For those of you who have been following the story of our friend, “Roberto,” who came out nearly crippled after being targeted in a random shooting here, we wanted to let you know that he is recovering and in good spirits…  We will be sending out a more detailed report on him soon.

In addition, we wanted to share with you that in the midst of all of the tragedy here, our hearts were profoundly saddened by a tragedy that struck back home — in our church — about which we will also give you details in this letter.

… Even so, and in spite of everything else going on, we felt that there was a story for you that just couldn’t wait.

And so without further introduction we will let you begin reading about something that happened recently in the life of our friend Eric.

We hope it touches your heart.

************************************************************************************************************

Eric

“Would anything bad happen to me if I worship the angel of death?” he asked, sitting on his bike. His question reflected only mild curiosity.

Not knowing how to answer, Kim asked for a Bible. She turned to the ten commandments, and started reading, “I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God…” Then she looked at him steadily. “What do you think of this?” she asked.

But there was no answer from Eric. He just simply shrugged and smiled — not wanting to take any of this ‘God-talk’ too seriously. Then he pedaled away.

We let out a sigh. It was only one of many attempts to try to get Eric to listen, and to somehow help him see that in spite of everything that had gone wrong for him, God’s love for him was still real.

A few weeks later, Kim was standing at the back of the Sunday service in the church, when she heard the whisper of some of the neighborhood youth behind her.

“Last night somebody killed Eric,” they said.  The words fell on her ears…

Immediately, her mind started racing.

Unfortunately, she knew the routine for death entirely all to well… Keep voices down… Don’t scare the congregation in the middle of the meeting… Don’t get emotional. Don’t think of yourself. Think of the kids… Find out facts. Help the family…

… Find out facts.

“…But if he’s dead already how come they’ve still got him in the hospital?” she asked minutes later, standing outside the church in complete shock as she talked with the youth. She was barely able to make her mind work, but remembered having heard somebody say something about Eric being at a hospital.

“Well, technically he’s just barely hanging on…” one of them answered. “But it’s only a matter of time, you know, since the shot was to the head.”

And with that, Kim ran for Larry, and for a set of car keys.

**********************************************************************************************************************
We found Eric on life support in the Icu unit where he had been transferred from the small town where the church is to a bigger hospital in the city of Torreon. There, we learned that the bullet which had gone through his head the night before had entered in at angle — going in through his cheek and out the back of his neck, while missing his brain and his brain stem by a width of only milimeters.

And to our relief, we found out that Eric was still on this side of things…  Just barely.  Even so, the doctors had informed the family that, miraculously, there was still a good chance that Eric would be O.k…  The only imminent danger was a sizable blood clot hovering near his brain.

… The next few days were filled with trips to the hospital, as we talked to the family, and somehow convinced nurses and guards to let a bunch of gang youth in to the middle of the intensive care unit, where they could lay hands on this young man and pray for him.

Eric’s mother and friend praying for him in the hospital

And now the sad part of the story comes.

It is here when we have to tell you that after about a week of praying, the doctors informed us that while things had looked hopeful, the blood clot that threatened to go into this young man’s brain had finally done so.  They did several studies on him, confirming what they had already feared. Then they gently told Eric’s family that it was time to pull the plug… And Eric died.

… So it was that his sixteen years of life were ended.

And we were devastated…  And confused.

We were left not knowing what to think, and angry at God — because, just  like so many others…

Eric was gone.

… But not before we had the chance to bathe him in prayer.

And not before we’d had the chance to beg God to have mercy on him.

Not before we had seen tears in his eyes, and movement, and other responses to our prayers as Eric struggled between life and death in the days that God allowed him before the blood clot took its final turn.

But where was God in all this..?

Of course we were left wondering. Did He really have mercy on Eric…? Was there any answer to our prayers? Had God heard us…?

… Or had He failed?

*******************************************************************************************

A few days later, Eric’s grandmother died.

Apparently a God-fearing woman, she was already in the hospital herself when Eric passed away. And because of her own fragile state of health, the family did not have the courage to tell her about what had happened with Eric. So when she called for them all to gather at the time of her passing, they cringed at the thought of what they were going to say about the glaring absence of the one who had long been her favorite grandson.

But much to their surprise, she said nothing.

At least not at first.

And then: In some of her final words as she drifted between life and death, the family heard her declare, “Oh! And I wanted everyone to know I saw Eric! He looked good. He looked… different!! He was all dressed up! I sure am glad to know that he’s finally behaving himself, and that somebody is taking such good care of him!!”

So praise God.

And to Eric…:

We’d just like to say that we miss you, buddy.  We miss your unstoppable sense of humor…

…We miss your smile.

