross in your last moments, two days later.

We also wanted to tell you that we’ve been quite busy lately, taking care of your family… So busy, in fact, that we haven’t had time to grieve ourselves over losing you…  We’re doing all right, though, because we know it has to be that way.  Our only prayer is that one day… maybe one day, it will finally hit us that you’re not coming back.

You…

…And so many others.

In our regular Thursday evening service, a group of 5 of our friends, some of the youth involved in the local gang, came in and joined us for the sermon/Bible discussion!

This is an awesome breakthrough, because they’ve shown a lot of interest when we talk with them and pray for them out in the plaza, and they’ve come when we do special stuff to invite them, like a movie night. But the only one who has come before to a regular service on his own is Mario. And this time a whole group of 5 of them came!

It was great, because God worked so beautifully through it all! Gera (Gerardo), a young man with a real passion for God from another church who God has called to work with the Vineyard for about the past 6 months, shared his testimony with them and talked about the amazing call that God has for them to join with Him in serving and reaching out to the other youth. And everybody else at the service had words of encouragement and wisdom for them.

Please pray with us for these youth, because the enemy will definitely attack them, but greater is He that is in us than he that is in the world, and we know without a doubt that God will have the victory in their lives! He is fulfilling His Word, rescuing those without hope, and giving them new life and a worthwhile purpose. And He’s fulfilling the vision that He had given for the Tierra Blanca Vineyard, that it would be a church that would raise up powerful radical lovers of God who would go out to transform their neighborhoods, their families – and only God knows what more? the city? the nation? … with the power of God’s redeeming love!

Praise be to the Name of Him Who Is Worthy!

Well, brave readers, without any further adieu, let’s begin: Our story opens at a point in time about six months ago, when our Tierra Blanca pastor, Fili, had the idea of starting a youth group in the church neighborhood… Now that sounds like a good idea, doesn’t it? And in fact you might even be asking yourself why, after seven years of working with the church in Tierra Blanca, hadn’t we started a youth group before…?

And of course that’s a very good question. We don’t actually have a good answer, except that one of the main reasons was probably, um… fear, since the closest contact we’d ever had with the youth in Tierra Blanca was to cower inside the church building as we watched the fighting gangs throw rocks at each other outside…  There were also other reasons, though, like the fact that most of the young people in Tierra Blanca have at least one child by the time they are 17, or the slightly daunting reality that the majority of them spend their evenings ‘high’ under the influence of some drug or another… Yes, and in fact we should probably also say that the Tierra Blanca area has even become somewhat notorious in the area for its gang members… To put it bluntly, many of our friends from other neighborhoods just ‘don’t go there.’  Even the local taxi drivers tend to hesitate when you ask them to take you in… And of course we’ve lost track of the countless comments we’ve heard from people such as “Tierra Blanca!!? Oh my GOSH just watch your BACK…!!”

Now to be sure, we should tell you that there are already at least two other evangelical churches in the neighborhood, both of which have been there longer than we have. We’ve noticed that these churches are not lacking in members, but that not surprisingly nobody has attempted to do anything with the young people involved in gangs.

So… What could we possibly do to get the attention of the youth in this neighborhood…?

After thinking rather intensely, we decided that instead of doing some sort of cheesy pizza-party debut sort of thing (PARDON THE PUN) that it would work much better to actually venture outside the church and start “hanging out” with these kids in the neighborhood plaza… So, we all took a very deep breath one Sunday evening… and wandered out…

Youth from Tierra Blanca hanging out in the plaza at night

The response we received was surprising.  Most people were ‘high,’ but other than that, incredibly friendly, so we spent the next few Sunday nights just sort of chatting with folks, or praying for them, buying them hamburgers, and not least importantly, helping them to stumble repeatedly on and off of the park benches.

One of the guys present in some of our interactions in the plaza was named Mario, also known as “Clawfoot,” a notorious neighborhood fighter and gang leader.  We ourselves had actually heard of him and had seen people go to the emergency room after fighting with him on more than one occasion, but after getting to know this young man we developed a real affection for him.  So one night when he showed up with several large cuts on head from his latest adventures, we were moved and decided we were going to try and dress his wounds.

At first we couldn’t figure out why no one was willing to help us clean and bandage Mario’s sores…  After a lot of cajoling somebody finally went and got iodine, but when we asked who would like to help us put it onto the cuts, we were surprised to be met only with comments like “Hey, go ahead. No, really. We’ll just WATCH…” But even so, there was no talking us out of doing it.  So, thinking happily about the actions of the Good Samaritan, we didn’t notice as most of the neighborhood stepped back in fear as we innocently prepared to pour iodine on Clawfoot’s gaping wounds.

