We let you down. We came in second during the race part, and it was at the very end that we ended up losing. So needless to say, we were a little bummed to have been so close and then lost it, but God always knows what He is doing. Maybe it is just so the other team can feel how it is to win because the rest of the time, we will be doing it!
But the race is not and never has been why I am on this trip. It is a fun way to get from one place to the next on a limited budget. So I decided I would share with you about this leg of the race in more detail to show you how it is. The B squad, which is made up of three smaller teams and the media group started out our race in Reynosa, Mexico. We got dropped off at the local town square and had to ask around to find the bus station that was about two miles off. After arriving at the station, some of the girls watched the bags while, me and two others went to get tickets to our destination of Palenque.
We found out that there were no direct buses to Palenque and would need to travel to several places before we could make it there. So we waited at the station for four hours, taking in some delicious tacos at a nearby taco stand in the meantime. This was one of the “tasks” that we had to do during the travel and was by far the easiest. The other tasks were to interview a local person and to pray with three people.
Anyways, at the bus station, Amy and Sarah and Lynette were able to talk with a young lady who was visiting her family there in Mexico. They shared with her and were able to pray wither about some difficulties she was having, so praise be to God about that. Once we were on the bus it was about 15 hours to Vera Cruz, Mexico. Ouch that was rough but that is the normal way of getting around in the country and I was pleasantly surprised by the nice busses they had.
After getting to Vera Cruz, we waited for a few hours and hopped another bus going to Villa Hermosa. This bus was only about five hours and we got to Villa Hermosa at about ten o’clock at night.
We tried to get more tickets to Palenque, which is two hours away, but the lady at the counter kept saying something to us in Spanish that we didn’t understand. So we were very confused and tired but found that we could purchase tickets on the electronic ATM style machines like they have at the movies. Whoo-hooo! Well, by that time most of the teams were all there at the station and were waiting for the same bus, so we took some time to regroup and pray and share with one another. Shauna from another team pulled out her guitar and proceeded to play some songs and it brought over a younger girl who was in a Christian band herself. She opened up to some of the ladies about her hard life and how her husband had taken her children away. How terrible! And it was her birthday that day, so we prayed for her before she left on her bus. I pray even still that God would encourage her in amazing ways, that His blessings would show her her standing as a daughter of the king.
Well, after that, we were waiting for the bus and it ended up arriving two hours late at five in the morning. We all boarded, extremely tired but eager to arrive at Palenque. Two long hours later we hopped off the bus and grabbed a quick taxi to take us the ancient Mayan ruins that were to be our finish line for that leg of the race. We all had to wait for the place to open and when we got our tickets, it was a mad dash through the ruins to the top of a particularly steep temple area. We ended up being in second but I think we did great. My team is amazing and we really work well together. Anyways, after the race was over, we joined together and sang Indescribable over the ruins where Mayans had made human sacrifices centuries before. We sang out over the early morning fog that hung like a blanket over Mexico, making us both breathless at times and also making us ache for the Mexican people. We desire that God would show us where He is working and allow us to join Him, or give us the vision that we would need to begin. His will be done above all.
Thank you all so much for your prayers and support. So many of you have really helped me out and I can’t say enough about your generosity. And as we begin some more training and move into the ministry aspect, let us glorify the Lord God in all our actions and words, thoughts and deeds. We have taken the twelfth chapter of Romans as our team verses for this next year and the chapter starts that we are to be “living sacrifices” to God. Amen!