Even so, we are glad to know you’re finally behaving yourself…

…And that Somebody is taking such good care of you.

****************************************************************************************************************

This story is dedicated to the memory of Charlcie Phifer, the wife of our Senior Pastor George at the Vineyard Christian Fellowship of Spring, Texas, who died suddenly and unexpectedly in December of last year.  (See our message to Charlcie)

It was very good advice that you gave us — and we’re glad that we took it, because as you’ve reminded us once again, we never know when we might lose somebody.

And Charlcie, we miss you, too.

But we know that God hasn’t failed you, or your loved ones, any more than He has failed us.

… And we understand that sometimes there is more to picture of what God is doing than we could ever imagine.

So say “hi” to Eric for us.

… And make sure that the rest of the guys up there are also behaving themselves.

Praise God for our friend Roberto… and for saving Roberto’s life. We believe that there is no other explanation for how he survived, given that he was shot at directly by various mafia hitmen using machine gun rifles.  And even though we don’t understand why these men had apparently mistaken him for their victim, we do know that God was protecting Roberto… since despite the fact that he’s got four different AK-47 explosive lead bullets in him, he is still on this side of things…

… And hanging on.

So praise God.

And finally, please pray for the congregation of our home church, the Vineyard Christian Fellowship of Spring, and particularly for the family of Charlcie Phifer, in their time of loss.

We also praise God that there have been several recent sightings of Mario. Please continue to pray for his protection, and for him to be released in God’s timing.

Note:  If you are interested in meeting any of the financial needs due to hospital bills for either Eric’s or Roberto’s families, please contact us.

Thanks.

It is a joy to be able to contact you again.

As usual, we have some good news and also some very hard news. We write to you again with our hearts undone, since after our last newsletter we’ve had to see yet another bloody, brutal death among the youth that we work with in the church neighborhood.

But at the same time we could not resist sharing with you the fruit of your prayers.

So, without further introduction, we will let you read the events below. (psss – Don’t miss the photos at the end!)

This newsletter focuses on the results of your prayers for Mario’s younger brother, pictured here.

“…I promise I’m going to try harder from now on.”

Leonardo’s eyes peered back at us from between steel prison bars. We could smell the stench of his jail cell even from where we were standing.

In response to his comment, all we said was, “We hope what you say is true.”

With that, we turned and left.

No bailing him out this time.

This was not the first weekend we had spent most of our time stopping by the foul-smelling prison center to visit youth from our neighborhood, many of whom tend to wind up in jail almost every Friday or Saturday night.

Leonardo in particular had been spiraling further and further out of control in terms of his hard drug use.

After losing one of his brothers to a violent gang stabbing some months before, this young man had been just barely hanging on. But when his other brother Mario was kidnapped at gunpoint by a truck full of hit-men from one of the area drug cartels, Leonardo had started going down fast, turning more and more to intense drug use to numb his pain.

…And when we were just beginning to wonder how we could possibly talk about the love of God to someone who’d been through so many things, tragedy struck again.

What we are about to say next is shocking, so we’ll just have to come out and say it: In May of this year, one of Leonardo’s closest cousins was killed.

Leonardo’s cousin, “Luis”

… Luis Vazquez Triana was a very dear friend to us, and he will forever hold a special place in our hearts.

He was normally a very peaceful fellow, not the kind of guy who´d go looking for trouble… But unfortunately – and like so many other youth — he was caught one night off-guard, in the middle of the wrong neighborhood. At the wrong time.

… The gang fight was brutal and we will spare you the details. But again, the worst part was that this young man was not just like any normal cousin to Leonardo.

In a seemingly horrible coincidence, Luis was actually one of the two cousins whom Leonardo had grown up with.

He was the cousin who had been like a brother to him.

… And so it was.

After this last shocking incident, we tried to continue working with Leonardo, but to be honest we have to tell you that we had no words left.

And it wasn’t until this young man had pawned his mother’s stereo, our DVD player, stolen money from the offering, and even taken our camera in a desperate attempt to get more money for drugs that we realized we had only one recourse in order to continue touching his life…

… Prayer.

Larry told Leonardo that we could not continue seeing him until he showed a marked interest in change for himself — an interest which could only be demonstrated by paying back at least part of what he owed us from all he had stolen.

Leonardo seemed to feel bad and understood what we were saying, and yet he knew it would be hard for him to have any money at all in his hands without being tempted to spend it on drugs again… So not knowing what to do, we decided to stop seeing him entirely for a time.

But no one could stop us from praying.

…As it turned out, avoiding this young man was not as difficult as we had imagined. We noticed that after we talked to him, Leonardo stopped going to the gang site altogether. And though we were tempted to try and look for him, we thought it was better to follow through on what we had said, knowing that if anything serious was happening the family would let us know.

