İTe doy Gloria, Gloria! That phrase has been hummed, sang, and yelled all day. It means “I give you glory, glory!”. Missionary Bruce introduced our Power team to this Mexican worship song this week, and it has been something I have weighed on all day as our team has glorified our God in so many ways today.
Our day started off with devotion/ worship time over the border at Hector’s place, Senda de Vida (Path of life) in Reynosa, MX. I could write a book about this man and his wife, but I’ll keep it at a high altitude for this post. Hector was called to this location by God, years ago. It was a literal dump and was really a worthless piece of land in the eyes of the Mexican government; however, Hector had this vision that he would build a mission where refugees from countries all over the world could come live, develop, and step into a life of love and hope.
Today, what was a “dump” is now a compound with apartments, wash rooms, a worship center, communal areas, and about 400 refugees from all over the world (Russia, Ghana, El Salvador, Guatemala to name just a few regions). He and his wife have done it all through God’s lens as they live out daily what God has in sight for them. What a beautiful blessing for us to be able to spend the morning in worship within this place.
Pastor Brian preached on another name that God has been referred to, which is Adonai. This name resembles God as “Lord” and master. Today, we don’t like when someone else is in control. Some people want our Lord to get them to Heaven, but don’t want Him to own their life here on earth. We want all the stuff He can do without giving him ownership. Truth is, if He doesn’t own all of us, we will never experience all of Him. In summary, the things we feed are the things that win. Such a practical look at it, and so easy to keep as a reminder on a daily basis.
Following this, we headed to our home church down in Mexico, Alianza Cristiana. Talk about a mega church, this place is like a small city within Reynosa. What was once a tent with metal chairs surrounded by dirt is now a permanent dome structure with windows and comfortable seating. It has a school, student housing, cafeteria, food stands, and playing fields. Pastor Mario and his entire church staff and translators treated us as family and nurtured us with love, prayer, worship, and lunch before we headed to Rio Bravo Orphanage for the afternoon festival.
Rio Bravo is run by Ray Hanson, who gave up his life in the states to start and orphanage. On top of this, he planted it in the heart of a cartel driven area. He has zero fear, and 100% trust in God’s will for Him. To date he and his kids have remained safe and the cartels actually respect him, which is a powerful shield God is providing for Ray and his mission.
Shout out to Ben Sullivan, Kyle LeDuc, and Josh Park for coordinating yet another successful carnival for the local families of Reynosa. We played games with kids, made cotton candy, popcorn, and hot dogs, and spent some quality time with the locals and gave them all the love. In all truth, this is the most exhausting day for our men because we are constantly moving, chatting, and providing love and grace for everyone who attends.
Following this was a LONG line back over the border and dinner at Golden Corral. Not much to talk about here as we never leave that place raving that it’s the best meal we have had; nor do we feel like being awake as we are basically stuffing ourselves. Because, buffets…
We topped the night off by unloading Louis Davenport’s semi truck filled to the brim with stuffed animals for kids. Yes, that previous sentence and associated magnitude are accurate and not I exaggerated.
Today was another successful one in the books, and we hardly encountered the devil as we gave it our best to be an example of who He is and wants us to be. God 1, Devil 0 today. With this, I leave you with a verse that comes to mind as a result of our works for the day, Romans 12:12 “Be Joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer”. My hope is that you all reading this have a great Monday and you continue to pray for our journey as we are praying for you all back home as well. Cheers!