Now the events that followed were actually quite surprising, to everyone but us, that is, since Clawfoot did not actually beat anyone up or even so much as leave anybody with a black eye!  We do have to confess that he thrashed a little, but that was quickly put to a stop, since Kim wasted no time in catching him in her arms and crying “Poor baby!!”

When we had finished all our doctoring, we finally glanced up from a now-whimpering Clawfoot. At that point we noticed many of the other gang members, who had long since been just sort of staring at us in shock…  It was then that we appreciated the magnitude of what we had done, since the only comment they made to us was that nobody from that neighborhood had ever tried to cure Clawfoot’s wounds and had it go so, um… well for them… J

So, to make a long story short our reaching out to the youth in Tierra Blanca has had a number of implications.

One is that we can almost no longer drive through the neighborhood without our car being stopped as we are surrounded by gang members…  This may sound rather frightening, and for most people it would be, but in our case it is only because they are asking for peanuts…, in little packages which we keep in the trunk and have started giving away for free in order to establish a better rapport with the youth. J  (And in fact it seems to be working…  So far we’ve only had 200 pesos and a camera stolen from us…!  That’s pretty good!!!)

Another implication was that in a sudden burst of inspiration we decided to offer “Movie Night” out of the church building once a week, which actually proved to be rather interesting, since we didn’t have enough chairs to seat all of the gang members at once, and found ourselves to be quite unprepared for the fighting which broke out over the popcorn and potato chips…  J

Another defining moment came during a medical missions visit from our ‘old’ college friend, Dr. Minh Han, who, in the midst of conducting free clinics in poor neighborhoods to treat over 400 patients also had time to talk with some of our youth about the effects of drug abuse…  Most of our guys were very disappointed to find out that smoking cigarettes could affect their sexual virility!

Indeed, some of our church members have even tried playing soccer with the gang members on occasion, which is the closest we’ve ever come to being in any real physical danger (except for witnessing a few hold-ups), since some of our church brethren are a bit out of shape and we’ve wondered whether any of them might go into cardiac arrest.

Ah, yes… but probably the most important implication of all this is that, slowly but surely, these guys are actually starting to darken the door of our church during some of our service times.

…And “Clawfoot” (now Mario) has been one of the most regular attenders so far.

Mario at the end of a church service, with his kids

We should clarify here that sometimes Mario comes ‘high’ to the services, but at other times he seems to be O.K…  Either way, though, we’ve noticed that he’s always eager to participate, and even to turn to the right verses in his Bible.

In closing, we’d like to say that our efforts to reach these youth so far have been just overflowing with fruit, but the truth is that the results have been very inconsistent and disheartening at times. The saddest thing of all was when Mario showed up at the Sunday service a couple months ago with his entire wrist and palm split open through several layers of skin, apparently as a result of a knife-wound from the Zetas… Yes, and in fact it’s been rumored that they’re looking for him, probably to force him into selling drugs for their network.

Unquestionably, the fight for these kids is real.  We know for a fact that over eleven people have been killed in the Tierra Blanca area during the past month or so in the different battles of the drug lords…

So the reality is that if we want to win today’s youth over to our side we’re going to have to fight, and fight hard… harder than the Enemy.  This is a huge challenge, and as of yet we’re not sure how of to go about doing it…  Certainly, though, what we know is that we will have to stop cowering inside our church building.

Indeed, we will have to stop hiding from them and be bold enough to seek and find them…

Bold enough to reach them, that is. …

And to dare to cure their wounds.

We just wanted to send out a quick prayer request for our friend, Ivan. He has been struggling for some time with serious addictions to several kinds of drugs.

Though it has been hard, Ivan has been working to gain victory over his drug habits, and we’re happy to report that he’s stayed totally clean during these last few weeks.

The only problem now is that we’re worried about his immediate safety due to the fact that he’s trying to drop his contacts with the particular drug-trafficking group he used to give business to.  Ivan was not a seller, he was only a client, but even so it’s hard to get out.  We are especially concerned because a friend of his was shot and killed a few weeks ago, less than a block from Ivan’s house, apparently because he’d been trying to buy from two different trafficking groups.

As for Ivan, he has told us that recently some of the group members from his neighborhood have made threatening comments to him and seem to be going out of their way to drive by his house.  So, Ivan and his family need God’s protection. We know beyond a doubt that God is able to protect him, but we do ask you to pray that Ivan would have the wisdom and the will power to handle his circumstances,  and even more importantly that they would drive him to continually seek God.