But that didn’t stop us from praying.

…When we finally called Leonardo’s mother it had been a couple of months since we had seen him. As always, we were afraid of what we might hear.

To our surprise, his mother responded calmly: “Leonardo is fine. We thought you might be worried since you haven’t seen him out on the park benches. I know you’re not going to believe this, but the honest truth is that since your last conversation with him, Leonardo has taken himself off of hard drugs… and he’s decided to spend more time with us as a family.”

And it was true. Since that time, we have had the chance to talk to Leonardo some, and we have both seen and heard that he is doing much better… So clearly, God works better in the lives of people than we do.

And as for us? Of course we feel completely humbled, and reminded again that the ministry we are taking on is much bigger than we can handle.

But even so, as we watch the life of Leonardo, we are learning.

In fact it is not at all stretching the truth to say we are learning more from him than he is from us.

Most of all, we are learning that in spite of the “mass” graves found here, that death, and mass killings, are not just something you can “get used to” over time.

Leonardo could certainly testify to that.

But yet like him, we ourselves can also promise that we are going to “try harder…” as we go forward.  And we know that as we keep trying, we are going to win some for our cause… even as we lose others.

The good thing is that Leonardo has taught us that it’s not as much about trying…

… As it is about praying.

Leonardo: Before …Drugged and confused See more photos: Leonardo History

Leonardo Now … At home with his family See the web album for more photos of Leonardo & His Family

Leonardo, Luis, and Mario

These three young men are pictured here in May of 2010.  They were in the car with us on the way to an evangelistic campaign, where Mario reaffirmed his faith and Luis prayed to receive Jesus in his heart. About 2 months afterwards, Mario was kidnapped and forced to work for the drug cartels… And within a year, Luis was killed.

For more photos of our friends from the gang at the evangelistic campaign, see the web album: Breakthrough – May 2010

Mario, Leonardo, and Luis

on Mario’s birthday, a month after the evangelistic campaign

…Most of all, please pray that we, along with the youth, would somehow find the courage to live, to laugh, and even to dare to love… yet again.

“I have become all things to all men so that by all means possible I might save… some.”    1 Cor. 9:22 – emphasis added

Thank you.

… The some are worth it.

Mario with two of his kids and his younger brother – about a year ago, shortly before he was captured.

Several of you have asked for updates about what is happening with Mario, the gang leader who made a radical conversion to Christ, and was then kidnapped by the drug cartels soon afterwards. Over the last few months we’ve had to say that there were no reported sightings of him, which would normally mean that Mario was dead — his body waiting to be identified as one of hundreds buried in hidden graves.

…However, we have kept the faith, and we know that you also have continued to pray.

We’re glad to report that this week we were told that he has been seen, and though he’s still under the power of his kidnappers, our friend actually appears to be all right.

Please continue to pray for Mario. It has now been almost a year since he was captured, and he has almost always been seen in areas where the fighting is fiercest. This has led us to believe that, like so many other youth, he was captured only to be used on the front lines of the war between drug cartels.

But God has a greater purpose for him, and we’re continuing to pray for God to use him to touch people within the cartel, and for him to be miraculously released as soon as God sees fit.  (The fact that Mario has been allowed no contact with his friends or family since the time he was kidnapped assures us that he is still being held against his will, and has not yet been “brainwashed,” or fully indoctrinated into the cartel.)

…So thank you, brave readers… for praying.

Once again, your efforts have paid off.

…And God is still working.

We hope all of you had a wonderful Christmas and a happy New Year… It is certainly a joy to finally greet you after such a long time. And of course as always it has been longer than we would have liked… but to be honest, it has not been a very easy few months for us.  We have been challenged in many ways as we’ve tried to find the thread of what we were doing with the youth in the church neighborhood before the unexpected wave of kidnappings came sweeping through.

And working with gang members is not easy.  But as we’ve tried to think about how to capture what it has been like for us as we’ve continued ministering in the church neighborhood, our thoughts turned to a young man there named Rolando, and we just wanted to share his story with you.

… Rolando had visited our service almost every Sunday for at least two months, though no one in the congregation had ever dreamed of seeing him sober.

Falling down drunk, he usually stumbled into our service about halfway through the sermon, shouting in a loud voice and looking desperately for Larry to see if he could bum a few pesos off of him, though he never could.

Nineteen years old, Rolando had already been in the hospital from a near-heart attack due to alcohol poisoning.  In moments of weakness he would often cry to us about his wife and daughter, who had left him a year ago because of his drinking. Sadly, they had given him absolutely no word of where they were going.  And as Rolando cried we would always listen, and then encourage him to take refuge in his parents, who were allowing him to stay with them just a few blocks away from our church.

