Outreach Part 3: Mahahual & Xcalak

And now, the long-anticipated concluding post about my YWAM Denver Outreach! Here a few stories about our travels to Mahahual and Xcalak.

Mahahual

While in Mexico on Outreach, we spent about a week and a half traveling to 2 remote fishing villages in the southern regions of the country. Up first was Mahahual, a village on the ocean with lots of cruise ships and tourism.

Street where tourists from cruise ships come to shop

Picture of beach down the street from the church we stayed at

While there, our entire team stayed and slept in a one-room church building just blocks away from the beach. We visited the surrounding villages, as well as the tourist district, praying for people and leading many to the Lord.

We also led several church services at the church that was hosting us. It was a great opportunity to encourage the pastor and congregation. The church had experienced a lot of division and conflict, so it was good to help them regain perspective and hope by reminding them that God is here to heal all their wounds.

One of the things that struck me the most about Mahahual was that the vendors and restaurant owners realized very quickly that we were not tourists, and they were quick to open up to us as a result. Building relationships with them was super easy, and the restaurant workers were happy to direct us to where we could go for more reasonable food prices, among many other tips they provided that helped us along the way.

One man even gave one of our ministry groups an entire grilled chicken just as a sign of hospitality! It was really tasty too. =)

Here are a few of my teammates hanging out by a beach home in Mahahual:

In Xcalak

Xcalak was an even smaller village than Mahahual, and we were one of the first groups (if not the first group) of missionaries to come to that region of Mexico. We spent quite a bit of time praying for and encouraging the pastor of the church there. He has been living and ministering in the village without much of a support system for many years.

The village itself is very spiritually dark, so the pastor there has come up against many conflicts and challenges as he continues doing God's work there.

We were only in the village for a couple of days, but we hosted a few church services, did dramas in the park in the center of the village, and did some door-to-door evangelism. Xcalak already has seen a shift through a decrease in drug and alcohol abuse, and we were able to continue making a positive impact in the community and atmosphere by ministering to the people we met.

At the end of this post are a few photos of one of the dramas we used at the park in Xcalak called "Forgiveness." It portrays how Jesus saves us from various distractions and temptations in our lives.

So, I hope you have enjoyed reading about the various places we traveled and the types of ministry we did there! Seeing all these new places and seeing what God wants to do there impacted me as well as the countless people we met. It has been a privilege to learn more about how God sees the world and to show others the gospel which is intended for all.