Our Journal: A Record-Breaking Day on Our Way into Nautla, Veracruz

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Saturday (4/28) morning, we woke up in the van, and Norberto was ready to get to work. So while we got our stuff together he made his initial visits to several of the vendors. He was so excited when he came back because he found a man who had been hiding from him. The guy owes Norberto 7,000 pesos (about $700). Norberto said, "The Lord must really be with y'all." We explained that God cared that much for him too...we're nothing special or out of the ordinary! He's still thinking about that...any way, Norberto y Rosa gave us some bread and a cantelope. Then, we said our goodbyes and started on our way.

We noticed on our way in on Friday night that there are some ruins sort of on the way to the next town, so we decided to walk the long way in order to see the pyramids. We walked about 30 minutes before we found a store to get a little breakfast and to sit down to read our Bibles and to pray before we continued too far. I had just started reading when this guy came up to us and tried to talk to us. (He appeared to be homeless and either drunk or hungover.) I immediately felt something was wrong, so I started praying to myself. The guy got closer and closer to us until he was right beside Chris...so close that he had his hand right beside Chris's leg. He tried to shake our hands and to talk to us in English but it wasn't working out very well. I just kept praying. It looked as if he was going to leave, so Chris told me to give him the cantelope and the leftover bread that Norberto y Rosa gave us. But instead of leaving, he sat down. Then he authentically started talking to us. He shared that his wife had left him and started crying. Then the Holy Spirit really started speaking through me because I started sharing from the

Bible (using the Bible Isaí had given me). Normally, when I share, I laugh and share examples and am pretty friendly. That's not what happened with him...I was very straightforward and I spoke to him almost as if I were reprimanding him. They weren't my words...that's not how I act. I couldn't believe all that was coming out of my mouth. When all the words the Holy Spirit gave me were gone, I asked him if we could pray for him. He told me that he didn't deserve that. I explained that none of us deserve anything that God does for us. He said, "No, you don't understand. I came over here to harm you. Someone stole my backpack, my shoes and my hat yesterday, so I was going to steal one of your packs. But you were friendly to me, you gave me food, and a Bible...now I can't do anything to you." We couldn't believe God's protection!!! We know that it's there daily, but most of the time we aren't aware of what or who He has protected us from! Today we did! Praise God! We ended up buying him breakfast too and encouraging him to make better choices...he had started this day off by making a good choice...every single day he had the same option. We also talked to him about finding a church because God was the only one who could help him make authentic changes. God's love is what changes people's hearts...not anything else!! Praise God for such an amazing lesson!! Please pray for Polo (that's the guy's name)...that God will continue to work in his heart and send people to love on him in Jesus' name.

We debated as to whether we should finish reading where we were or if we should leave while Polo was eating breakfast. We decided to finish...God would continue protecting us! As we stood up to leave, Polo walked out of the little restaurant. He offered to walk with us, so the 3 of us walked a few blocks, and then he told us that he'd be watching after us from there. If we had any problems, tell them that Polo Varon would take care of them. What a change?!!!

We walked for about an hour more and we ran into a

lady who was selling ciruelas. (They might not have flour tortillas in the south, but they have more fruit than you can imagine, and it is out of this world...sweet and juicy...oh, you really need to taste it to understand how good it is!) I was just thinking about how good they would taste when she asked us where we were from. We learned that she had familiy in North Carolina and that she comes into town to sell her fruit. Then she bagged up a bit and told us to take it with us!!

After about another hour of walking, we met two ladies at a carwash. We asked them if we were on the right road to see the pyramids, and they asked about what we were doing. So we explained a little bit to them. One of the

ladies asked us to pray for the business, so we stepped inside and did just that, then continued on our way.

We stopped to eat lunch and then kept walking...I was really starting to get tired, but we heard that the pyramids (the place is called El Tajin) close at 5 pm, so we were hustling. In the next curve about 5.5 miles from the ruins,

Julio picked us up. His intention was only to pick us up, but this other guy was nearby and he jumped in the back of the truck too. Chris was stuck in the back with him...none of us could understand the man...he was pretty intoxicated and had some pretty scary growths on his skin. Anyway...Julio works full-time at his family's furniture store. He's married and has a little baby. I talked with him a little about what we were doing, but he didn't really seem to want to know very much about the Lord. Seeds planted.

