Roads are lined with temporary shelters that are permanent homes. A person that lives in a home such as this may be a women, at the age of 60, that sweeps the gutters for a mere 20 pesos a day. Her name is Maria, we know her. To put money in “American” terms, 20 pesos is two dollars, the price of the frozen Frapuchinno I purchased today.
I am convinced that the Spirit of the Lord thrives in the most broken places.
The initial reaction is a wide eyed, “Oh my Lord, is this really the church, I thought it was condemned.” I was mistaken. After experiencing the abundance of love and the gracious hospitality I couldn’t be more wrong. This shack was a beautiful mansion where the Lord was present in every heart in the place. The Lord moves here in Palenque. And yes, there is much work to be done and many hopeless people but Iglesia Salim is anointed with the Holy Spirit.
The door to door evangelism was a new concept but I figured that I would give it a go around. It is hard to get into the mindset that I am not a tourist in this city, I have a task here. In broken Spanish, we extended the invitation to our Tuesday service. (video to come) We were faced with smiles and indifference as we completely slaughtered the Spanish language. Seeing three new faces in the service was well worth the fear of failure.
In closing, I will tell you about a twenty-year-old boy named Mario, that has captured my heart. For a reason beyond my understanding the Lord draws me to pain. Mario attended the church when it was young. But he struggles with drug addiction. We are worlds apart and yet I can relate with him on some level. We don’t speak the same language, but all the same I can love him as if he were my brother because they suffer from the same disease. I can only pray that I can show him more of my God as if he were my very own brother.