Please also pray that the church (the Expo Vineyard) would continue to minister boldly in the neighborhood, sharing God’s love, shining God’s light, breaking the power of the darkness, and continuing to transform the spiritual atmosphere there…

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.

The story has to do with a faithful woman from the Vineyard in Tierra Blanca called Lourdes. The problem was that her teenage son, Alfredo, was involved in small-time drug dealing there in the church neighborhood, as are many of the other gang members who hang out in Tierra Blanca. Now you remember that “los Zetas” is a military group associated with the Gulf coast drug mafia here. They want to dominate drug sales and have been working hard since they arrived to control the market in all the local neighborhoods. Their goal is to make sure that nobody sells drugs unless they agree to be affiliated with their particular ring. One day a truck full of the “Zetas” stopped Alfredo and informed him that he would now have to deal drugs in the Tierra Blanca area as part of their network or else they were going to kill him. Not having much choice in the matter, Alfredo consented to do ‘business’ under their direction and to meet them the following day at 9:00 p.m. When he told his mother, Lourdes, who actually lives two doors down from the church and is an increasingly faithful attender, she actually had a nervous breakdown and was taken to the emergency room for a few hours prior to her son’s departure for his ‘appointment’ that evening with the Zeta.

But Lourdes did not stay down for long. Even though her son had gone off to work with a militant terrorist group that evening with no hope or promise of return, she sought refuge in God and was the first person seated for the Wednesday night service the next day. There, we were able to pray with her and give her words of hope and encouragement, and during the ministry time we could see that God worked powerfully in her. He reminded her of a promise He had spoken to her recently, responding to years of heartfelt prayer on her part, that her family would come to Christ, but that they would first have to pass through a valley, and she took hope and comfort in knowing that her crisis situation was probably something God had allowed to happen as part of His divine plan to change her family. We (Larry and Kim) actually offered to spend the night with her that night, and she accepted, since it was her second night without Alfredo and her other son was away on an out-of-town visit. That night we were able to talk with her over dinner, and also with some other members of her family. Then we lied down to sleep, but not before seeing Lourdes sit down to read her Bible for a few minutes by her bedside.

The next morning, we offered to pray for Lourdes again before she went to work, since she was extremely tired, but did not feel she had the luxury of missing another day at the factory where she faithfully labors to support her family. So we sat her down on the bed and began to pray for her to receive strength for her first day back even after the tragedy of the day before. We could see that God was working powerfully once again in her during that prayer time, and so we wound up praying for about half an hour, but the most incredible thing of all was that the very instant she opened her eyes after the prayer we heard someone come through the door and suddenly there was Alfredo, standing right in front of her!

As for Larry and I, we could not believe how immediately God had answered our prayers, and we just stood there in utter shock, sort of feeling like we were imposing as we watched the two of them caught up in an embrace. Lourdes was crying like a baby, since it had been 36 hours since she had last seen her son and she’d had no idea when she was ever going to see him again. After a few minutes of hugging, Alfredo began to explain to his mom that he was going to be coming home days and only working for the Zetas at night. He tried to assure Lourdes that nothing would happen to her or to him as long as he complied with his responsabilities. At this point Larry and I entered back on to the scene, trying to encourage Alfredo to seek God and not to lose hope but to pray that God would provide him with a way out of this dangerous and seemingly hopeless situation. Alfredo said virtually nothing to us the whole time long, because of course he feels like there is no way out for him now and in fact it would technically be risking his life for him to even talk about betraying the Zetas with anybody. But he did consent for us to pray for him in accordance with his mother’s wishes, and when we did so saw the tears begin to flow from his eyes – for just a moment, that is, before he hardened himself once again.

…So our story, though touching, will have to end for now in a prayer request and be continued at some time in the future, whenever God moves powerfully once more, because for now Alfredo is staying home days and working very long nights with the Zetas. He has no human hope of ever getting out of this mafia alive, and probably can’t think about anything other than surviving and keeping his wife and son and the rest of his family from being hurt. But WE know God is big, and that He is bigger than our ‘earthly’ hopes. We know that He answers prayer – He has answered Kim’s prayers (that she would be able to pray for one of the Zetas) and the church’s prayers (for protection over Alfredo and that Lourdes would see him alive and well) and has promised that this whole situation is a part of his answer to Lourdes’s prayers for her family to come to Christ. So we ask YOU to pray with us – for Lourdes, for Alfredo, for his wife (Karla) and two year old son (Carlos). Pray also for the church, which is getting the attention of the neighborhood now that things are happening which truly drive people to seek God. May God move powerfully, may His Kingdom advance against the enemy, and may He be glorified as He deserves!