Julio dropped us off and we headed down to the ruins. As we approached we could hear music and we saw a

huge statue of a "Volador" a person who flies. It turns out that the indigenous people of this area perform as Voladores. Five men climb to the top of this pole that has an iron square around it at the top. Four of the men tie themselves in with ropes and one of them stands in the middle and plays music and dances. At the end of the performance, the four who were seated "fly" down. Then the dancer climbs down to the bottom as well. From there we went into see the

pyramids. I was so excited because I have never seen anything like it!! We weren't allowed to enter with our packs. (Praise God...that means we were able to explore without all of the extra weight that we normally carry.) It's amazing to think that people made such huge structures without machines. I can't even begin to understand! Hope you enjoy the pictures!!

From El Tajin we walked on towards the next city Papantla which is only about 3-4 miles from El Tajin. It's up and down

huge hills though. We had been walking a little over an hour when a car stopped near us. They asked if we wanted a ride, and we accepted. It turns out that the

Dominguez brothers and their wives had seen us at El Tajin. The family was spending time together this weekend, and decided to go to El Tajin. They invited us for supper, and we had a good time chatting. We shared as much as we could about the Lord and what He had been doing on this journey.

After supper, they headed back to Poza Rica, and we went to see what was going on in Papantla's main plaza. May 1st is Children's Day in Mexico...just like there's Mother's Day and Father's Day. Since that's on Monday, they were celebrating over the weekend.

Kids from the surrounding schools learn regional dances and were performing in the plaza. We were enjoying their performances, but we were pretty tired. It had been a long day, so we were trying to decide what to do. This guy came up to us and told us that his wife was the director of tourism for the city and that she would be glad to help us find a place to stay...we just had to wait until the performances were over because she was directing the show. We didn't know what to do because it was more than obvious that the guy was really drunk, so we didn't know if he was telling the truth or if he just wanted us to stay around until all of the people left so that he could do us harm. When he went to the bathroom, we decided to leave. He came back before we could get away. Right as he was explaining that we were supposed to wait for him,

Aram came up to us and started asking if we were okay (in English). We told him that we thought we were, but we weren't sure. The more we talked to him, the more we realized that he was okay, but we were still unsure of the other guy. Aram offered us a place to stay with a pastor friend of his and we accepted.

We still had to walk about a mile to get to the house, but we finally arrived. We met Abimael (Pastor Nicolas's son) and Hna Manuela who cooks and cleans for Pastor Nicolas. We chatted with them for awhile until

Pastor Nicolas arrived. He offered us a place to stay, and we agreed. Shortly after, we called it a night because we were exhausted.

Sunday morning we had to wash a few clothes because everything we had was beyond nasty. We

hung them out to dry on the roof, so Chris took a picture...we've learned to wash clothes all sorts of ways...up to this point we've as least had a washing machine for at least the first cycle, but usually nothing after that. To have a washing machine that rinses and spins the clothes is an extreme luxury. So we've learned to wring out the clothes and to hang them up to dry without clothes pins...you have to pull the rope apart and stick part of it in and keep doing that until it hangs there. Very interesting!!

Sunday lunch was so good

...Hna

Manuela is a Totonaco Indian. She even speaks a different language. The southern part of Mexico has lots of different indigenous groups of people. The Totonacos are the ones who do the "Volador" dance. They also cook over an open fire...I wrote down the recipe, but who knows if I can make it the same or not!

Sunday service was so good...the

church has only been meeting together for a short period of time. Right now they meet on Pastor Nicolas's front porch. I am impressed once again at the power of singing praises to our Lord! I was renew and revived. All day I felt drained from all of the walking that we had done the day before, but singing praises to Jesus gave me new strength!! Pastor Nicolas shared about walking in faith instead of fear. (hmm...familiar topic!! and right on time after such an eventful day on Saturday!) Then he asked Chris and I to share testimony as well. After the service, we learned a few words in Totonaco!!

Monday (5/1), Pastor

Juan Valencia (far right) came over...he's also Totonaco! He tried to teach us how to say "For we walk by faith, not by sight" in Totonaco, but it was really hard. We can say it really slowly if we read it from the paper, but neither of us can say it from memory. Pastor Nicolas (far left), Pastor Juan, and a man they call Güero (right of CE) all had to go to Guitierrez Zamora around noon, so they asked if we wanted a ride since it was on our way. We agreed, and we really enjoyed the view along the way.

