GUNFIRE IN NUEVO PROGRESO

Nuevo Progreso as it appears during the day when businesses are open.

An ordinary Sunday evening and time for church service to begin in Nuevo Progreso.  It was dark at 7:30 when we drove toward the location at the south end of town.  Many of the stores on the main street were closed, but people still wandered the sidewalks and a few vendors continued to sell tacos and other snacks and drinks.  We slipped in the doors of the church and found seats near the back as the service began.

After several worship songs, people volunteered to sing solos and children came forward to recite their favorite scriptures.  Pastor Gerardo's first words to the congregation were that we can expect to see extraordinary things happen when we worship the Lord!  Things outside the natural and normal, things that cannot be explained. Worship brings us victory!

Later as we started to leave in our different directions for home, our new friend Francisco and his wife Anna reported what could have been a catastrophe in their lives.  Francisco was accidentally caught in a crossfire in the street the day before and he had a very slight mark from a bullet on his wrist!  He had been near his home on the south end of Nuevo Progreso.

Francisco, our new friend, had a slight bullet wound on his wrist.

Everyone gathered around to hear the details of the incident and Pastor Gerardo urged all of us to join hands in a circle and pray for God's hand of protection.

It was near 10:00 pm when we drove back through town toward the international bridge.  There were still people milling around some corners, restless and preoccupied.  The officer in charge at the customs booth asked us where we had been and what had been our business in Mexico.  When we told him we had attended a church service, he asked if we had heard the gunfire people had been reporting.   He said that according to reports of others coming through the checkpoint there had been shots fired and smoke bombs were thrown at a location within blocks of where we had been.  We had not heard anything during the church service except for the soft pattering of a brief rain shower on the roof of the building.  As he handed us back our passports and waved us through the gate, he advised us to be very careful while traveling in Nuevo Progreso.

We appreciate your prayers for protection for Pastor Gerardo and his family and for the people of the church in Mexico.