Here are a few photos:

On the days following this incident with Alfredo, the Vineyard in Tierra Blanca did a series of “peace marches” through the neighborhood to give hope to the community and to encourage them to seek God. As part of that they put up small posters with Bible verses throughout the neighborhood. Here Lourdes (on the right) and Lela are putting up one of the posters.

Each evening after the “peace march” they gathered at Lourdes’ house to worship and pray.

Click on the photos to see them larger at flickr!

She began attending church regularly about six months ago, invited by her family, namely her brothers, since she is the only sister of the now-familiar “Rivas” brothers (Fili, Beto, Juan and Cheche). Like her brothers, Nina became involved very quickly in the body of the church, with frequent comments that she had never before experienced anything like the love of God, and showing deep gratitude for the new meaning He’d brought to her life. She began serving in the kitchen at one of our children’s feeding programs and even acting as an encourager for other members of the church.

But even in all of Nina’s enthusiasm as she drew closer to God there continued to remain a huge dark spot on her horizon: Her violent, alcoholic and drug-addict husband.

Having married at the age of fifteen, Nina had been suffering in her marriage for about 20 years. On one occasion she even confessed to us that the only reason she did not leave “Tavo” (short for “Gustavo”) was because he had threatened that he would find her and kill her if she did so.

Certainly, the evidence of Tavo’s tyranny on Nina’s life was strong, since she could only attend church meetings in secret, and lived with constant fear in her eyes of getting home late and being discovered by him. Even when Nina would take refuge in her parent’s house to avoid Tavo’s violent reactions it was not uncommon for Tavo to stand outside the house, throwing things, or screaming obscenities and then trying to break down the door.

But even though Nina endured so much mistreatment from her husband it was not the only abuse that she received. As if matters could be any worse, she and Tavo were not living alone, but with his family – with his mother and father and brothers, who tended to order Nina around, paying no attention to her suffering and even defending Tavo in his actions. Even Nina’s own family would reject and criticize her at times for not deciding to leave Tavo. When we suggested going to visit Tavo and talk to him, we were met with comments on all sides that it would be “dangerous” to provoke him or risk making him mad about anything.

Nina, however, continued to remain undaunted about one thing: She knew that she had found something, and that that something was the true God. She knew that in Him was real meaning, even in suffering. So, even though we feel sure that she had seen the opportunity at various times to just get out and leave her husband even in spite of his threats, Nina chose to do something else. She chose to begin to talk to Tavo’s family about God.

The first one who listened to her was Tavo’s sister, “Perla,” who actually surprised everybody by starting to come to church! Then Nina began working on her mother-in-law, whom she had been trying to convince for several years to support her in having Tavo sent to a drug and alcohol recovery center, but this time the hard-hearted woman saw something different in Nina, since she was talking to her about a Christian recovery home, and by a miracle of God she agreed. Thus Tavo was sent to a Christian recovery center, but even this was only somewhat encouraging, since he was taken against his will (after throwing the television set and various other things across the living room).

But Nina remained firm in her convictions, and she and Perla started sharing with Perla’s husband, “Chino,” who had left Perla and was on the point of filing for divorce. And of course there were many other members of Tavo’s family whose lives were literally on the point of disaster.

So to make a long story short, just when we had resigned ourselves to the fact that even with the changes that were taking place in Tavo’s family there was nothing we ourselves could really do but pray, we got a phone call from Beto, which can roughly be translated like this: “Hey! You guys gotta get over here! Quick! Nina’s mother-in-law and Perla’s husband want us to do a home group session in their house tonight! They’re both asking for prayer!!”

Now: To this day, we still can’t figure out exactly what had happened there, or what exactly the events were that lead up to that phone call. The only thing we do know is that instead of scratching our heads and trying to figure it all out we just hopped in the car and started off to Nina’s house, (with a bit of fear since we had been warned “not” to go there,) but where we were met with a room full of Tavo’s family – all of whom received salvation, a powerful touch from the Spirit, and deliverance from demonic influences by the time that night was over!

“What?! Could you explain that last part, please?”

No, not really. It’s what you call a “God thing.”

And there’s more. For those of you who are still left wondering about Tavo, we’ll tell you about him in our next article. (Ha! ) For now, we’ll just remind you to praise God with us for His goodness, because, as we’ve demonstrated here, we certainly don’t understand or try to take any credit for the things that God’s doing here!

To close we’ll say that we’ve now been having home group in Nina’s house for more than a month, but only just the other night we saw something in her eyes that we hadn’t seen before – Instead of the fear that we had all gotten used to, we saw… hope. For the first time. And that is perhaps the greatest miracle of all… To see hope, in even Nina’s eyes, the kind of hope that only God can give.