Mexico 2007

My dear friend Nicole is going to Spain in the spring and she's starting to write a support letter to raise her funds. Trying to help her out we thumbed through some of my old stuff and I came upon this, the thank you letter from my first trip to the Baja.

It was a sweet reminder.

"Dear Friends and Family,

It’s so hard to give anything God does any kind of justice through mere words or pictures. My prayer is that this letter could give you a small glimmer into the beauty of what God has done in Mexico. This, as you may have heard, was the first trip Overland has taken to Mexico, therefore it was a recon mission. We spent a lot of time traveling roads very few take to find people very unreached. We had an awesome GPS system with which we flagged new contacts and friends and marked off the places where we found absolutely no one.

The first several days we spent solely traveling and exploring. Some of the team was a bit discouraged because we felt like we had absolutely no ministry. This is when the Lord taught a lot of us that blazing the trail is just as necessary as reaching the people that live down them, and if there were no people, now we know. I learned a lot those first few days through the Word and through other team members stories and hearts. We also had a lot of time in prayer for what was to come. We shared with everyone we met. The second place we camped was run by a family in the middle of absolutely no where. We shared with them and two of them became believers.

Most of our ministry took place in Ensenada. We found through some sources that lots of the indigenous people had moved to Ensenada and a few other cities further south. We went into several ghettos and did a lot of door to door evangelism. It was amazing to see how much these places resembled New Testament times. Several people were ill and many families had idols set up in their homes. With each home we could feel the spiritual warfare as we held out the Gospel in the darkest of places. It was awesome. In one of the ghettos we challenged some kids we met to a friendly game of “futbol”. We then went out and bought soccer balls and practiced vigorously at our campground that night and the next morning. That afternoon all four trucks drove through the ghetto yelling “Futbol! Futbol! Juego de futbol!” and kids just came running from everywhere. They were coming out houses, yards, cardboard boxes, and from between clothes lines. It was awesome! There had to have been one hundred something kids there. The next day we did the same routine and this time we shared with them. During half-time we gave a message and they all sat around and listened. Some heard and some didn’t, but the “leaders” of the group of kids were the ones who listened most intently and asked some of the guys some good questions after the game. It was all really cool stuff.

God had His hand on everything we did. Not knowing where we were going, doors always opened and blessings were poured out. From one of our vehicles completely breaking down to accidentally meeting a Mexican brother who ended up giving us acres of beach front property in San Quintin to build a base, Jesus led us every step of the way.

With every ministry we followed up by directing them to a church where they could get plugged in. If there wasn’t a church in the area, well, we’ll be back and we made sure we didn’t leave them alone. Overland is taking three more trips this summer and will continue to do so in the years ahead.

It means the world to me that you partook in this ministry with me. I have hundreds of stories to tell of God’s glory and I would love to tell you more. Thank you so much. I love your willingness to give to further His kingdom, and even more so that you would help send me to do it! I can’t say enough to tell you how much it means to me. I love you and am so grateful for you!

For His renown,

Laurena Richardson

P.S. If you want to know more, ask me! I didn’t even talk about the ministry with the prostitutes, the orphanages, or encouraging the churches. God is so good =)

P.S.S. And thanks for the prayer. I felt it wrapping around me every day in everything we did."