A life changing trip to Mexico

Greetings!

I just got back this evening from a short term mission trip to Juarez, Mexico. A trip filled with emotion, excitement, opportunity, and encouragement. It's late, and I'm tired, but I am finding it to be a challenge to go to sleep without expressing all the thoughts that this trip has stirred up.

The reason that we went down to Juarez in the first place was to take part in the work that the Lord is already doing there. Amigo Fiel is the name of a ministry stationed in Juarez that is ministering on a daily basis to the people of the city. Much of the city of Juarez is occupied by very poor people and many orphaned children. Those at Amigo Fiel are providing for the communities tangible needs and most importantly exposing them to the life giving gospel of Jesus Christ.

Krystal and I were extremely blessed and humbled to be a part of what the Lord is doing in Mexico. I met a man named Santos who works with the ministry of Amigo Fiel full time... God's grace was all over this guy! It was so encouraging to hear from him of what God has been impressing upon him lately. He shared with me about how he has come to a life changing realization regarding the simplicity of the gospel message, and how God can use him to communicate it to others. On Saturday afternoon we took part in an outreach at one of the parks in the city. There we were able to observe Santos in action sharing the simple message of the gospel as God drew people in our midst to commit their lives to following Jesus.

I also observed some striking differences in the people of Juarez as I saw their willingness to engage in conversation and show patience as I and others with me would fumble over Spanish words trying to converse. It seems that here in the states we are so consumed with our ever so busy lives that we don't have time to bother with such things. This was quite an eye opener for me to show patience and grace to others.

I was somewhat surprised as I saw the majority of the people being extremely poor in comparison to Americans, yet they exhibited more contentment and openness to the message of Jesus Christ than we do. As Americans we can attain many things, houses, cars, big screen tv's, etc. with a certain level of ease due to that fact that jobs with decent wages are not as hard to come by here. Yet, though we have more stuff...we seem to have even less contentment and we are often less open.

Jesus said "Blessed are you poor, for yours is the kingdom of God." (Luke 6:20)
It seems that the poor are more likely to understand their need for God, perhaps because they don't have many possessions that they can foolishly think themselves to be fulfilled by. On the other hand we who are rich (yes, we are rich compared to most of the world), tend to convince ourselves just the opposite, that the more stuff we get, the more fulfilled we'll be...but, that's not true. As hope in anything other than God will only prove to be fleeting and vain.



I am encouraged after the experience I had on this trip to share with all who I love an encouragement to slow down so that we might examine our lives. Are we distracted from what is most important? Are we in the faith? Are we following Jesus?

The message of Jesus Christ is that we are all sinners who have rebelled against God, and we are on our way to hell, unless our hope is in Christ alone. That Jesus lived a perfect life in our place then died a criminal's death upon the cross because of our sins, and then He then rose again the third day proving all He had said was true. If you are not living for Jesus, God would have you know that you are special and that His desire for you is that you turn to Him and give Him your life, for He loves you. Those who receive this message will love God in return and be given the promise of being with Him in heaven forever when this life is over. If you do know Jesus, then I pray that this would serve as an encouragement to you to proclaim this gospel at every opportunity.

This trip was truly life changing for me... and by God's grace I know that my sharing about it with others can prove life changing for them as well. God Bless and thanks for allowing me the privilege of sharing with you!

Sincerely,
Your friend, family member, neighbor, or brother in the Lord,
Ken