As Kim’s watch beeped 6:00AM, Chad started the engine and we headed off to Vera Cruz. We arrived at the finish line of the first leg of the race at exactly 8:11AM having no clue if we had won or not. We took in the beautiful port and then found a money exchange, as we did not even have enough pesos to get dinner the night before. We found a delightful cafe at the port and treated ourselves to a victory breakfast. We knew we were winners even if we had not won the race and later it was confirmed, WE WON!
We headed off to Palenque and on the way; we stopped in a little village for lunch. The Lord led us to a little restaurant & though there were 20 items on the menu, they were only serving one thing, carne asada & frijoles (meat & beans); fortunately, that is what we all wanted.
While eating we met Luis Angel and asked him to join us for lunch. He had already eaten but joined us for a coke. He spoke no English but between Sarah & Miguel, we communicated with him. We soon discovered that he was a Christian and he kept saying, “God is with us”, but we could tell that he was struggling with his own faith & battles.
To make a long story short Luis rededicated his life to Christ while we laid hands on him & prayed. With tears running down his face, he thanked us & said, “My life is forever changed”.
With laughter, singing, joy & Spanish lessons, we headed off to Palenque………
Realizing that we were not in a race & that we were not going to make it to Palenque by 10:00PM, we prayed about where God wanted to lead us. Chad felt strongly that God wanted us to look for a church in Villahermosa.
As we pulled into Villahermosa & were overwhelmed by its size & the multitude of cheaper hotels, Tauna confirmed that we still needed to find a church as that is what God put on Chad’s heart. We quickly realized we were not going to find the church on the main highway. Sarah felt God leading us to turn right off the highway, Miguel thought we were crazy but God continued to direct our path as we entered into the chaos of the city.
It was on the hearts of everyone in the car to stop & ask about a church so we stopped at a convenience store. Miguel got out to ask & we noticed a Jesus symbol on the car parked in front of us, we had no idea of how God was about to bless us. Miguel got back in the car with a huge smile on his face and led us to an alleyway 50 yards in front of us.
We came to a complete dead end in the dark alley we thought we might have been misdirected. We began to reverse out of the alleyway, as Cathy was deep in prayer that God would send someone to meet our needs. Miguel jumped out & was intent on finding this church. Kim said, “There’s a chica in that window, Miguel go talk to her”. Miguel did & God showed up in a big way.
After Miguel explained we were missionaries going around the world, she introduced herself to us as Angelica, Obviously another Angel sent to us by God. Angelica; an English teacher; and her family invited us into her house with open arms. We quickly found out her uncle was the Pastor of the church which was located directly behind her house and her brother was a Christian missionary for the church. They knew we were hungry, dirty and sleepy, so they treated us to dinner at her cousin’s taco shop and we ate abundantly and met her uncle the Pastor Fausto Daniel Chavez Accvedo. He offered us his church to sleep for the night. Angelica and her mother; Elizabeth; offered their own beds and showers and made us feel like family. The women slept in the house while the men slept in the church. We were all overwhelmed by the hospitality that they would give us their own beds for people they had just met, praise God.
After a meal and a shower in the morning, we realized they were modeling the church of Philippians. (Read Philippians 4). We thank Cristo Vive church and pray many blessings over their ministry in Villahermosa. Meeting them was truly a blessing.
