Two Days in Izamal:

When we arrived in Izamal, we knew we had two busy days ahead of us.

We had prepared children's curriculum. We had planned kids' clubs and house visits. We were going to spend time with the local church and learn about the ministries they were developing. We also hoped to encourage the pastors and church leaders who had been faithfully serving their communities.

But, as often happens on a mission trip, the most meaningful moments were unplanned. Over two days, we found ourselves sitting on porches with grieving families, playing and singing with dozens of children, talking with new believers, encouraging a grieving widow, discussing plans for a future elderly care facility, and watching one of our own team members share a testimony that had been years in the making.

The people there invited us into their lives and by the time we left Izamal, it felt like we had experienced much more than two days of ministry.

Starting the Morning Around the Table

Our first morning began with breakfast with Pastor Fabian, his wife Deysi, and their family at El Shaddai Church.

Before we started our day's activities, they gave us an overview of what God has been doing through their church.

And there is a lot happening.

El Shaddai has six mission fields and church plants throughout the region, including Sitilpech, Citilcum, Chichxulub, the Mayan camp, and Sudzal. They also operate a music institute where young people can learn to sing and play praise and worship music. Their youth are deeply involved in ministry, and their children's program, Iglekids, is largely supported by teenagers who help lead activities for younger children. The church is also working toward something much bigger.

A Home for Abandoned Elderly People

Fabian and Deysi shared their vision for creating a care facility for abandoned and vulnerable elderly people in the Izamal area. There are many elderly people in the region who have no one to care for them, and the church wants to create a place where they can receive appropriate care and dignity. There is still a long road ahead.

They first need to establish the organization as an Asociación Civil, or AC, which is the legal structure they are pursuing for their nonprofit. They will need funding, permitting, architectural plans, staffing, and many other pieces before construction can begin. But they have a vision. And God had already provided an unexpected connection.

Kenny and Liisa Stribling, who have previously served on an HRS True Hope mission trip and have experience directing elderly care facilities in the United States, offered to help consult with the team.

That first night, while our youth program was taking place, we connected with Kenny by Zoom. He shared practical information about common care-facility layouts in Texas and helped them begin thinking through what they should discuss with architects and building planners. He also explained the types of professionals they will eventually need on staff, including medical leadership, nursing staff, dietary professionals, maintenance personnel, and others. We were able to provide training materials and resources as well. The facility is still only a vision. But now the team has more information to help turn that vision into a plan.

Then the Kids Arrived

After breakfast, we began preparing for the children's program. Our team had spent considerable time preparing the curriculum before the trip. We wanted the children to experience more than just games or entertainment. Each lesson included a Bible story, an object lesson, a Gospel presentation, songs with motions, games, and crafts. The El Shaddai team had already prepared before we arrived. In fact, they had led the first day of Vacation Bible School without us because we would only be there for two days.

When we arrived, we saw something beautiful. The teenagers from the church weren't sitting on the sidelines.

They were serving. They played with the children. They taught them. They helped with activities, songs, skits, and games. They were enthusiastic, involved, and clearly enjoying the opportunity to serve younger children.

The first day, approximately 75 children came. We divided them into four age groups so that the Bible lessons, songs, crafts, Gospel presentation, and activities could be adapted to their ages. Our team worked alongside approximately 15 people from the local church, including many teenagers from the youth group.

It was loud.

It was energetic.

There was singing, dancing, laughing, crafts, games, and a lot of movement.

And it was wonderful.

Meanwhile, One of Our Team Members Was Very Sick

In the middle of all of this, Chris began feeling extremely ill. At first, we weren't sure what was happening. He had been working construction in the heat the previous day, so we wondered whether he was dehydrated. We also considered whether he might have eaten something that didn't agree with him. We found Pepto-Bismol, gave him crackers and rehydration packets, and tried to get him cooled down. At one point, he became faint enough that we were genuinely concerned. Pastor Fabian brought out a hammock and set it up so Chris could lie down, take off his shoes, and cool off. Eventually, he began feeling better. But none of us realized yet that something much deeper was happening.

Going From House to House

While Chris rested, the rest of us went with Fabian and Deysi for house visits. And this is where the ministry became very personal. Our first visit was with Juli and her mother, Martha. Their family had experienced tremendous loss.

Juli's brother had died by suicide, and her father had also died from cancer. Juli had never even been inside a church building.

We sat with them and listened.

Juli told us about her son, Christo, and about the circumstances surrounding his birth. She had named him Christ because of the way she believed God had miraculously intervened when he became ill shortly after being born.

Eventually, Fabian asked a simple but profound question:

"If you could ask God one thing, what would you ask Him?"

At first, Juli didn't know how to answer. But after talking for a while, she finally knew. She wanted to ask God why she was so afraid to get close to Him. There wasn't a simple answer we could give her. So we listened. We encouraged her. And we prayed with her. Before we left, we invited Juli and her mother to come to El Shaddai the following evening.

A Grandmother Raising Her Grandchildren

Our next visit was with a woman whose husband would not allow her to attend church.

She explained that he worked long hours, and when he came home, he expected her to be there. If she wasn't, she said, he would get on his motorcycle and come to the church to take her home. But she desperately wanted to go.

She was raising her grandchildren because her own children were struggling with drug addiction. She wanted the children to be able to attend church, hear about God, and build positive relationships with other children. We listened to her story and prayed with her. Our team also shared pieces of our own stories.

Juanita shared about her mother and father. Her father had been abusive toward her mother and had never believed in God. Yet Juanita's mother continued to believe, worship, and share the Gospel. Near the end of her father's life, Juanita's mother went to care for him. And she shared the Gospel with him again. He accepted Christ.

