Hello everybody! It’s been a very busy and full couple of days. There’s far too much to share, but here are the highlights:
Yesterday, all three of the American teams took to the streets in search of ground transportation. Because of our previous victory, we had the help and advice of Bob Waag, AIM FYM Director and pastor of a local church, El Castillo Del Rey. We haven’t made any final decisions, and for strategic reasons we’ll refrain from sharing our ground transport plans at this point, but rest assured we’re going to be just fine. Wednesday, we have to finalize our travel plans, so expect the details to be posted then. In the meantime, here is a picture of Casey and Ashley, plotting our course with some online research at the Gateway, an AIM base here in Matamoros.
Today, we got to do some ministry. Each team separated and went to a different colonia (neighborhood) here in Matamoros. We spent the afternoon in La Colonia Servando Canales, an area on the edge of the city. The colonia was just opened, which means that people have marked off plots there and are beginning to build homes there. Here, building a home means finding whatever materials you can, and then nailing them together to build your own shelter. We saw homes made of wood pallets, scrap metal, plywood, and a small number of more familiar looking wood frame houses.
The people of the colonia were very warm and friendly. Many of them were Christians, but there is no church in the colonia, so they must travel (in most cases, that means walking) long distances to find a place to worship. We intended to scout the neighborhood for a house that might eventually host an in-home fellowship, but God surprised us. The second place we stopped, we discovered a man who’s heart burned to build a church on his land behind his house. His name is Julio Gonzalez, and he’s clearly passionate about preaching the Gospel and reaching hearts in the colonia for God’s Glory. In fact, he has a pastor partnering with him who has procured materials to build the church, but he has no way to transport the materials into the colonia. Please pray that God would bless our brother Julio in his ministry by providing a way to get the materials to him soon. The rest of the afternoon was spent walking around the colonia, praying with the people, playing with local kids, and passing out a variety of sweet breads to everyone we saw.
And on the way home, we finished the day off with a stop at a local cafeteria for some pre-dinner tacos. It was the first of what is sure to be many Team Doulos Dinners. Muy delicioso!
There’s so much more to tell you all about, and we look forward to sharing our adventure with you in the days, weeks, and months to come. God Bless you all.
–Gary, on behalf of Team Doulos