We decided to walk around a little to see the town to see what we what we could see. We found a Cyber to check our e-mail, and then we started checking around for hotels. We were really looking forward to running water again (and if it was hot even better!!)...we also thought it would be better to rest one more day...then we could start early on Tuesday morning. Well, the first place we checked was really cheap...120 pesos ($11), but they primarily rent rooms by the hour, so we figured we should keep looking. While we were trying to find the other hotel...we found a family instead! We thought it was a restaurant, so we popped our heads in just to ask where the hotel was. Instead of telling us they invited us in for lunch! Then we chatted with

Doña Dora, Dora, Doña Julieta, Yuli, Josefina, Kenya, y Beto!! It was great. When we finished,

Yuli told us that she would walk with us to find the hote, but it was closed. She offered to take us back to her apartment and make some phone calls to find a place for us. While we waited for the people to call her back, she talked to us a little about her life. The guy that she had been dating for a long time just broke up with her, and she's heart broken. We talked with her about the love of God and left some scripture with her. We also encouraged her to seek the Lord because He will never leave her or disappoint her!! After about 30 minutes, her friend called back and said that she had a room for us at her hotel. It was right in front of the plaza, so it's the nicest one in town. She gave a huge discount and then Yuli wouldn't even allow us to pay for it! We couldn't believe it! Yuli also invited us to a

celebration for Children's Day. Her brother-in-law is running for mayor, so his political party (VRD) was throwing a party for the kids in the city. They had candy, piñatas, contests, and drinks. It was really fun helping with all of that!!

Tuesday (5/1) was Labor Day, so there was a ton of traffic on the road while we were walking. It was a pretty long day. We walked about 12-13 miles with a long break in the middle of the day...this is God's provision...About halfway to the next town, there was an "oasis"...3 restaurants in the middle of no where!! So we had a really good meal and then rested until the sun went down a little bit. Then we walked on to

"La Costa Esmeralda" (The Emerald Coast)...it's a 15 mile stretch of the road that runs within

100-200 yards from the Gulf of Mexico...it's beautiful! It's also a really big tourist area! We only met just a few people the whole day...no one was really interested in talking to us for very long. We just walked and prayed a lot. The door hadn't opened for us anywhere...so we kept walking, and it was really dark, so we decided to stay at a campground. It was right on the beach!! I was really excited about camping on the beach and waking up to see the sunrise!

Chris even took me for a little stroll on the beach before we went to bed. It was awesome!!

Wednesday (5/2) wow...what a day! We woke up for the sunrise, but it was cloudy. We didn't see the

sun until it was a little higher in the sky, but God sent another part of His creation for us to admire. There were tons of

tiny crabs digging in to the ground all around us...apparently they come out at night, but right as the sun's coming out they go into hiding.

I also drew on the beach to commemorate the day, but I had no idea it would be a record-breaker!! The owners of the of the campground were waking up as we were going back to the tent to read and pray. As we started packing up, the owners wanted to chat a bit. The Jehova's Witnesses have begun coming around to talk to them, and they wanted to share a little with us. I was so sad...we tried to share some from God's Word with them, but they were really confused about what they believed. They also have a son in the US, but they haven't heard from him in over a year. They have no idea where he is or what happened to him. As you can see, they are much in need of the Lord! Please pray for them!

This issue with the Jehovah's Witnesses and the Mormons has really burdened our hearts. When we tell people we are missionaries, the first thing they think is that we are Mormons since they go out in twos...once we tell them that we are NOT part of this group, they think that we are Jehovah's Witnesses because they visit people in their homes and teach from their version of the Bible. So we have to explain that we aren't part of them either. We've learned to explain that from the beginning now! But here's my question...If we as Christians have the answer to the problems of this world, why aren't we sharing Him with everyone? Why aren't we out knocking on doors, studying the Bible so that we can share, or loving people who aren't like us? Our hearts are really sad that people don't associate missionaries with Christians. There is a strong presence of Jehovah's Witnesses and Mormons, but where are the Christians? We are praying a lot about this issue...that God will burden our hearts more and more for those who don't know Him! We are praying for open doors and that God will cross our path with people who don't know Him, but are seeking Him. We invite you to start praying for opportunities to share with others...then be obedient when God opens the door for you. Right now, we aren't able to build deep relationships with people...we are planting seeds and allowing God to show us what we need to do differently when we have a fixed home. Some of you have the opportunity right now to do more than just plant seeds...you can build deep relationships and share your faith. We'll be praying for you to step up to the plate and share Jesus with those you interact with daily!

