The long awaited book-blog

PARAISO, TABASCO Mar 17-22
There is way too much to tell to do it chronically so I'll go through the highlights. We went to the state of Tabasco on a missions trip for 5 days. Rene, our leader maestro guy, said we're going with pure Bibles and with the intention of inviting the people in the community to the event that would be held at a campground that had a ceiling and a roof for a sanctuary and a ceiling and roof for a dining area and unfurnished cabins for dorms.

FAMILY IN THE ROAD:
The things that impacted me the most were first, that we stopped one family in the road as they were on their way back from the beach and in a panic for something to open with I said simply, “we're just here to tell people about the love of Christ.” I talked for a few minutes about the Gospel and at the end asked if they believed what I told them and all of them said yes: A man, his sister-in-law and their relative children amounting to a total of five people. We prayed with them the Prayer and blessed them and went on our way. It surprised me that it wasn't more spectacular than just those few moments of sharing, asking if they believed and wanted to ask Jesus to be a part of their lives, and after the short prayer that was it.

The next day the task was to distribute goods as the Tabascans had just experienced a hurricane disaster and were in need of basic goods. Since we stopped the family in the street we had to wander a while looking for their home, but it didn't take long. They weren't home, but we left the things with a message of blessings and a hope to see them at the event the next day. In the afternoon a woman showed up at the compound looking for me. She told me she was so excited, her husband had come home completely different saying he was going to change and things were going to be different from now on and he hugged her, told her the story he heard from me in the street and prayed the Prayer with her too. She was so excited and so grateful and full of peace that I became ashamed of the original thought that it wasn't spectacular. It was more than spectacular...

THE HOMOSEXUAL:
The next day a different family showed up to the events and in the morning at breakfast a gentleman approached me and asked if I would please talk to his son and try to intigrate him in our group. He had come with intentions of going to the beach, but his father wanted him to stay around. He said, “He's right over their in the yellow.” I looked and was surprised to find an obviously homosexual young man talking with some other young people. I was surprised to see him and wondered why he had come – a though which now I regret, because the proceedings were entirely of God.

I didn't get a chance to talk to him during the day, but I had promised his father that I would talk to him and Rene knew and encouraged me a couple of times to go and talk to him. Finally, at the last event of the evening I approached him and started with small talk. I think Rene must have mentioned something because others from the group came to talk to him as well. At the end of supper he had talked to some of the guys in the group and a couple of girls including myself and had poured out his heart and shared his story with everyone.

Later at the bonfire worship he came up and Fer, the worship leader, in the middle of the worship told us to find someone we don't know and pray for that person. I thought of him and almost chickened out, but I saw that one of the older ladies in our group had already gone up to him, so I went with her and as she encouraged him to share his problem he said immediately that he was gay – recognizing that it was not of God – and she prayed with him and he accepted Christ as his Savior. I was simply interceding the whole time, but I could have screamed glory to the heavens. Afterward he came to sit next to me at the bonfire and we talked until 2 a.m. We talked about his calling and stories of God pretty much manifesting himself to him throughout his life and childhood through dreams and visions, and various times at which he thought it was ridiculous that he continued to ignore God and he said, finally, this was his time. Praise God!

THE LIBERATION:
We had been visiting an older couple and they seemed hospitable and kind, but we reluctant to receive Christ as personal saviour, though the woman did pray the Prayer. We found out that her next door neighbor was her son who was often drunk. We decided that we should visit him too, and he apparently knew of our visits because he asked his mom to come with us if we decided to go talk to him. We found him and his two daughters in the house and he was very quiet, but sister Caro began to talk and talk about her testimony, sin, the price Jesus paid, the separation of man from God and many other things. The entire time, I was praying and observing his reaccion. He stared at the floor and I thought I noticed a struggle with emotion. When Caro finished with, “Do you believe and do you want Jesus in your life?” He nodded his head and as Gabriel began the Prayer, he broke down and accepted Him with all his heart. At the end of the prayer and in the midst of his tears, Gabriel began to pray for him at which time he began sobbing and started throwing up. It was clear that liberation from the bondage of alcohol and others came in a physical form. We prayed for another five minutes for complete liberation for him, his children and his home.

