A DIFFICULT DAY

Thanking the men for their help, Lloyd is handing our friend Santos food, candles and matches.

It was a difficult day in Nuevo Progreso.  The area experienced a very severe thunderstorm Sunday and much of the town is standing in water.  People said they had never seen such a storm, several inches of rain fell in one hour.  The fire department went around pumping water out of houses and many neighborhoods were in water.  The city drainage project still isn't finished, so there's no place for water to go.

We had bagged food, candles and matches for the people in the settlement of San Francisco, but as we drove there we could see many of the gravel roads were flooded.  Finally we made it to Marcelino's house; but when we tried to leave, our Jeep became stuck in muddy water over a foot deep.  It took three men and two cars an hour to get us moving again and the men were drenched in mud.  We recognized one young man as Santos, someone we'd known for years.  Santos was one of nine children whose mother died in childbirth, leaving only his father Lionel to make a living and take care of them.  Many times we'd given them food and candles because they had no electricity.  When I said I was very sorry Santos was getting soaked and muddy trying to free the Jeep he said, "No problem, don't be sorry.  I remember you helped our family many times."  Santos now has two daughters of his own and has a good job driving the city trash truck.

Their help was appreciated and it felt good to give each one a double portion of the food we brought.  But we couldn't get to the other homes in San Francisco and left disappointed.

The mud was very slick and the Jeep tires couldn't get traction to pull us out.  The men let some air out of the tires and put rocks underneath them.  They tried everything, but we only succeeded in slinging mud over everyone!

There was water standing in the fields all around the church.  Gerardo and Miriam told us they had taken their kids to school only to see that they were flooded and closed.  Near the school they witnessed a terrible event that left them shaken.  About fifteen young people from southern Mexico had tried to cross the Rio Grand river into Texas when they were stopped by gang members who demanded money.  They had no money so they were held captive and abused.  They were all at a small store where they were being forced to contact family or friends to get the money.  They were frightened, weary, hungry looking and their faces were sad.  There was nothing anyone could do but stand back and watch this all unfold.  Then the gang took them off in pickup trucks.  No one knows what happened after that.

The police are not helpful in these situations, so there was no one to save them.  They are nameless and faceless to us, but the Lord knows who they are and where they are.  And this is just one incident that was witnessed in Nuevo Progreso.

It was a difficult day for us, but God's word gives us encouragement.  "We often suffer, but we are never crushed.  Even when we don't know what to do, we never give up.  In times of trouble, God is with us, and when we are knocked down, we get up again.  We face death every day because of Jesus.  Our bodies show what his death was like, so that his life can also be seen in us."  2 Corinthians 4:8-11 Contemporary English Version