We recently returned from a trip to Mexico where I served in Emiliano Zapata (EZ) and Chris Johnson served in Fish Town, AKA Las Higuerillas (LH) with a translator named Bianca. Tuesday night was a graduation ceremony for some kids in EZ that I wanted 
to go to, see the kids and follow up on some people we gave bibles to and shared Christ with. Chris and Bianca went with me so we could go to LH the next morning to see Pastor Hacinto and the kids they ministered to. Another girl went along with us named Christy. We spent Monday afternoon getting my vehicle registered so I could drive it past the checkpoint in Mexico and getting visas for Bianca and Christy. We left Tuesday afternoon and made two last minute stops: getting the satellite phone from the Sitton’s house and getting 24 hour Mexican auto-insurance. I will say right now Praise God for His sovereignty over those two actions!! We made it to EZ and waited with the people there for the activities to start but soon it began pouring rain. We stood inside the school building for some time before the event was cancelled. We decided, since everyone abandoned building and went home, that we would head out to LH that night instead of the next morning. We were driving along quite nicely in the dark around 9:30 pm with the drizzle falling on the windshield, enjoying each other’s fellowship when all too quickly some potholes appeared.
I nonchalantly said “uh-oh”, like I do when we unexpectedly approach a tope (Mexican speedbumps, pronounced toe-pay). That uh-oh turned into some fish tailing and I hear from Chris who is in the passenger seat, “You got it!” Well, about the time my car was facing the opposite direction we were originally heading and we were in the grass on the opposite side of the road I knew I didn’t “got it.” All I saw were trees and grass and at that point I threw my hands in the air above my head and said “Lord?!” and we began to roll. At that point I just remember waiting for the glass to shatter and my body to be broken but all I heard was silence and all I felt was peace. The car came to a stop on all four wheels in the midst of trees. Immediately Chris and I began asking if everyone was okay and we all were. Not a drop of blood anywhere. Christy said, “Can we pray?” and realizing my car was still on I asked for some strange reason, “Should I turn my car off?” I turned it off and we held hands and prayed. My door was still in tact and able to open without any problems. We all piled out and Chris and Bianca went to the road to flag down a ride while Christy and I grabbed what we could. A man named Teo took us the rest of the way into LH and to Pastor Hacinto’s house. We sang along the way in english and spanish and when we arrived we gave him a spanish bible and some money for gas. Pastor Hacinto wasn’t home but his mother-in-law told us he was in Matamoros and that we could stay in the church building across the village. This little building was a refuge to us from the lightning that made the night turn into 
day and the storm raging on outside. It made me think of how God is our refuge, a shelter from the storm, a safe place. That night the four of us sang to God, praising Him for sparing our lives so that we could praise Him more on this earth and take the gospel to the unreached! We reflected on ‘to live is Christ, and to die is gain’ and how if our lives were taken in that crash it really would have been gain because we would have been in the presence of Jesus, face to face. But God let us live. Why? He still has good works planned for us to walk in. We still have glory to bring Him while on this earth. We still have people to reach with the gospel. We talked about how there is no one like our God. I couldn’t talk about it enough to explain it so I read Psalm 115 under the dim light of a small lantern light we brought. When I realized the first verse of Psalm 116 said "I love the Lord, for he heard my voice ("Lord?!"); he heard my cry for mercy", I went on to read the rest. All of us were greatly ministered to by that psalm. And of course I had to read Psalm 117 because that is the reason we exist! We exist to bring God glory and to tell others of Christ that they too would praise and extol Him and bring glory to His Name. We prayed for the people of LH that night and EZ and the other towns we have been to thus far. We prayed that God would establish His church among the people in the Mezquital region. We prayed that He would be honored and magnified in our lives and that He would use us to magnify Himself among the nations. It was a sweet time of fellowship in that little chapel. I believe the last song we sang together was It is Well With My Soul. And with my bible and a rolled up sheet for my pillow and wooden pew benches for my bed I went to sleep.
The following morning we returned to the vehicle to realize that what we had left in there had already been ransacked. My CD player was tactfully removed and stolen along with my CDs and other belongings we left behind because we couldn’t take them with us. But I will rejoice in the plundering of my property because it’s not mine in the first place and it’s
not eternal! Besides, now somebody has a whole lot of Christian music and a CD player to listen to them with. They are missing out though because they left behind my Piper sermons!! After Chris used the satellite phone many times to work out all the details a tow truck came and pulled my car from the forest of mesquite trees (or whatever kind of tree that is) that surrounded my car like a taco! The trees were the taco shell and my car was the meat!! The adjustor said my car was probably totaled. We left my car in Mexico and headed back across the border in the Sitton suburban with Mark who came to get us. 
to go to, see the kids and follow up on some people we gave bibles to and shared Christ with. Chris and Bianca went with me so we could go to LH the next morning to see Pastor Hacinto and the kids they ministered to. Another girl went along with us named Christy. We spent Monday afternoon getting my vehicle registered so I could drive it past the checkpoint in Mexico and getting visas for Bianca and Christy. We left Tuesday afternoon and made two last minute stops: getting the satellite phone from the Sitton’s house and getting 24 hour Mexican auto-insurance. I will say right now Praise God for His sovereignty over those two actions!! We made it to EZ and waited with the people there for the activities to start but soon it began pouring rain. We stood inside the school building for some time before the event was cancelled. We decided, since everyone abandoned building and went home, that we would head out to LH that night instead of the next morning. We were driving along quite nicely in the dark around 9:30 pm with the drizzle falling on the windshield, enjoying each other’s fellowship when all too quickly some potholes appeared.
