Tex-Mex Trip Report (Part 2)

We got up extremely early Wednesday morning and got a ride across the border with Bro. Memo to get on a bus in Matamoros to go to Monterrey. It was about a 4-hour bus ride and they showed a couple of movies along the way. Of course, the movies were in Spanish so the rest of the crew couldn't get much out of it, and it was hard for me to follow as well! (It's much easier to understand someone speaking directly to you than a movie where you can't ask them to repeat something or to slow down!)

We arrived at the bus station in Monterrey and Bro. Jose Luis Medrano, the pastor of one of our three churches in the city, met us and served as chaffeur for the rest of our time in Mexico. Monterrey is a city of about 6 million people if you include the metro area, so as you can imagine, traffic is quite thick. Add to that the Mexican daredevil driving philosophy and we had several whiteknuckle near misses. (I was accustomed to Mexican driving since I'd been there before, but the others were definitely prayed up by the time we got to church that night! LOL) Bro. Jose Luis speaks a little English, but I served as translator the majority of the time. When he heard Eddie praying out loud and saw his expression of terror when a taxi stopped within inches of the van we were in, he did manage the English phrase "It's no problem, brother." I'm not sure that Eddie was particularly comforted. ;-)

We went to eat at Los Generales, a very nice buffet-style restaurant with LOTS of food. We all ate our fill (and probably more). I think that between the 4 of us, we probably gained 20+ pounds on this trip... It's definitely time to get back on my bike! After eating, we did a bit of shopping in the Artisan's Plaza in the downtown business district before getting to where we were staying for the night and getting ready for church.

Kyle and I stayed in Bro. Jose Luis's home. The air conditioning wasn't working in our room, and it was very hot while we were getting ready for church. Thankfully, we had a fan and the windows open during the night, and we slept quite comfortably.

The church that Bro. Jose Luis pastors is the newest body work in Mexico. It was quite an experience to visit there. The city of Monterrey is surrounded by mountains, and being so large, has some neighborhoods of great wealth as well as some of extreme poverty. All of the mountains have houses that are built right up the side, extending up perhaps a third of the way to the top. On some mountains, the houses are mansions and the wealthiest of the city live there. The views of the city are breathtaking.

On other mountains, the poorest people live up the mountain, and the neighborhoods are very poorly developed, with no roads wide enough to drive on leading up to the houses--only paths for people to walk up the mountainside to their homes. This church is in a very poor area of town, a few blocks from the base of one of the "poor mountains". Many of the people in the church have very little. Some of them live up the side of the mountain and have to walk some distance to get to church.

One brother in the church had a real desire to serve in the music department. He played the guitar but he wanted to learn the piano as well. The church had a little electronic keyboard, and Sis. Cora (the pastor's wife) showed him some of the basics and gave him some sheet music to practice with. He didn't have the money for a keyboard, so he actually drew out a piano keyboard on a peice of cardboard and practiced with the sheet music at home every week on his cardboard "piano". He came early for services and practiced on the actual keyboard some more. Finally, the church was able to purchase a nicer keyboard, and they gave the old keyboard to this brother so that he could practice at home with something better than his cardboard drawing of the keys. He played for some of the songs during the service and did quite well. What an example of dedication!

The other amazing story from this church is how it came to be in fellowship with us. This church had been a Pentecostal church pastored by Bro. Sergio and not affiliated with us. He was a pastor for 30 years. He started to fellowship with one of the other body churches in Monterrey and began to realize that there was a greater truth there than what he had.

After some time, he asked for a pastor to come and take over his church, and said that he wanted to just sit in the congregation under this ministry so that he could receive the truths that he lacked. What humility! Bro. Jose Luis was sent to pastor the church, and Bro. Sergio sat out in the congregation for some time, refusing to take a seat on the platform. After 2 or 3 months, Bro. Jose Luis urged him to sit on the platform as well, so he now works with him in the ministry again. No doubt God will richly bless Bro. Sergio for his willingness to submit to a younger man and his desire for greater truth.

Before service Wednesday night in Monterrey, we all stood to pray together. In Paducah, when we pray at the beginning of service, Bro. Encil says that we are standing to invite God in and to ask him to accept our sacrifice of praise. I began to pray to that effect in Monterrery that night, and when I asked God to accept our sacrifice, my heart was smitten within me. I thought, "My God, what sacrifice do I make compared with these people here?" We are blessed with such abundance in the American assemblies; I would encourage everyone to go into a mission field at least once and see the hunger that the people have for the Lord, notwithstanding their lack of material means. Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled. In our society which is so centered on material things, we must take care not to hunger and thirst after stuff. We cannot serve God and mammon. We must keep our priorities straight.

We had a wonderful service in Monterrey that night. I was the translator for the service, so I got plenty of practice with my Spanish! I had to translate both ways, depending on who was speaking. Then, after talking all night long interpreting for others, Bro. Jose Luis asked me to have something to say myself. He smiled and said "He's been preaching all night long, but I'd like him to preach some more!" I actually tried to translate for myself, but after a few minutes, I just told my 3 fellow Americans that they already knew a lot of what I was saying anyway and that I was just going to speak in Spanish. It was much easier that way!

After service we went to find somewhere to eat. Some of us were craving American food and they told Bro. Jose Luis that while we really loved it, we were actually getting a bit tired of Mexican food. It was late, so we had a bit of trouble finding an American-stlye restaurant that was still open. After perhaps 30-45 minutes of driving around, Bro. Jose Luis (who is constantly joking around or teasing someone) said "I'm getting worried that if I don't find something soon, you all will eat me!" As soon as I had translated this, Kyle replied, "No no, you don't have to worry. We already said we're getting tired of Mexican food!" LOL Kyle is quick! I think he really earned Bro. Jose Luis's respect after that! ;-)