PEANUTS, PUPPIES AND THE HAND OF GOD!

Mexican military in downtown Nuevo Progreso.

From the smallest, most trivial to the greatest events this week, we could see God at work in Nuevo Progreso. Even though the weather was unmerciful, the challenges painful and the news of violence in Mexico extreme, the church continued to thrive and grow stronger.  And there are many things to be thankful for.

Mexican Marines are still camped at the south edge of Nuevo Progreso.  Because of their presence, there is peace instead of trouble, as in Matamoros and Reynosa.  We're thankful for the Mexican military and always look for ways to show our appreciation to them.  This week we took a box of peanuts in the shell to their base, along with some New Testaments in Spanish.  They showed their gratitude with smiles and waves as we drove away.

Six beautiful puppies, part pitbull, one week old.

We celebrated new life when Lupita's dog had a litter of six beautiful puppies.  Pastor Gerardo and his family were promised two puppies of their choice.  The dogs will eventually become watch dogs at the church.  In a lighter moment, we helped them decide which was the prettiest puppy.

Pastor Gerardo's daughter Esly holds her pick of the litter.

Lupita was early for church so she admired the papaya trees nearby.

All winter there has been so much rain and there is standing water everywhere, so mosquitoes are thick on both sides of the Rio Grande.  But amazingly Pastor Gerardo and Miriam said they are not troubled with mosquitoes in and around the church and parsonage.  Miriam reported that when they go to visit members of the congregation around town, they have to constantly swat the pesky insects.  But not in their home!  When asked, they could provide no reason why they aren't fighting them.  There is water standing in the fields, in the streets and everywhere and undoubtedly where there is water there are mosquitoes.  They could only say that it is God's protection on their family!

April 24th around midnight an unusually fierce storm developed south of the Rio Grande Valley.  The storm contained 70 mph winds, large hail and torrential rains and it swept the entire length and width of the Valley on both sides of the Rio Grande River.  As we watched the weather reports and saw the huge angry red storm hovering directly over Nuevo Progreso, we prayed that God would protect the church and the people.  The news reported trees blown down, power outages and golf ball sized hail throughout the area and we expected to hear of extensive damage on our trip to Nuevo Progreso the next morning.  But we discovered that it was a "non-event" in Nuevo Progreso!  There was a little rain and heavy wind, but nothing like we expected and nothing like what was reported on the news.

We were amazed and relieved to hear that everything was all right.  And when we asked Gerardo and Miriam how this was possible, Gerardo said, "It must have been the Hand of God!"


"Live under the protection of God Most High and stay in the shadow of God All-Powerful.
Then you will say to the Lord, You are my fortress, my place of safety; you are my God,
and I trust you."  Psalm 91:1-2 (CEV)