Guadalajara: Day 2 | September 21

In the morning, we had breakfast together and then met for team devotions and took communion on the upstairs terrace as a team. The rental van company told Edgar that they “just changed” the brakes, but that’s becoming a bit of a joke for us; we heard exactly when Edgar pulled in to pick us up! They also said not to worry about the warning lights—the dashboard is lit up like Christmas!

Today we headed downtown to walk, pray, and minister to people in the streets, as well as to learn about the spiritual culture of the city. It’s obvious there is great spiritual warfare here. Edgar explained to us that while much of the city identifies as Catholic, most of the people here have never truly encountered the Holy Spirit. I was impressed by how devout the people are in their prayers and works, but saddened by how little they actually know of the mercy and presence of God. We sat for a while at the city museum and prayed for breakthrough for this city and for peace for all of Mexico. Rachael prayed for God to raise up harvesters for the fields, and a few minutes later a young lady sat down next to her. The woman was a local Christian who has been praying that very same prayer! She was nearly moved to tears when she saw that we were praying for her city

I think my favorite part of being downtown was connecting and praying all the people we met along the way. Callie had bought some small pastries that we shared with people in need, and prayed with those who were open to it. One woman we met even sang to us! It was a fantastic way to get in touch with the culture and people of Guadalajara.

We ended the day by having small group in the home of a family from Iglesia Radiante. They had kids, adults, and even grandparents in the group and they all received us so warmly. We felt so blessed to be there! A young man led the group in worship, and Tim shared scripture and gave a powerful testimony about spiritual warfare. We prayed and ministered over the people in the group. More than one person I prayed with asked for prayer for unsaved friends or family. Several of the people we met tonight mentioned that they are getting baptized tomorrow at church! Edgar says that for some of them, the decision to be water baptized means facing a lot of rejection from their families. I am so thankful that we get to share in their celebration Sunday morning, and that we are here to pray with them for their journey and their families.