We left the campground and started our day walking a little earlier than normal. By the time we needed to break for the sun, I was exhausted. I didn't know how much further I could go. Thankfully, we were coming into a small town, Monte Gordo.

A lady appear out of the trees with a bag on her arm and started talking to us. It turns out that she had seen us walking a couple of hours earlier. She had taken a taxi to Monte Gordo to sell tamales on the beach. When we explained to her what we were doing, she offered us a bag of tamales for a snack! God is always right on time!! It gave us the energy that we needed to keep walking a little more. We walked a few more minutes and then God gave us a huge burst of energy...all of a sudden we heard someone shouting "

Melon! Melon!" (Spanish for cantelope)...since we didn't have a cantelope nor did we want one, we just kept walking. But the voice was getting closer and he was still hollering "Melon! Melon!" Finally, we looked back and it was Polo (the guy who had plans to rob us in Poza Rica)!!! Now Monte Gordo is at least 50 miles from Poza Rica, so for us to see him again...well, to say all 3 of us were shocked would be an understatement. He called us over to tell us, "Look, today I'm not robbing anyone, I'm not drunk...I'm working to earn money!" We were so excited, and he was too! Wow...God was really connecting the dots!!

Wednesday afternoon, we were trying to find somewhere to eat that would accept dollars, but we couldn't find anywhere. So we decided just to get a snack and rest until we could continue walking. We rested near the ocean, so we could hear the waves.

A guy with a small book bag walked by, but we didn't speak and neither did he. About an hour later, we decided to move on, and we saw the same guy again. This time I decided to talk to him. It turns out that Gerardo is a soldier, and he had the day off so he had come to Monte Gordo to visit a friend. He's also a Christian, so we were chatting about the Lord. Before we knew it, he invited us to eat with him. Praise God! He explained that we all have different jobs in the body. He couldn't do what we were doing, but he could buy us lunch. We just smiled! Praise God!! We visited with Gerardo and his friend, Rosana, for a while, but it was obvious that they wanted some time alone. We decided to walk on a little in hopes of finding a church service that night.

As we walked on, we saw the lady selling tamales for the 3rd time that day! Only God knows what that was about, but we smiled just the same. After walking about 3 more hours, we finally arrived in Nautla. We ask about a church, and people told us to keep walking that we would find it along the same road. A half a mile later, we were near a house where we could hear someone playing the guitar and singing. I recognized several songs, so we thought it might be a church meeting in someone's house. So we asked again about a church. The two people outside told us that it wasn't a church service where we heard the music. We just needed to keep walking we were almost at the church, but a man (Raul) came out of his house and asked us what we were looking for. We explained again to him that we were looking for an Evangelical church that had services that night. He said...the only church the way you are going is the Kingdom Hall of the Jehovah's Witnesses. I couldn't believe it...Praise God we didn't get all the way there. He told us where the other church was and told us that his wife was there. He took us down to the house where we heard the music and introduced us to

Hno Ricardo and José. They told us we could leave our packs, and they would take us to church. But we didn't know if that was ok or not, so we hauled our packs to the church--

Aposento Alto (The Upper Room) Pentecostal Church. The service was over, but we were able to meet Pastor

Margarita. After talking with her a bit, we prayed for a while. She prayed over me, and I felt so refreshed!! Praise God.

About an hour later, we walked back to Hno Ricardo's house. As it turns out, Hno Ricardo lives alone. God has given him specific instructions to use his house for brothers and sisters in Christ who come to visit from out of town. He has 5 or so empty beds and an extra bathroom fully ready for anyone who comes to Nautla, but especially Christians. At supper, we learned José is from Michoacan, a state in Mexico that is about 14 hours away. He is in Nautla to learn more about the Holy Spirit. He's been in school for the last couple of years, but he's ready for some hands-on experiences and not just knowledge from a book or his teachers. He wants to see the Bible come alive...not just read the words on the page. Since Pastor Margarita is José's aunt, he figured it would be a good beginning. We also met

Raul and Pastor Margarita's daughters-Eunice and Priscila. Their son is studying in another city. After a tasty supper and a little more chatting, Chris and I decided to call it a night...we had walked 16.5 miles that day!!!! The most so far in one day!!!! Praise God for the strength to walk for Him!!

Pictures from El Tajín...