Believers Living Through an Emergency in Mexico
By Diana and Mirna
(Mirna and Diana are two missionaries working in Central America and Mexico. They are long-time friends of LAM and have often been helped by Allan Holt and his friends)
I (Diana) found myself surrounded by a flood of our dear Huasteca believers on April 26th. They arrived on foot, swamping the mission house in the city of Huejutla. Our friends fled out of the mountains where their persecutors had closed all road accesses. It was frightening, for they had barred the way, waving machetes in their hands. Since March, the attacks on the property and the integrity of believers had been escalating towards this crisis.
The day before, I had travelled to Huejutla to meet with the six teachers at the Ameli school, along with their husbands and children. About 30 of us were worshipping the Lord at the mission house when cell phones began beeping from the rest of the congregation in their communities. The calls came from Coamila and Rancho Nuevo. Their persecutors were on a rampage, cutting electricity to every house belonging to believers and later pillaging and blocking access to the church/school.
The message was clear: "You must all leave the community immediately, or else..." That night, the mob broke into pastor Rogelio´s house and, despite hunting the place up and down, Rogelio´s dad, Fausto, and his two oldest grandchildren, Rodrigo (14) and Fatima (13) were kept invisible in the corner of one room. The Lord only knows what would have happened to them, if they'd been seen. Other homes were also broken into in this way, but the Lord protected His own.
The following day, when we welcomed a hundred or so fleeing family members, I had no words to describe the flood of emotions. Tears, relief, gratitude, and terror all swirled around us simultaneously. Women were carrying babies in shawls on their backs. There came the little children and sister Laura, who was almost beaten to death in December 2022. Now, she can barely walk. Older men and women arrived. One woman even brought a market bag with a little rabbit even though it was trembling.
A month later, more than 150 Christians from the Baptist Great Commission Church are sheltered at a sports center, being fed and cared for by local evangelical churches. They are waiting and praying for the Lord´s answer to their plight. (See the link below for a complete essay explaining the situation.)
Are they to return to their homes? Or relocate somewhere else? We don´t know. For now, they strengthen our faith as we see them united despite all the opposition. Just last week, they baptized 11 new believers. To the Mexican government´s embarrassment, there are dozens, no hundreds, of other persecuted Christian communities who have been waiting for months or years for justice. Please continue to remember them in prayer.
As for Mirna and me, we´re getting geared up for our summer activities at Camp Kikomar. I need to return to Costa Rica for the month of June to have checkup tests while Mirna keeps things going here. The Lord gives us grace for every day. Still, we are fully aware of our fragility and weakness, as we move into our eighteenth year of service at the camp. We continually remind ourselves that this is the Lord´s camp and He will provide for and sustain it.
Link Essay