The next day we came to visit and his wife answered the door. It was clear from her expression that she wasn't impressed and said simply that she was grateful, and what happened to him was his deal and she would respect it, but didn't want to participate in it. It was clear that her mind was bound by Religion. I shared with her that I was in the same situation as she not too long ago, that I always said I believed in Christ etc, but I lacked a real relationship, which is the real reason why Jesus died for us, so that we could be true children of God. These words were met with rejection, but when finally the liberated man emerged from the bedroom he had a huge smile spread across his face and was so excited to see us again. As his wife continued to talk, his eyes went to the floor again and I realized that the spirit in her was dangerously close to oppression of her husband.

When we were about to leave I stopped him and encouraged him specifically that Jesus now lived in his heart and was always there to help him through difficulties. I also said that now that he carries the name of Christ that he had a responsibility of being a witness, the example to his family and that with that Name comes spiritual authority and power to maintain freedom for himself and his home. I think he understood, and I also told him that the best thing he could do was find a good pastor and start meeting with people who also have Christ as their Lord.
I was glad to see the whole family, all three generations, show up to the event. It was entertainment mostly, but there was a movie about the rapture and although long, got the point across about our heart's preparation for the coming of Christ.

~~

Aside from the stories of the people who found Jesus, I had several encounters with God and maybe by trying to communicate with words what God is doing in my heart, it won't seem like much, but for me with every new discovery comes a new me. I'm constantly changing and developing my relationship with my God.

COCONUTS AND PAPAYAS:
One experience was with a north wind that came over the campground and was blowing the sand everywhere and frustrating our day slightly, but I didn't really think of it as difficult since there was no rain. When we came back from dropping off the clothes and food that day we found the rest of our group huddled outside hiding from the wind and sand. They were at one side of the kitchen/dining building hacking away at coconuts with a rusty machete, drinking the cocowater and with “oranges” (that tasted more like limes – green outside and bright orange inside) that also grew on a tree nearby and chili powder they were eating the delicious fresh coconuts and raising a general ruckus and laughing and enjoying themselves. With thirty people in our group the dozens of fallen coconuts were depleting fast. Faby and I went to find some others and came back with only two after combing the ground for ripe ones. As soon as it looked like we had run out of good coconuts, God thought it would be a good idea – with all the wind rushing in from the north and nothing better to do until lunch time – to cause a gigantic palm tree to fall just near the santuary and bless us with ten or fifteen more fresh, ripe coconuts.

This doesn't seem like much, or at best it seems like a simple coincidence, but let me tell you the heart-process: I no longer believe anything happens without God, in other words, He has his hand in every situation. I realize now that when life goes wrong and we're disappointed or hurt or wounded by other people, it's God saying, “Why don't you just come to me? Why don't you want to trust me with your life, I only want to love you with everything that I have to give!” I'm realizing that as Romans 8 says (a passage that seems to persue me wherever I go) that there is no reason why He wouldn't give us everything if He's been proven willing to give us His only Son. So, in the coconut incident, an event that I believe came directly from the hand of God, I thought and continue to think to myself, “It's way too much to think that my God who loves us SO much that nothing is overlooked, He wants us to enjoy the gifts of His creation so much that he would think to plan for a simple tree to fall and bless His children who were out working for the advancement of the Kingdom. I thank Rene for the reminder to contemplate these simple things to really appreciate the gifts from our loving God.

A similar situation was the ten-hour trip home we didn't have a lunch packed or planned. Rene was in a hurry as we all were so we didn't stop for hardly anything besides bathroom and gas, but soon we became tired, crabby and hungry. We stopped for food, but ended up still hungry after chips and water. We stopped again after four hours or so at a gas station and I saw just at the edge of the station a tree. Aurora had pointed it out. We noticed that there were fresh papayas growing on it and after Aurora's hesitation and my insistance, we went and I climbed on her shoulders to pick the giant, yellow, ripe, juicy, sweet papaya. We took it to the water hose to wash it and as we looked up we saw another tree with another giant, yellow, ripe, juicy, sweet papaya growing on it. We went for it, washed it and enjoyed the simple provision from God on the bus. I sat for two hours in complete wonder at the love of a God who puts coconuts and papayas (His creation!) in our way to enjoy it in a time of need or simply because he wants us to enjoy life! This is the God we serve! This is the love He wants us to experience every day! I'm so full of love for Him and so full of a desire to serve Him forever, come what may, and just because of a few coconuts and a papaya...