Sunday and Monday

Sunday morning we rose early to go back to the village. That was R. A., Arlene, Sonny, Gracie, Martin, and Judy Presley. Brandon, Tom, Ceil, and Wilson & Judy Gaunt stayed in town and rested. When we arrived in Puyipa and saw Justin and Cindy, Justin informed us that they had a serious discussion the night before on water baptism. He had at least one that wanted to be baptized after the morning service at the water falls. So we had the morning service beginning about 10:30. After some singing, and Justin preaching, we then gave certificates to 15 people that were leaders in the church along with the pastor and director of music who both were also given travel cards from RMFI to help them . These are picture ID's that prove they are in Ministry. Lots of individuals are traveling around saying they are ministers - but not really are. The service ended about noon and then it was time to eat. This time the ladies of Puyipa prepared Mole with rice and chicken. We loaded up the vans with the pastor and some elderly folks with Justin, Martin and Cindy walking with the younger folks and children. We traveled to a local waterfall controlled by a Rebel village only about 15 miles from Puyipa. A very intense time of travel as these individuals are very uncomfortable with outside travel, but God prevailed. Once down to the water falls, we had a quick service as a rain storm came. What a unique experience baptizing 3 folks at a waterfall with a rainstorm in the jungle so heavy you could barely see. The younger villagers and our folks that had walked down were not in a hurry to walk back in the rain. We had carried some 7 or 8 folks in each van down and then with the rain, several of the children made their way into laps of the older folks to ride back. We ended up with 12 in one van and 15 in the other and were very concerned about the van being too heavy in the rain to make it down that rocky, crevice filled caliche cattle trail called a road back to Puyipa. It took the folks walking much longer to walk back in the rain than it did going down. We barely got there in cars and they met us when we arrived. Coming back in the rain must have been much different as it took them much longer. The rain continued all afternoon as we traveled back to town. This time all of us went into Palenque to check into the Hotel to get a fresh shower as our trip was winding down. We had met a deacon of another small church of about 20 members that were meeting in the upper room of a business / house. Service was great, Wilson taught, Arlene shared her testimony and Sonny brought a short message. After the service, you won't believe this but the church members insisted on feeding us again. His church is in need of property in order to build. We found that 2 lots in this neighborhood would cost approximated $350.00. Once the service was over and had eaten, we traveled back to Jesus' church under the tent where they were waiting for us to have communion with them. RA and Justin did a great job of explaining why and how communion is done and everyone participated. It was obvious everywhere we went, the people really hated to see us go.

Monday morning started early for everyone but R.A., Arlene and Brandon as they all visited the Mayan Ruins and another larger waterfall. Many shopped and bought souvenirs. Everyone had to pack their bags before they left so that when they returned we would be ready to check out of the Hotel as check out time was 1:00 p.m. They managed to get back by 1:00 then we loaded up and went downtown and all ate at our favorite place for this trip and then shopped along the streets until about 3:30p.m. Once again we loaded up to start back to Villa Hermosa. We arrived at Villa Hermosa about 5:30 and RA and Justin returned the vans. Some of our folks went for a swim and some of us met in the restaurant around 7:30 to eat. All were really tired and ready to turn in.

Tuesday morning we rose early to meet in the Hotel lobby at 6:45 a.m. The Hotel shuttled us to the airport and most of our bags were gone through and even our carry on bags as we went thru customs to leave Mexico. Our flight was uneventful and we arrived in Houston about 11:00 a.m. Customs was a breeze for everyone but Martin, they gave him a hard time asking a lot of questions… but finally let him go. Once we were thru Customs, the Gaunts departed from us to find their connecting flight area and Brandon and Tom also departed to their parking area to head back to Alvarado. The rest of us caught our shuttle and made it to the parking lot to unload and reload into the vehicles to head back to Mason, Hext, Brownwood and San Angelo.