I nonchalantly said “uh-oh”, like I do when we unexpectedly approach a tope (Mexican speedbumps, pronounced toe-pay). That uh-oh turned into some fish tailing and I hear from Chris who is in the passenger seat, “You got it!” Well, about the time my car was facing the opposite direction we were originally heading and we were in the grass on the opposite side of the road I knew I didn’t “got it.” All I saw were trees and grass and at that point I threw my hands in the air above my head and said “Lord?!” and we began to roll. At that point I just remember waiting for the glass to shatter and my body to be broken but all I heard was silence and all I felt was peace. The car came to a stop on all four wheels in the midst of trees. Immediately Chris and I began asking if everyone was okay and we all were. Not a drop of blood anywhere. Christy said, “Can we pray?” and realizing my car was still on I asked for some strange reason, “Should I turn my car off?” I turned it off and we held hands and prayed. My door was still in tact and able to open without any problems. We all piled out and Chris and Bianca went to the road to flag down a ride while Christy and I grabbed what we could. A man named Teo took us the rest of the way into LH and to Pastor Hacinto’s house. We sang along the way in english and spanish and when we arrived we gave him a spanish bible and some money for gas. Pastor Hacinto wasn’t home but his mother-in-law told us he was in Matamoros and that we could stay in the church building across the village. This little building was a refuge to us from the lightning that made the night turn into 
day and the storm raging on outside. It made me think of how God is our refuge, a shelter from the storm, a safe place. That night the four of us sang to God, praising Him for sparing our lives so that we could praise Him more on this earth and take the gospel to the unreached! We reflected on ‘to live is Christ, and to die is gain’ and how if our lives were taken in that crash it really would have been gain because we would have been in the presence of Jesus, face to face. But God let us live. Why? He still has good works planned for us to walk in. We still have glory to bring Him while on this earth. We still have people to reach with the gospel. We talked about how there is no one like our God. I couldn’t talk about it enough to explain it so I read Psalm 115 under the dim light of a small lantern light we brought. When I realized the first verse of Psalm 116 said "I love the Lord, for he heard my voice ("Lord?!"); he heard my cry for mercy", I went on to read the rest. All of us were greatly ministered to by that psalm. And of course I had to read Psalm 117 because that is the reason we exist! We exist to bring God glory and to tell others of Christ that they too would praise and extol Him and bring glory to His Name. We prayed for the people of LH that night and EZ and the other towns we have been to thus far. We prayed that God would establish His church among the people in the Mezquital region. We prayed that He would be honored and magnified in our lives and that He would use us to magnify Himself among the nations. It was a sweet time of fellowship in that little chapel. I believe the last song we sang together was It is Well With My Soul. And with my bible and a rolled up sheet for my pillow and wooden pew benches for my bed I went to sleep.The following morning we returned to the vehicle to realize that what we had left in there had already been ransacked. My CD player was tactfully removed and stolen along with my CDs and other belongings we left behind because we couldn’t take them with us. But I will rejoice in the plundering of my property because it’s not mine in the first place and it’s
not eternal! Besides, now somebody has a whole lot of Christian music and a CD player to listen to them with. They are missing out though because they left behind my Piper sermons!! After Chris used the satellite phone many times to work out all the details a tow truck came and pulled my car from the forest of mesquite trees (or whatever kind of tree that is) that surrounded my car like a taco! The trees were the taco shell and my car was the meat!! The adjustor said my car was probably totaled. We left my car in Mexico and headed back across the border in the Sitton suburban with Mark who came to get us. 
I don’t know what will happen next so I would appreciate your prayers that God would provide and that everything would work out with the insurance company. Praise God with me that the four of us exited the vehicle without a scratch on us. We are a little sore but that is to be expected when you roll a car three or four times!! Praise God that we have another day to enjoy Him and His creation, to bring Him glory, and to tell others about the saving grace of Christ.
Porque para mi el vivir is Cristo y el morir es ganancia. Filipenses 1:21
Behold Him there the risen Lamb, My perfect, spotless, righteousness
The Great Unchangeable I AM, the King of Glory and of Grace
ONE WITH HIMSELF I CANNOT DIE, my sinful soul is counted free
For God the just is satisfied, to look on Him and pardon me...to look on Him and pardon me.
