A "Chance" Encounter

The other day, JP and I were walking near our house, and passed a small café that we had passed many times in the past few months.  JP stopped and said that we should go in and see what kind of stuff they have on their menu.  We had just eaten, so I didn't particularly want to stop, but we did.  The café owner was there, and he let us see a menu.  He also mentioned that this was the last day the café would be open - business hadn't been good, so he was closing down that evening.  We lamented that the café would  no longer be around to try the food.  The owner asked us what we did for a living, and we said we were missionaries.  Instantly, his face lit up, and he asked us to please sit down because he wanted to talk with us for a while.  The owner told us that he had heard a few times recently about Christ, in a different way than many people in Mexico will talk about Him (usually it's all about doing good things and saying the right prayers to be able to hopefully go to heaven).  He had heard from somewhere else that "religion" didn't necessarily mean saying rote prayers and following the same ritual in hopes of being good enough to go to heaven.  We assured him that NO ONE can ever be good enough to go to heaven by their own actions - it's only  because of Christ's sacrifice and a relationship with Him that we can spend eternity with God!  We were in the café for quite a while, enjoying Italian sodas, and talking about the owner's spiritual questions.  He mentioned more than once that "fate" had brought us to his café that day.  We prayed for his new business venture in construction, and gave him our contact info, and times/place of our church service at Horizonte.  When we left, he hadn't made a decision to follow Christ, but we could almost see the wheels turning in his head, thinking about all we had talked about. 

It's amazing how God directs our paths to those who are open to hearing about Him!  Nothing is just by chance! 

Cafes are VERY popular in Queretaro!  So much so, that many open and never get off to a good start because the café market is so saturated.  So, like the owner that we talked to, some new cafes barely get off the ground before they are forced to close their doors. 

The Trusy Aloe Vera Plant, and More

Why do people have Aloe Vera plant in the house?  My first thoughts are that it's a very useful plant - you can put it on burns from the kitchen, or sunburns, and there are even people here in Mexico who put some of the slimy stuff in smoothies for nutritional value.  But...

You learn something new everyday...



A couple of weeks ago, JP and I were at our friends - Ricardo and Ana's - house.  The husbands disappeared for a moment, and I asked Ana where they went.  "Oh, they went to go throw that big pot of Aloe Vera plant in the dumpster."  I asked why.  She told me that half of it had died, the pot was starting to break... "and besides, we don't want people to think we're trying to ward of evil spirits with it."  WHAT?!  I thought she was just saying the last part to be funny! But no.  Since that conversation, I've noticed several small businesses (hair salons, cafes, etc.) that have Aloe Vera plants with red ribbons tied to the pieces sitting in front.  Apparently, this is to get rid of "bad vibes."  Or evil spirits, or whatever bad thing you feel may be eminent.

I used to think that in Mexico, there was an "advantage" of sharing the gospel, as the majority of people at least believe that God exists.  But the longer I live here, the more I think that it may be even harder for many people here to come to a saving knowledge of Christ than if they didn't believe in God at all, because there are so many practices going on among people who "believe in God" that are occultist.  Just the other day I was waiting at a bus stop and a woman came up and grabbed my hand and told me she was going to read my palm.  Of course I didn't let that happen...  Palm readings and tarot card readings are really easy to find here, although it's still considered sketchy, so many people who go to those don't announce it to their friends or anything.  But more "mild" things, like the Aloe plant, or tying a red string to you baby's left wrist to protect it - those are culturally acceptable things that show a non-faith in God.  You can't trust in God and mysticism at the same time! 

"Lucky You, You Live In Queretaro!"

This is what several announcements around our city say to all the Queretanos (people from Queretaro) that pass by.  We're lucky because we live here.  A quick glimpse around our city will tell you that,  we ARE pretty lucky to live here!  People from other states are moving in at a rate of approximately 140 people PER DAY to live in Queretaro.  Why?  We're the second safest city in the country (behind Merida which is near Cancun), and safety is a huge issue in Mexico these days.  We're the second cleanest city (behind Aguascalientes, a few hours north of us).  We have 8 (if I'm not mistaken) large industrial areas to provide jobs, and foreign companies are moving into Queretaro, making even more jobs.  The cost of housing seems quite economical to people coming from Mexico City (think Californians thinking $300 grand is a bargain home in Oregon).  The climate is pretty much amazing.  So there's a lot going for our city of now over 2 million.

 

Highway sign on the road between San Luis Potosi and Queretaro in the state of Guanajuato.

 

But... there's always a but.  If you take more than a cursory look at our lovely city, you'll begin to see what's really here.  People are hurting.  People have no hope.  People want to do whatever they can to get ahead, especially at the expense of others. 
80 percent of people in Queretaro drink more than one alcoholic beverage daily.  If you think about it, that's not just social drinking anymore, that's at problem level.  We have the highest rate of alcoholic women in the country.  Surveys say that girls as young as 12 are getting drunk on a weekly basis.  We have the highest rate of single mothers in the country as well.

