Pray for BoysTown Team As Violence Rises in ReynosaAdri Roos - 8 Mar 2010
We are a small community of 5 people who live in Reynosa, Mexico. Reynosa is situated right on the border of Texas. We are here to love God, love one another and love our neighbours. Our neighbours happen to be people who live and work in BoysTown, a mafia-run, walled red-light district, where drugs and prostitution is legal. We are here to share our hope and our lives.
Over the last few months a lot has changed in Reynosa, violence is increasing because of an ongoing drug war.
This increase in violence is due to rivals between different groups of mafia. It's a typical power struggle, with these groups trying to gain territory and power in Reynosa. There's been several incidents over the past few months where these groups have been shooting at one another. As the mafia controls a lot in Mexico, everything from government to media, most of these incidents have not been reported in the news. Most of what we know is from friends who work within the government, people who've witnessed some of the incidents, and what we hear and see.
Reynosa used to be one of the few border cities that didn't experience such a degree of violence, but it seems like things are definitely picking up. We are realising that more than ever we are called to be prayerful as we live our lives in this city. And for that reason I am also sharing this news with you all, so that you can pray with us.
We get together as a team every morning to pray. This has probably been one of my favourite things to do here. We realise that we're not called to live in fear, but that we need to be wise and careful as we go around the city. A shooting can really happen anywhere and at any time.
I am feeling very peaceful about the situation. The violence here is mostly targeted at specific people (those involved in the mafia-circles), so we are never the target of this violence. We just need to live with higher levels of awareness to avoid being in the wrong place at the wrong time.
We would like for you to pray with us:
- For God's peace to reign in this city. We know that Jesus is seated above all powers and principalities in Reynosa (Ephesians 1:20), and we pray that this will be made known through the body of believers, the church. (Ephesians 3:10).
- Pray for us as a team, for protection and wisdom as we make decisions on how to live our lives here in the city. A lot of people here live with fear. We don't want to live out of fear, but out of love. But neither do we want to make poor decisions. We rely on God's guidance through the Holy Spirit, and His wisdom that comes from above (James 3:17).
Please comment below if you have any questions about this, or if you have any words of encouragement. We would love to hear from you.
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