Belize, Mexico and Cuba
The next stop, Belize. After Guatemala and the amazing things that we saw God do there we were very expectant for the rest of the journey. We were joining the YWAM base that is on a little island called St Pedro just of the coast of Belize for the next 2 weeks. On arrival Elly one of the YWAM leaders gave a word over us of intimacy with God. They felt that in the next two weeks we needed to rest, as their Base is a Holiday resort that they are renting, this would be the ideal place. At first it felt a little strange, but God knew what he was doing as it was the first time in our year that we got to relax and spend a lot of time in the word and in prayer. The Island has the Second largest reef in the world so we were able to do some amazing snorkeling and spear fishing. We were able to build some great relations, and share some of our stories that encouraged the YWAM group that was about to go on outreach.
Two weeks went by flying, but we were refreshed and ready for Mexico. About a weak before leaving to Mexico we still did not have a contact in Mexico. We had to go to Mexico City to pick up our Canadian Visas and that was all we new. Then God showed up big time, just to show that we just need to put everything in his hands and he would provide. We met Rebecca at YWAM and she used to live in Mexico City about 10 years ago, she gave us a email of a Pastor she knows that used to be a Missionary in Mexico but is back in the States. He got us in Contact with a pastor in Mexico that was willing to help us.
We took a bus from Belize to the Mexican border were we would take a 25 hour bus to Mexico City. This was the only bus service from there to Mexico City and after purchasing the ticket we had R60 left in our pockets. We new that we had to go to Mexico city and therefore we trusted that God was going to do a miracle. When we left Mexico city after two weeks we had not spent the R60 and God added to that R6000 and a bus ticket to Cancun that was another 25 hours away from Mexico city. In Mexico we probably prayed for more people than in any other place. We told the Pastor that we like to pray for people and he made a list off all the sick people in the church and took us around to their homes to share with them and pray with them. We saw God touch so many people that day.
One story that touched me so much was a 4 year old boy that had Cancer. His mother came to the prayer meeting one night and as we were praying for people she pulled me and Vilas to the side and told us that her 4 year old boy was at home lying in bed sick with Cancer. We felt to take a tissue and pray over it as previously in Guatemala.
The boy was going for his Second chemo that Friday and the Doctors were going to do some more tests. The next week we went to visit the boy at his house and he was jumping around and playing outside. The mother said that when she got home after we prayed the boy was totally different and did not feel sick. The Doctors wanted him to go for more tests because the Friday something strange happened. They could not pick up any cancer in his body. To see that boy smiling and laughing put tears in my eyes.
In Mexico we also had opportunity to share our Testimonies on Radio and make “Free Hug” signs handing out free hugs to a lot of people. Putting smiles on a lot of peoples faces, showing them the Love of Jesus.
Going to Cuba we did not really know what to expect, but the Secret was soon revealed as Geoff told us that the Pastor did not get back to him and that he was led to do a Luke 10 Journey for about 12 days in Cuba. On a Luke 10 we do exactly as the scripture says. We go out without anything, only carrying our passports. Me and Geoff teamed up and Vilas and Mulder went together. In the Luke 10 we realized that we were blessed not to read up on Cuba before hand, as a Luke 10 in a Communist country in Human terms seems impossible.
But yet again God showed us that he is in control of our lives, and that when we realize that we are dead and let him do everything things seem to work out better than we planned. The first night was a little tough as we had to spend it on the streets of Cuba sleeping on a cardboard box. But that had to happen for us to meet our man of peace. The next day we met a 21 year old guy called Darriel. He was at his first day of the job as a Security Guard at a Methodist Church when God led us to him. We could not sleep at his house as he was living with his Grandma but he was not giving up until he found us a place to stay.
The difficult thing in Cuba is that the people are very poor and continuously watched by the Government. For example a qualified doctor earns 20 Dollars a month. So even if they want to take you in they cannot afford to do so.
But our God is bigger then any Government or Poverty. We met a Christian guy that was working on the street selling food while Darriel was buying food for us to eat and he said that we could stay at his house for the entire time. On our Luke 10 we got to live the way the Cubans live, so we had some difficult times but that was the only way we could really see what the peoples struggles were in a communist country. What we were doing as foreigners was totally different to what they were used to, as Cuba has a lot of tourist, and they are very different to what we were. They were very encouraged to step out in faith seeing that God is providing for us and in the same way he would provide for them.
We are leaving the Spanish countrys, I was able to learn a few words but we are excited for the next leg of our Journey. We are on our way to Canada.