As some of you have read and heard us talk about Alonzo and Kenny. They are a young couple we have really become mentors to really. During the Easter we had a baptism for Alonzo. It was an important step for Alonzo. Over the past couple of weeks, he has had to re-adjust to being a normal police officer here. I don't know a lot about being a police officer but I found out through Alonzo that they work a full 24 hours and then get two days off. They get a nap during the middle of the night for two hours. But it is not an easy job needless to say. The other day, I was talking with Alonzo about how it was going. He said it was fine but that he was actually put with the group of police officers who are known to be the worst for corruption and other not so good actions a police officer would find himself doing. I asked him how he felt about that. He said for him it doesn't matter. They already know that he doesn't accept bribes and such. I asked him how many police officers there are in Autlan? He said about 150 or so. How many are Christians? One other that he knows off. He also mentioned that he wanted to start praying during their morning meeting before they all leave for their shifts. He was going to talk to the supervisor about it and ask before everyone leaves that he could say a prayer for the day. It is amazing to see the boldness of his faith. He has not been a Christian for very long. Even in conversations that he has had with the other police officers. I have heard him talk about what he has said to them. About how life is just a small amount of time in comparison to eternity. He is also brings his brother to church. I am blessed to be able to share with them the truth of God's word. Alonzo calls me his friend. Not someone you say is your friend you see on the street who is really just an acquaintance but a true friend. Someone who knows your strengths and weakness. I am blessed to be speak into his life. I am honored to watch Jesus work in the life of Alonzo.
Me and Alonzo standing on the ROCK!!! I have to first say that, I am only God's vessel. I just want God to use me to bring others to Him.
As some of you have read and heard us talk about Alonzo and Kenny. They are a young couple we have really become mentors to really. During the Easter we had a baptism for Alonzo. It was an important step for Alonzo. Over the past couple of weeks, he has had to re-adjust to being a normal police officer here. I don't know a lot about being a police officer but I found out through Alonzo that they work a full 24 hours and then get two days off. They get a nap during the middle of the night for two hours. But it is not an easy job needless to say. The other day, I was talking with Alonzo about how it was going. He said it was fine but that he was actually put with the group of police officers who are known to be the worst for corruption and other not so good actions a police officer would find himself doing. I asked him how he felt about that. He said for him it doesn't matter. They already know that he doesn't accept bribes and such. I asked him how many police officers there are in Autlan? He said about 150 or so. How many are Christians? One other that he knows off. He also mentioned that he wanted to start praying during their morning meeting before they all leave for their shifts. He was going to talk to the supervisor about it and ask before everyone leaves that he could say a prayer for the day. It is amazing to see the boldness of his faith. He has not been a Christian for very long. Even in conversations that he has had with the other police officers. I have heard him talk about what he has said to them. About how life is just a small amount of time in comparison to eternity. He is also brings his brother to church. I am blessed to be able to share with them the truth of God's word. Alonzo calls me his friend. Not someone you say is your friend you see on the street who is really just an acquaintance but a true friend. Someone who knows your strengths and weakness. I am blessed to be speak into his life. I am honored to watch Jesus work in the life of Alonzo.
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I am not sure what happened here with this post. I guess, I didn't publish it when I changed it. I will make this one short. Everyone has been sick. After the retreat as well as the vacation bible school everyone has been dealing with cold but thank the Lord, I have been healthy. So my time has been spent making food and running errands to buy various meds as well as taking the girls to the doctor today. We would appreciate your prayers as we begin to look to our time in the states. We are leaving in less than two weeks which, means there are a lot of details to get done before that. If you haven't seen the pictures on our facebook pages from the VBS, I will try to put them on our photo page here when I have a free moment this evening hopefully. Sorry this is so short but I have to prepare for my English class tonight. Have a blessed day. . \ Me and Carlos my landlord. As we live here longer and longer you are often invited places. For the past year my landlord has been inviting me to come visit his ranch that he has outside the city. I went and paid the rent and decided that it was finally time to go visit especially with the offer of fresh cows milk. We haven't gone to drink milk in a while and I thought this would be a great chance to see what my landlord was describing to me as we have talked about in the past. So at 7 in the morning, he picked me up. On the way we talked about various things. We arrived after 15 minutes to his ranch. If I had to describe it to someone, it is like (for those of you in Minnesota) having a day cabin at the lake. There is everything you would need to spend the day there even a bedroom to sleep if they wanted to stay the night. They have parties and thing other there. They even have a pool for the hot summer days. As an older gentleman, he was proud to show me various thing that he had as decorations, like two stone water troffs that were used back 100 years ago. He showed a photo of the original owner of the property that gave him all the land when he past away in 1990. The photo was taken over 60 years ago. The sombrero that they man wore was hanging on the wall as well. Then we started towards the cows. He only had about 10 cows right now which were purebred. He at one time had up to 50 but being that this is just a hobby farm, he sold them all and has wanted to keep it small. Then we drank some milk together. I am not sure where the tradition began but they will drink cow's milk with a little bit of alcohol with some chocolate milk. I drank my first glass that way. The two afterwards was just straight milk. It is warm and frothy tasty milk. It sometimes gives you diarrhea, but this Norwegian stomach of mine is strong and has no problems with straight cows milk. After this, he took me to see his sons cattle ranch. It was much larger and well kept with over 200 head of cattle. The name of our landlord is Carlos Barbon. He is well known in this city. His son once tried to run for president of Autlan but didn't win. There is even a street named after the family that is right downtown. The family heritage they have here is longstanding. After this we headed back to Autlan. It was here that the conversation started to get interesting. Actually this is what I felt was clear why God had arranged this day to happen. The conversation started on him praying to the virgin of Talpa. He stated that she has helped in many ways after he prayed to her. What do you say to this? What do you say to someone who has been living this way for so many years? He also said that all religions are good. The only thing I could think of to ask him was who taught him about this virgin. He didn't really answer my question. He just responded by saying that he saw the faith of so many people who prayed to her as well. The virgin of talpa is known all over Mexico. People come from all over Mexico to pray and pay homage to her. Depending on what they are praying for they will walk to the city of Talpa without shoes or even on their knees to prostrate themselves. Carlos said that he had never done that but that he drives there at least once a month. I may not have been able to say anything to him that would have a lasting impact on him, but for me personally, it gave me a clear picture of what we are fighting against. Paul said in Ephesians 6:12 "For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places." (NKJV) If you want to read about Virgin of Talpa, I read this page about the legend: http://www.mexconnect.com/articles/1589-legend-of-the-virgin-of-talpa If you want to see videos, there are lots of videos on youtube but this one shows you what I am talking about. |
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