“Pastor Clawfoot” – The Story of Mario Continues

Hi, everyone.  Well it’s a relief to finally be able to sit down and write this…  As always a lot of things have happened since our last article, and since there are so many critical situations here we have made up our mind to try to stay in more regular contact, though we’ll have to see how often we’re able to write.

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