After almost twenty hours of travel, it is so good to be in Puebla to reconnect with the Glessners, to reflect on our purpose this week, to see how God loves all his people, and to see how different cultures of the world live this life.
Our travel highlights were delightfully uneventful save for a few close calls with an almost left behind passport on a plane and cell phone on a bus. Applaud and be grateful for the quick thinking by the youth who quickly noticed and solved their own mistakes.
I write this with my door propped open to the cool, tropical morning. Parrots squawk from the forest near the river, and in the distance roosters crow, dogs bark, and city motor sounds rumble and rush. It is 7:45 am and I hear a church bell tolling innumerable times. Maybe there are several bells tolling from different locations now. There is a faint smell of wood smoke, perhaps from the hotel water heater preparing our morning showers.
Today we will be worshiping at Pueblo de Esperanza, and the Glessners have already impressed us that our primary mission this week is relational. We will be meeting our brothers and sisters but our mission can also engage the unreached in conversation and warmth.
Last night, our youth boys went swimming in the hotel pool and struck up a conversation with a father and his daughters vacationing from a town near Ciudad de Mexico. I was able to explain in Spanish our group’s purpose, and the teen understood “una club Biblia” (VBS in local parlance, if memory from last time serves me right). They were excited to practice a little English, but like many on our own team, the language barrier can be something to be shy about, and crossing into the other’s language helps everyone open up, laugh, and make a valuable memory that might just be the spark of curiosity leading to Kingdom living. We are excited to meet more people today and build stronger relationships, for that’s where to find the treasure in this life.
– Jacob Martens