Something is happening in Queretaro, and it's most notable among women.  I've seen women stopped in the street "road-raging" (screaming, hitting each other, keying the other's car...) with other women.  The other day, I was crossing the street and a bus *may* have cut in front of a woman driver (this happens ALL the time with the busses).  Instead of dealing with it and moving on with life like the rest of us do, she gunned the engine, drove alongside the bus, and started screaming a string words that I honestly don't think I'd ever heard a women say at the bus driver.  The other pedestrians and I were in shock.  It was a woman who waved a gun at JP and I a couple years ago when he wasn't driving fast enough on the highway.  Women are having severe anger problems.  Girls are the ones bullying others at school. 

Lucky you, you live in Queretaro. 

Lucky you, if you're a 12-year-old girl in Queretaro, you may get drunk this weekend.  Lucky you, you're more likely to be a single mom than the 12-year-old girl in any other state.  Lucky you, you may come home to an alcoholic mom.  And no dad.  Lucky you, you probably either get bullied at school, or are a bully yourself.  Or both. 

Lucky you, you live in Queretaro.

Pray for our city.  Pray for us, that we can be a beam of hope here.  Because God loves Queretanos! 

El Bajío

El Bajío (bah-HEE-oh) is the region of Mexico that we live in.  It includes the states of Queretaro, Guanajuato, and part of Michoacan.  This statistic was just shared with us in church on Sunday: this region - along with neighboring states of Aguascalientes and Zacatecas - is the region in LATIN AMERICA that is least evangelized.  And we live here.
 

Below is a map of Mexico with these states colored:

Queretaro is blue

Guanajuato is purple

Aguascalientes is red

Zacatecas is green

Michoacan is brown (the eastern-most part of Michoacan is considered part of the Bajio)

We've actually met a LOT of people who had never heard about salvation in Christ!  So many of the people we come in contact with (with the exception of those at our church!) believe that by being good, participating in the sacraments (baptism as a baby, eucharist, confession, confirmation, etc.), and praying to the saint of their church or city, they will be saved and go to heaven.  It has been sad to see so many people believe that, even though they don't have a relationship with Christ that they will go to heaven.  And we know that Jesus says: "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me."  John 14:6

God has been giving us some amazing opportunities to share the Message of Salvation with those around us (these testimonies will be in our upcoming newsletter).  Please pray that God will open the hearts of those we share with, that they will come to know Christ as their Savior.  And pray for us too, that we may have the boldness to speak the Truth to others!

View of Queretaro at night

Mini Mission Trip!

While the mission team from San Diego and Michoacan was here (see post below), the Horizonte Churches in Queretaro (our church) and Sta. Rosa (a town to the north of QRO) had an outreach event for the peole who live in the neighborhood of Horizonte Sta. Rosa.  About 30 people from Horizonte QRO came out, and a lot more donated food - free food always attracts people! - for the event.  About 180 children and adults came to the event in Sta. Rosa.

Clown show and songs for the kids!

This was the first time that many of the Horizonte QRO folks had been to an evangelistic outreach.

Behind the scenes balloon-making!

Marco, the Sta. Rosa pastor, shared the message of salvation in Christ.  Afterward, five people accepted the Lord!

JP and I wondered how many of the 180 people in attendance were from a church.  We asked Pastor Marco, who recognized the people from both churches, and he estimated that HALF of them were non-believers from the town!  That was encouraging because many times "outreaches" end up being events for the people of the church and hardly any non-church people come.  So this was different, and of course the five who accepted Christ made the whole things worth it, as well as the fact that now all those people at least know where the little church in Sta. Rosa is, and will hopefully come back!

I was also encouraged to see people from Horizonte QRO come out and help in so many ways - from making food, to leading songs and games, to being clowns...  There were several who had never been to an event like this before and really didn't know what to expect, but came anyway.  Ramses, one of the clowns, is the only Christian in his family and had very little idea what the event would be like, but did an excellent job with the kids!  Ruben, Cristina, and Adriana and her teenage boys are attendees of Horizonte who hadn't really been involved in anything except attending on Sundays, but they came and saw what an outreach is all about and jumped in to paint faces, serve food, make balloons, and pretty much help with anything! 

We hope to do a similar outreach in the town of Cadereyta (kah-dare-RAY-tah), where the mission team from SD/Michoacan went last week.  A lot of  people in Cadereyta are even hostile toward Christians, so we want to be able to help that church in any way possible!  We were so encouraged by what God did in Sta. Rosa, where Christians are not well received either, and trust that the Lord will work in Cadereyta too!