Into The Darkness

Our team ventured into a small village in Quintana Roo, Mexico. A new church had been started one year earlier by Pastor Noe. His testimony was mind blowing. 

In a former life, Noe worked for a drug cartel for many years and his main responsibility for the gang was kidnapping! When he wanted to leave this dangerous life, the boss told him that if he tried to escape, his daughter would be raped and his wife killed while he was forced to watch. 

The boss went with his men to attack another drug trafficking gang. Noe knew he should not participate this time and it saved his life. The boss and all of his men were killed. The drug lord’s son was a Christian. He came to tell Noe that God had given him a way to escape that old life.

Noe went to work in the tourist district in Cancun, but still wasn’t following God. Although he was married with children, he had many women and was physically abusive to his wife. He heard a song on the radio titled, “Come Back To Me.” He heard God tell him that this was his last chance. 

Noe went to his wife and told her that he wanted to go to church. He visited Cielos Abiertos church in Cancun. He was so nervous that he carried a gun with him. The pastor asked church members to pray for him but they were afraid because he was armed. Nevertheless, Noe gave his life to Jesus that day and became a new man. He got rid of the cache of automatic weapons at his house, he got rid of the women and he got rid of the large drug stash that he kept on top of the refrigerator. Noe started a new life and began following Jesus with all of his heart. When the pastor of our host church in Cancun eventually asked him to pioneer this new work in San Cosme, he knew it was God’s will for his life.

After hearing his testimony, Noe traveled with us to a rural village nearby that was deeply troubled. On the way he stopped to show us where witchcraft and occult activities were taking place. In Mexico, some people worship evil known as Santo Muerte (Saint Death). At this rocky location was a deep hole in the ground with evil graffiti around it that said “The Street of Nightmares.” Drug gangs would initiate new members by beating them up and putting them in the hole overnight. No one would ever drive on this road at night because if they came along while witchcraft was practiced, they would be killed. We prayed over the area and did spiritual warfare against the powers that were trying to keep this community in bondage. 

While we were praying together over this area, a man came along on a motorcycle with a gun on his back for protection. He allowed us to pray for him right there on the road while he was still sitting on his motorcycle.

We continued on to the village and when we got there it looked like a ghost town. It was deeply impoverished with no signs of life. Pastor Noe pulled out a big speaker and turned on some loud Spanish music. People started to come from every direction to see what was going on. There was a somberness and hesitancy about them. Pastor Noe explained how not only witchcraft, but abuse and  even incest had been prevalent here. They seemed beaten down and afraid. Their clothes were dirty and full of holes. The children’s hair was matted as if no one was looking after them.

We met an older man who was the founder of the town and he received us gladly and even spoke to the villagers on our behalf. It turned out that their main language was not Spanish, but Yucatec Maya.

Performing the Cha Cha song in the village. It never failed to get smiles! The lyrics go “Jesus, I will love you, I will follow you all of my days, oh oh oh, Jesus I will trust you, I will listen and obey oh oh oh, Cha Cha Cha Cha… You called me by name, I see your face, I’ll never ever ever ever be the same. Cha Cha Cha Cha… Let your glory come in this place, and I will see your face…. It was very powerful and everyone loved the Cha Cha parts where we were Cha Cha danced in-between hand motions but surprisingly this little children’s song would bring the tangible pretense of God wherever we went.

To win over the scared children we handed out lollipops. Then, we performed a fun song for the kids with hand movements. We concluded with a powerful drama demonstrating the story of how Jesus created mankind, healed us of our brokenness and sin by dying on the cross and rose again to give us new life.

The villagers enjoyed the skit and afterwards allowed us to pray for them. Many would turn their faces away in fear but then begin to cry as the Holy Spirit started to touch them. It was an intense time, but we were so glad that God gave us this opportunity to bring light to the darkness. We had planted many seeds for Pastor Noe to water in the future.

That night we ministered outside of Pastor Noe’s church and it was a big hit. All of the kids made salvation bracelets and could explain what each color meant: Dark-sin, Red-Jesus love, White-clean, Blue-baptism, Green-growing through God’s Word, Purple-adopted by the King, Gold-heaven.

The next night we ministered at the same church again and the crowd exploded! I will share those stories and photos in my next blog.

This was a couple of days that I will never forget. Thanks to everyone who interceded for us and covered us in prayer. You are an important part of our team and we couldn’t do it without you!