We arrived in Palenque, Mexico late Tuesday night, July 7th, after a 16 hour van ride from Antigua that required 3 van changes! We are staying at a Bible Camp that is for pastors that come from the surrounding villages to receive teaching and encouragement.
We are using our tents as mosquito nets, although I haven’t noticed many of those insects. But there are a million bugs and moths everywhere. We chose to put our tents on the wooden beds because there had been rumors of tarantulas. And sadly its true, we found one in our room and another on our sidewalk just last night!!
Our host, Eleazar, runs the Bible Camp and has introduced us to pastors and ministry opportunities in the area.
Our teams, Clay and Banah, have been blessed with a spacious kitchen including refrigeration, running water, and gas stoves. As well as a huge dining and living room to hang out in.
Last week, we visited a prison and a rehab center. Performed a drama, shared testimonies, and lots of prayer. Being my first time at a prison, I wasn’t sure what to expect. We weren’t allowed to take pictures, but the men were all in orange and it wasn’t as scary as I would of thought. The coolest moment of the evening was having 15 or so prisoners stand and pray over us before we left.
On Saturday, we visited a village pastor about 40 minutes away. Our presence initiated the gathering of a crowd of children, so we stayed awhile longer in order to sing songs and hang out with them.
Afterwards, we stopped by a waterfall and climbed into the cave behind the falls to swim in the small cavern’s lake.
July 14th, was Tomina and Melissa’s Birthdays!! We spent the day at Aguazul which means blue water. Tons of waterfalls and pools of clear blue green water. Scenery you only expect to see in the movies!! Also, enjoyed huge mangos on a stick!!
Later that evening, after dining at Tinajas, a local Mexican restaurant, we took turns beating a pinata that Tomina and Lindsey had created for the occasion. We were even able to get Eleazar to join in the fun!
