The day we were almost arrested...

So yesterday was a pretty slow-paced day. We stayed at Las Tapias (the compound we are living at) and cleaned in the morning some major deep cleaning. Then we were going to head to the park to meet with another group and do some Bible study and playing with kids. Yesterday the President of Mexico was scheduled to be in town, so right by the border where the park was there was a huge Mexican flag flying. We decided to walk over the the flag and check it out. It was mega large on this gigantic pole. Under the pole were these metal grates and one of them you could see in underground that there was a whole room down there with a bed and all. One of the missionaries who lives at Las Tapias decided to check it out... Probably not the best idea, but there was no sign or lock or anything. About as soon as he hopped into the grate, a gurad came out of nowhere, flipped the grate shut on top of him and stood on it. He started making phone calls in Spanish, but we caught some important words like "Police", "Federal Property" and the descriptions of some of our team members. One of the spanish speakers stepped up and began to talk to him. Apparently the flag area was federal property and so he was calling the police to come out and see what they would do with us. We waited there for close to half an hour with no policia appearing and the guard then told us just to leave - he had been just trying to scare us and not to do it again (we think this was not the truth, but that the police were just not responding). Either way though we were praising Jesus to not be in a Mexican jail. How horrible would that have been to be locked up for doing something as silly as that... If I'm going to jail in a foreign country it better at least be for preaching the Gospel or something much more important than looking in a metal grate next to a flag. The crazy part of it was that as soon as they let us go we saw several cop cars pull up at the flag... and we walked away quickly. So you know, just another ordinary day in Mexico... :)

In other news, it has been raining a bunch here and hurricane Dolly is heading this direction. That shouldn't be a big problem because we are very far inland but we should get more rain, Juarez is a desert and so does not absorb water well - there has been some intensely flooded streets so pray for us as more rain comes.

We are continuing to prepare for the team coming in on Saturday. We've been smuggling food across the border for a feeding ministry they have been doing in Juarez. That's been going well but is a super hot and sweaty job unpacking pallets of food from warehouses and loading them into vans and trailors. God is so good though. He's even been allowing me to use some of my counseling background. One of the girls this ministry works with a lot in Jaurez - she actually lives at the same compound we've been staying at - has tried to kill herself by overdosing on pills. The Lord has given me favor with her and I've been using that relationship to attempt to help her. Pray for her continued safety and for an understanding of God's love for her.

Much love to you all!