Tex-Mex Trip Report (Part 1)

I just got back tonight from a loooonngg trip to the border and beyond. I had a great time, but I'm glad to be back home (for a few days, at least). Four of us from church went together: Eddie and Kim, Kyle, and me. We intended to visit several churches in Mexico, but ended up visiting more in Texas and only 2 in Mexico itself. Here's a brief rundown of the trip:

We left Paducah Friday, May 25th and drove about 15 hours to Houston. With stops it actually took a bit longer. We got into Houston after midnight and stopped over in a hotel for the night.

We drove about 6 more hours into Brownsville, TX Saturday and attended a graduation banquet for the 7 high school grads from the Brownsville assembly. We ate there and then went for a late snack afterward as well. I was craving some real tacos (barbacoa, made with lengua and cachete; mmmmm).

Sunday morning we had a really good service in Brownsville and a young man received the Holy Ghost who had been seeking it for a long time. He was from the church in Mission, TX--about an hour down the road. What a blessing to be there for a spiritual birth! After service we went out with the Rodriguezes to Taco Palenque and had the best fajitas ever.

Sunday night we went to the church in Mission. As Bro. Hugo later reported, the four of us worked as a great team in that service. Kyle played the piano, I sang, and Eddie and Kim prayed with people. We tried to do our part, but it was truly God who gave the increase! Two more people in Mission were baptized with the Holy Spirit that night! One of them was a young man who had been attending the church for several months and is now helping to interpret during the services. The other was the grandmother of the man who received the Holy Ghost that morning in Brownsville!

Monday we did a bit of sight-seeing. We went to Port Isabel to see the lighthouse on our way to South Padre Island. We met up on the Island with some old friends of Kim's and had lunch with them and visited at their home afterward. They were very nice and had a beatiful home with a great view of the bay. (Next time I go to South Padre, I'm calling ahead to make reservations to go parasailing. It looks like a blast!) That night it was back to Brownsville for the teaching service. Bro. Budd was in town and taught on the parable of Lazarus and the rich man. There were several visitors who really enjoyed the teaching, asking follow-up questions as well. This night was a nice break for us; we got to sit and listen and didn't have to talk!

Tuesday we were invited for lunch at the Gonzalez's house. We ate so much good food on this trip, but this was probably the best meal we had...stuffed peppers, rice, manzanita soda, and 2 different kinds of desserts. Wow. That night we went to San Benito, Texas for a home meeting. It was a small crowd, but the spirit was sweet. A sister has opened up her house to have meetings there every Tuesday night. There was one elderly sister there that was just so sweet and thankful for all of us being there. She kept praying for God to bless us. They normally have just a guitar in these services, but since they heard a piano player was coming, they managed to find a toy keyboard for Kyle to play on. It wasn't a grand piano, but they worshipped just as well. While we were in San Benito, Bro. Budd was in Mission for their weekly teaching service. There was a sister there in Mission who had seen the others receive the baptism of the Holy Spirit 2 days before. She had even asked Kim about it, and said that she didn't know if she could receive the Holy Ghost since she had been raised Catholic. Kim had assured her that God's Spirit is a gift available to all. So Tuesday night she asked Bro. Budd about the Holy Ghost: what it is and how she could receive it. He got very inspired while teaching on this subject, and they prayed for this sister there during the teaching service and she too received the Holy Ghost baptism! So that makes four people from one church that received the Holy Ghost in the same week! What a boost that's sure to be for the Mission assembly.