Burning Furnace of Charity

Things in BT have been a bit helter skelter lately. For reasons unknown to me, or apparently to anyone else, the police have been carting away a lot of my friends to jail. Many of my friends in there tend to be the ones who have seen better days, even better days in BT. The police have been arresting anyone who isn't officially "working" inside the walls. Some have boldly returned, only to find themselves being taken away again. It feels more like a ghost town than ever inside those walls.

One of those taken away to jail was little Vicky, who I wrote about earlier in the year. (Vicky had a dream from God and then actually saw Jesus one night on her way home.) Apparently Vicky, or "La Vicky" as she's known in BT, has a bad habit of stealing. The headlines of yesterday's paper read, "La Vicky Caught Stealing, Now in Jail" or something to that effect. She stole all the clothes of two of the women I know, and was promptly taken away after she returned their items. Crazy, isn't it? Here is this 53-year old woman who steals for a living in BT, yet Jesus physically shows Himself to her, in addition to giving her prophetic dreams. God is out of His mind, and I love Him for it.

As I was standing on the street, talking to Gabriela today, a familiar face was walking towards me. I last saw Shakira (not her real name) nearly a year ago. I had been thinking about her a lot the last few days, really wondering where she had gone. No one knew, or claimed to know, what had happened to her. I felt like I had found my long-lost family when I saw her in BT today. I hugged her so hard I thought she might break in two. Luckily, she didn't, and we had a great time catching up. She is living outside of BT now, and I'm pretty sure she was there today to buy drugs. Either way, I'm glad to know she's alive, and that I might see her again soon. She told me where she lives, which is the same neighborhood where my land is. I told her that very soon we'll be neighbors. She promised to visit me every day.

The prayer room inside the bar is a seeming distant hope at the moment. The guy who was opening the bar disappeared in all the upheaval inside BT. (In addition to several arrests, the police shut down a major crack bar. I'm fairly certain he had ties to this bar, and is nowhere to be found as a result.) There are loads of empty buildings and old broke-down cantinas that I think would make such great prayer rooms. Not really sure how to approach it, but I'd really love to be given an abandoned place there. It's on my list of things to obsess about, running a prayer room in a bar in BT; it must be done.

A couple of friends - Molly Blackwell and Mandy Siebold - visited from the Kansas City Boiler Room last week. It was so great to have friends here to pray with, laugh with, laugh with, and laugh with. We went to BT, ate meals inside BT (Lucia made us mole that was delicious!), hung out at the house - it was loads of fun! Reynosa isn't exactly know for its extracurricular activities, so it was fun to have friends here to "just be" with. Thanks Molly & Mandy!

Lots of things are happening here that I can't possibly fit into one post - thank you everyone who whispers and/or shouts prayers for us here in Mexico! It feels good to know we're not alone in this.