Mexicali, Mexico Mission Trip 2019
Written by Zanele Malaba
The Lord opened doors for Build and Restore International to travel to picturesque Mexicali nestled in the beautiful country of Mexico in November 2019. Local Pastor Gabriel Velasquez sought after Build and Restore International to come and fulfill a ministry need at his local church. The mission would entail remodeling the church as well as conducting community centered evangelistic seminars and a health expo.
A three tiered approach was put in place in order to meet the mission need. The Church remodel work which included replacing the flooring, window glass and painting was carried out in the mornings followed by health expo in the afternoons with the day concluded by evangelistic seminars occurring in the evenings. The evening seminars were tailored to the audience with presentations on depression recovery and mental wellness. The socio-economic climate in that region of Mexico is such that the rampant low employment rates have led to difficult family management as many are unable to provide for their households which leads to increased stress, depression and other ills. The community was being met right where they were and presented with practical lessons from the Word of God intended to encourage, uplift and empower.
A full day health expo was planned to take place at the local zoo on one Friday during the mission trip. The Lord had moved upon the city officials to grant Build and Restore International a building in the local zoo for the health expo to be conducted. Heavy rains that would bring torrents of flash floods were forecasted to take place that very Friday. Faith undaunted, the team prayed and thanked the Lord for the building that had been provided, asked the Lord to hold back the rains and prayed for people to come.
An older lady named Maria walked in mid-morning as the health expo was underway. After getting her blood pressure and diabetes screening completed she proceeded to the free eye glass table. Upon hearing that the eye glasses were being offered free of charge, Maria began to cry. Puzzled, the volunteers inquired as to the reason for her tears and it was then that Maria related the miracle that God had just performed in answer to her earnest prayer. The day before, Maria had found herself in a place of great discouragement and prayed that if God were real, He would reveal Himself to her. She specifically asked for a pair of reading glasses that would meet her most present, pressing need. She had heard on the news broadcast that due to the anticipated heavy rains that would cause flash flooding schools would be cancelled on Friday, which meant a day off for her as she is a teacher. Maria spent the early part of the morning babysitting her grandchildren who soon became restless. With no heavy rains in sight, Maria decided to take her grandchildren to the zoo. It was there that she stumbled upon the health fair and would there receive the specific and direct answer to her prayers. God was real, He saw her, He provided free eye glasses at the last place where one would expect. He showed Himself to Maria right there in the middle of the zoo. Like Hagar, Maria proclaimed her praises to the God who sees her (Genesis 16:13).
And so it was that from 9a-2:30pm God held back the rains. At the end of the health expo, when the last table was put in the car, large drops of rain began to cascade from the sky. The rain would proceed to pour down in great torrent the rest of that day. God had worked a miracle and held back the rain in answer to the missionaries united prayer! In true Divine fashion, God blessed the joyful missionaries who were making their drive home with the sight of His signature in the sky, the bow of promise, as a beautiful rainbow pierced the sky in the distant horizon as though shouting “well-done” to the 12 missionaries who had against all-weather odds, moved forward in faith.