… But strangely enough we noticed that in spite of his parents’ apparent support of him Rolando almost never wanted to go home.

One morning in particular, this young man was too drunk to go to the bathroom by himself.  So when he stumbled into the church begging to use the toilet for an “emergency,” Larry decided to help him out, and then insist on taking him home.

By that point Rolando was unable to resist, so Larry put an arm over the young man’s shoulder and promptly “helped” him into the back of our car.

Shortly after we knocked on the door of his house, we saw someone open it and quickly snatch Rolando in.  We then saw the door close in our faces, and heard the shouts of women and children crying.  We were just wondering what to do when suddenly the door opened again.  We saw Rolando on the floor.

It was then that we realized Rolando’s father was beating him up.

Rolando’s mother seemed anxious for us to do something, so we quickly agreed to take the young man back out for a drive in order to prevent his father from calling the police to throw him in jail, where something worse might happen to him.

After about a minute of being in the back seat of our car, Rolando passed out.  We weren’t sure if the broken blood vessel in his eye was mainly from the hard liquor, or from the blows to the head he said he’d received from his father…  What we did know was that we noticed it on him just after the exchange that had happened behind the closed door.

Checking frequently to make sure that Rolando was still breathing, we drove around for a few minutes trying to figure out what to do.  Since he seemed to be relatively stable, we decided to let him sleep for a while and then wake him to see if he would like to check himself in to an alcohol rehabilitation center.  When we approached him about the idea hours later, he said that he wanted to talk to his parents first, and so we decided to take him back home and talk to his family.  But unfortunately, Rolando’s father was not in agreement, and our efforts to convince him fell totally through.

…Driving away, we felt extremely discouraged.

We were also more than a little worried about Rolando, so we decided to do the only thing we know how to do in order to begin to break the cycle of violence and abuse in a home.  We began planning to start a Bible study there.

Now the first couple of Bible studies in this household all turned out to be pretty interesting and about what we’d expected.  Not surprisingly, Rolando’s father was the one who wound up being falling down drunk, in addition to several others in attendance (who for the record provided a lot of comic relief, which we will not go in to here…).

And just when we thought our series of Bible studies was starting to take shape, one night we had something happen.  It wasn’t until we got home that we realized that Larry’s favorite sweatshirt had been stolen, along with all of the money from a month’s worth of fundraisers for the church.

Now there had been things missing from when we had spent time with Rolando before.  Namely, we knew he had once stolen a guitar tuner from Larry – or at least we thought it had been him… since about half an hour later (after we’d bought it back from the guy he’d sold it to), Rolando had actually come back and asked for prayer.

Certainly though, it was much more difficult to secure blame in the current situation.  To be sure, we had also noticed several of our things missing which had been stolen from other gang members, but Rolando had always been the one who was most well-known for his stealing.

Even so, nobody had ever taken an amount of money as large as this one.

And unfortunately the greater concern for us in the moment was that Rolando might do real damage to himself, or even overdose, with that kind of money in his hand.

So at the first opportunity we decided to go and talk to him… And gathering our courage, we started walking towards his house, not knowing what we would find there, or in what condition we could expect him to be.

To our surprise, Rolando’s mother answered the door calmly.  We went inside and immediately saw that he was sober… sitting by the fire and talking peacefully with his family.  When we asked him about the money, he denied ever having taken it, suggesting that another friend of ours had been the one who’d stolen everything… But the accusation seemed odd to us since we hadn’t known the person he blamed to ever take anything.

Not knowing what to do, we decided to continue the Bible study.  Certainly, everything that had happened was extremely suspicious. But at the same time we felt we couldn’t compromise the changes we were seeing in Rolando’s life, since he had stopped drinking, and our presence in that household seemed to have stayed the hand of abuse on the part of his father.

Surely enough, not more than a week later we saw God do a total miracle in Rolando’s life.

One afternoon he stopped by the church, sober… and with his wife and daughter on his arm!  Shyly, he informed us that they had come back to find him (apparently a total coincidence!) — on their own initiative.

And when Larry began asking Rolando what he thought of the miraculous things that God was doing in his life, all he could do was smile sheepishly. Then he said,

“Tomorrow I’ll give you your sweatshirt back.”

…Now to be honest with you, we haven’t ever seen the sweatshirt again, except for the time another gang member turned up wearing it, but when we asked him, he seemed offended and said “Hey! I paid good money for this thing!”

So of course this all leaves a lot of questions unanswered.

…And what happened to the money is even more of a mystery.

But what we do know for certain is that Rolando didn’t drink with it.

And for a changed life, it’s a small price to pay.

Thanks.