down by the riverside

We went to Nopala again this weekend to take James to see the church. James has been coming to Roca since he was 15. He is now in his 30s and is married with 2 kids. His stories are really crazy. On his first trip here in the 80s he went to a town called Jamiltepec where for the first time he saw deliverances, healings, and a guy levitating off the ground. No joke. He said the guy was lying on his back floating like 10 inches in the air. So James walks over and starts trying to push him down. I probably wouldn’t have believed that story a year ago, but after being here and seeing strange things myself, I can totally picture it. So a few years ago James quit his job and started a coffee company to support the churches that Roca started in Oaxaca. It's Oaxacan coffee that is roasted in Springfield. It's very yummy. Check out his website: www.oaxacafe.com.

The church in Nopala is doing very well. They have had some hard times with renting a house but things are settling down. Instead of having church on Sunday, they took everyone to the river for baptisms. It was beautiful and joyful. We started out singing and then James read about baptisms and then it started to rain a little. Matt's joke is that there can now be no theological conflict because they were all sprinkled and dunked.
There were 6 people who were baptized. Each one of them came up out of the water and hugged someone and cried. It is such an amazing thing to see, especially in a town with almost no Christians and with much opposition of the Catholic Church.
Update on the corn in Ixtayultla- over $1000 has been given to buy food! So as soon as the rain stops here and the roads are less dangerous they will be taking more loads up to the people.

Also, we will be leaving for home in 2 weeks. I’m sad to leave but very excited to get home. We’ll be driving again so it will take a while. Please pray for safe travel and favor at the border.
I love you all!