Dear Friends,
Greetings! This time from Chiapas, Mexico. I’ve been here a couple of weeks and will remain at least another couple of weeks. During this time, I will visit Veracruz in the flesh, in the spirit and in much prayer to see if God wants me to open up another area of ministry as we have here in Chiapas. I may be getting a little old for a project like this, but if He says do it, then I will do it. I certainly covet your prayers as I seek God’s divine will.
A few weeks ago, while in Nuevo Laredo, Mexico, Pastor Moises Carranza and I went to visit a pastor whose name is Luis Angel. He had been pastoring a small church that he had built out of scrap wood. The first 5 years, the size of his church was 10’ by 16’. Last year, he was able to double the size to 20’ by 26’. I asked him if he would like a new concrete block church. His eyes grew big and bright as he said yes. I felt God say, “Do it," and so I committed to build a new church will measure 34’ by 54’. I returned home and sent enough money for the foundation and walls and said I would return this month to put the roof on.
Maybe you can imagine this. A large river with much drift wood floating until it reaches the dam and there it just piles up. Nowhere to go. This is Nuevo Laredo. People with dreams to enter the United States in hope of a better life come from many southern countries and, reaching the border, just pile up like drift wood. We have teams trying to help them with food, clothing, shoes, and especially the Word of God. This is where the new church is being built. Because of the danger of the drug cartels fighting drug cartels and the possibility of being caught in the crossfire, I may no longer take American groups to this area. Again, I covet your prayers.
I also covet your prayers for the people who are there. Families. Children. Fathers and mothers who only want a better life. They arrive here with very little money, little education and few skills. They are not lazy. They are not beggars. They just want a better life. Sometimes it reminds me of the documentaries I’ve often seen about the Dust Bowl of Oklahoma in the 1930s. Starving to death, many headed to California hoping to find a better way of life. There, they piled up like drift wood, much like those arriving in Nuevo Laredo. Most were farmers, all were poor and none were welcomed. It was as difficult for them trying to survive in California as it was trying to survive the Dust Bowl of Oklahoma.
Never forget the images of the Jewish people being herded like animals to their death in Germany or the suffering of the “drift wood” on the Mexican/US border. Be grateful, and give thanks to God for what you have. Remember, the best of us are no better than the worst of them. We are all created equal in the eyes of God.
I ask for nothing. Not money. Not sympathy. Not things. Just remember to pray for the poor and the needy.
Larry Myers