Juanita described the powerful image of her mother caring for the man who had once abused her—rubbing lotion onto his dry arms in the care facility while sharing her faith with him. It was a story of forgiveness, faithfulness, and a prayer that had taken years to be answered.

We shared that story because sometimes people need to hear that God can work even when an answer seems impossible.

A Story That Chris Had Been Carrying

Eventually, we returned to El Shaddai. Chris was feeling much better and was preparing to share with the youth that evening.

While we were talking with Fabian and Deysi, the conversation turned toward Yucatán and some of the challenges facing young people.

Fabian mentioned that although Yucatán is considered one of the safest states in Mexico, it also has a serious problem with suicide, particularly among young people.

Something changed in Chris. He decided it was time to tell his whole story. Chris had been carrying painful experiences from his childhood, his time in the military, and the years after leaving the Army. He had struggled with things he had tried to suppress, including two suicide attempts. As he finally shared everything he had been holding inside, the room filled with tears, hugs, and prayer.

Only later did we learn from George, Chris's mentor and roommate on the trip, that Chris had been becoming physically ill throughout the week as he wrestled with the thought of sharing his testimony. Suddenly, his sickness earlier that day made much more sense to us. Whatever was happening physically and emotionally, Chris had been carrying an enormous weight.

And now he was finally letting it out.

The Youth Arrived

Then the teenagers began arriving. We played games. We sang. We danced. We shared a message. And then Chris stood up.

He told them his story. He told them what he had experienced, how those experiences had shaped the way he saw himself and God, and how God had begun redeeming those things. Then he shared the Gospel. He challenged the teenagers to decide what they believed and to consider what it meant to commit their lives to Christ. It was powerful. Chris had never shared his testimony like this before. And now, for the first time, he was standing in another country telling young people how God had rescued him.

Day Two: Back to the Kids

The next morning, we returned to El Shaddai. The kids' program was even bigger. More children came on the final day, and once again the local teenagers jumped in to serve. The curriculum came alive through songs, games, crafts, Bible teaching, and Gospel presentations. Our team didn't simply deliver a program to the church. We worked alongside them. The local church was already doing the work. We were there to bring resources, encouragement, and additional hands.

Into Sudzal

After lunch, we traveled about ten minutes outside Izamal to Sudzal, one of the church plants started by Fabian and Deysi. The church had only been established about 18 months earlier. Most of the members were new believers. And they had just experienced a devastating loss. Their pastor, Jesús Gabriel, had died only two months earlier from respiratory problems.

We went first to visit his wife, Gina. Gina had been struggling deeply with grief. She told us that she had spent a long time shutting herself in her room and staying there all day. But something was beginning to change. She had decided she needed to get up. She needed to come outside. She needed to begin doing things again. We listened. We prayed with her. And we invited her to the service that evening. Fabian also asked if she would prepare some worship music. She agreed. And she delivered.

Juan Gabriel and Imelda

Our next visit was with Juan Gabriel and his wife, Imelda. They have six children. Imelda manages the household while Juan Gabriel does whatever work he can find, including rounding up and transporting cattle and other jobs. Juan Gabriel has an extraordinary story. Before becoming a Christian, he was involved in criminal activity. Pastor Jesús Gabriel had shared the Gospel with him, and Juan Gabriel eventually came to know Christ. Although he is illiterate, he has a strong desire to help lead the church. His wife reads the Bible to him.

We spent a long time simply talking with them and getting to know them. Because Pastor Jesús Gabriel had died, many of the new believers had stopped attending church. They were grieving. We prayed over them and encouraged Juan Gabriel and Imelda to begin hosting services in their home again and to work with Gina to reconnect the members of the church.

More Homes, More Stories

We visited several other families that afternoon. One was a young woman who was 23 years old, newly married, and caring for her eight-month-old baby. Another woman we visited was also a new believer. Both had been taught to believe that they could lose their salvation every time they sinned. We were able to share the Gospel with them and encourage them with the truth that salvation is a gift from God, not something we earn or repeatedly lose.

We listened.

We answered questions.

We prayed.

And we encouraged them to continue growing in their faith.

The Rain Came

That evening, we returned to El Shaddai after eating pizza with Fabian and Deysi. A heavy rain fell. We laughed because we had prepared for an adult service of perhaps 90–100 people. We knew that wasn't going to happen. Many people in the area walk or ride motorcycles to church, and a downpour can make attending nearly impossible. A few people began trickling in.

Eventually, about 20–25 people gathered. So we did what we came to do.

We worshiped.

We shared.

We prayed.

Gina came with her parents and sang beautifully. Haley, Roger, and Shelli shared messages. At the end, we divided into smaller groups and asked the people to share their prayer requests. We wrote them down. We took pictures. We wanted to remember their faces when we prayed for them throughout the year. And the best part was that despite the rain, two of the people we had spent time with in their homes were there.

Juli and her mother had come.

Gina and her parents had come.

The people whose stories we had heard on their front porches were now sitting with us in the church. It was a small crowd, but a big moment.

More Than a Mission Trip

When we think about our two days in Izamal, we remember people.

We remember the teenagers who eagerly served the younger children.

We remember the children singing and making crafts.

We remember Juli asking why she was afraid to get close to God.

We remember the grandmother who wanted so badly for her grandchildren to know the Lord.

We remember Chris telling his story and watching God turn years of pain into a message of hope.

We remember Gina deciding to get out of bed and return to the community.

We remember Juan Gabriel wanting to serve his church even though he cannot read.

We remember a rainy night when only a fraction of the expected crowd came—and somehow it felt exactly right.

And we remember that ministry doesn't always look like accomplishing a big project.

It's saying: "We see you. We care about you. And we're going to keep praying for you."