Buenos dias a mis amigos!
I am currently racing from
Matamoros
,
Mexico
to
Palenque
,
Mexico
.
We have been driving through the night on a bus, to awaken this morning to the most beautiful countryside.
The road is surrounded by lush green as we drive
morning fog.
The low clouds give this land almost a magical feel.
It is so beautiful here!
Well this is the first leg of our race and it has already been exciting! We were all carted away on school buses from our training center to an undisclosed location, i.e. they drive us around for a while, get us really lost, then dump us all off in the middle of this random border town and say GO!
And off we went.
Kelly and I ran off and just started asking locals where the bus station was, and we got there so fast we were only minutes behind the media team, who knew where they were going.
They all gave us looks as if to say…”how the heck did you get here so fast?”
We bought our bus tickets and passed another team as they stumbled into the station and wished them the best of luck (their team doesn’t have any Spanish speakers).
Advantage…
US!
We still had to wait around for most of the day as our bus wasn’t leaving until
9 pm
. So after trying some local delicacies in the form of tacos, we hung out in the station with the other racers and talked to locals.
James, Amy, and I began playing with a hacky sack when a man came up to us and watched for a few minutes.
So we began talking and invited him to play, but he kindly denied saying, “futbol is better.”
But we began talking and I found out that he had lived in the
US
and had just recently got out of jail.
He was a believer but it was obvious that he was struggling with things.
But he really wanted to know more.
I told him I had a few hours before my bus leaved and I could go through some of the bible with him.
At this point, another elderly man came up and just began to listen, so I invited him as well to join our discussion.
So the three of us sat down and began to discuss some of our backgrounds and what we believed.
These guys both had some really tough issues in their lives.
The elderly man was very catholic, but had no faith.
He believed as long as you stop in to mass for a few minutes every week or so, he was doing good enough to get by.
The younger man, named Cirilo, was a Christian, but could not accept that Jesus still loves him even though he has done bad
The three of us discussed some of the basics about Jesus loving us for who we are, not what we do.
The elderly man allowed me to pray for him before he had to leave.
So I blessed him in what way I could and he went on his way.
The younger man stayed with me for another hour or so.
We discussed more about our pasts as we really began to connect.
He knew that Jesus was the way to salvation but he kept insisting he was a bad man, therefore he wasn’t good enough to receive His love. I kept replying that we all sin, none are perfect, and Jesus loves us all, including him.
After about ten times of going over those points, it finally began to sink in.
I could see a veil lifted from his eyes, as he went from hopeless to hopeful!
I prayed over him really well in English, and then I blessed him again in Spanish.
He was so excited to hear what I was able to tell him!
We hugged as brothers as I had to say goodbye to him. So please pray for him as he will most surely be attacked by Satan, telling him he is not good enough.
Lord thank you for the opportunities that you have already presented to me and for your Holy Spirit moving here in
Mexico
!
