Together in the love of Christ

After church on Sunday we went to a Chinese Restaurant with the Barnes' family and the Pastor Gregorio's family. Rick and Mercy told us that there are 100,000 Chinese immigrants in Mexicali. This restaurant was beautiful with flowing fountains and lots of greenery. Of course water is scarce in the city so the fountains weren't working and the pond was empty.

After a sumptuous buffet which included shrimp, pork, orange chicken, broccoli, rice and so much more, we paused to present Pastor Gregorio with some gifts from Norwich. Sheldon presented him with a T-shirt and mug from our tourism office, some Classical music CDs and a post card with our City Hall which was signed by all of us.

We left the restaurant stuffed and went back to the seminary to relax a bit before returning for the evening service. I have to confess that I was nervous about preaching. I practiced my sermon and it timed out at about twelve minutes. Eileen and a few of the others assured me that was enough. Eileen did a nice job of filling in for Lori while we were on the trip. She tried to keep me in line but she had her work cut out trying to keep both Sheldon and me from talking too much and getting too preachy all week long.

The evening service began right on time at 7:00 p.m. and it included lots of music and a time for testimonies. One after another the people got up to give thanks for us. It was a very humbling and moving experience. We didn't understand what they were saying at first, but then Mercy got up and explained that each of the people had expressed how touched they were by our coming all this way to help beautify their church. They thanked us for loving them and their children and sharing so much of ourselves with them.

We were surprised when they asked us to sing again. We didn't have anything planned but Pastor suggested Amazing Grace. so we sang again. (Both churches should get a couple new choir members out of this!) They loved it. Then the time came for me to preach. I was a little nervous because we had already gone past the hour mark and I was worried the people were getting antsy. Mercy served as my translator and we had a good time. She mimiced my enthusiasm and the people seemed to enjoy the words I shared. Of course I went almost 25 minutes and our folks ribbed me a bit about being long winded.

Then as we prepared to close the service, Pastor Gregario had us form a circle of fellowship around the church and he prayed for us. Surrounded by members of the church, we felt the movement of the Holy Spirit move among us. Then the people came up to us, men and women, hugging us. No words were needed to feel the love. Mercy told us that in his prayer, Pastor thanked God for us and shared the fact that we were family now. I can tell you a few of us came away with tears of joy from both sides.

We closed off our last night in Mexico by stopping at a Dairy Queen for Ice Cream. A treat upon a treat.

Cal