Dear Friends,

Last fall, Mark and Sue Davis landed in Guadalajara and became the first CAMA staff members to ever serve in Mexico. Over the past year, as they’ve studied Spanish and built relationships with the local church, the Davises have made it a point to do weekly prayer walks in their local neighborhood in hopes of demonstrating Christ’s love while connecting with their new community. Below, the Davises share their experience of seeing God move through the power of prayer:

Back in May, Mark and I (Sue) had become discouraged with our Spanish as we’d been struggling to prepare for our final language exam. As we’ve continued to settle in, our Thursday night prayer walks have remained a great joy but also a great challenge due to our Spanish limitations. However, our weaknesses have made a great opportunity for God to display His goodness.

One Sunday at church, we ran into Raquel and Raquelita—friends who often join us on our local prayer walks. They mentioned that none of their neighbors had been open to prayer in their own neighborhood. We asked if we could come by and walk with them to pray over the homes and people that we would see on the streets. Excited, they agreed.

That Thursday, we began walking the streets—greeting people as we went and silently praying over others. We came to a side street and turned down. At the dead end, we saw two families hanging out together outside in the heat, looking downcast. We walked up to them, and Raquel shared what we were doing and that we’d love to pray for them. To our surprise, they eagerly accepted. One of the moms ushered us into her home and got everyone seated. We quickly learned that this was a family in pain and struggling in many ways.

A Family in Need

As the kids began pulling out toys and showing them to Mark, the two adult sisters opened up to us about their family’s struggles. These two lived across the street from each other, and each had a little one at home—one sister had a six-year-old daughter and the other had a two-year-old son and was expecting. We listened as they told us that their grandmother was currently supporting both households with her sewing business as the dad across the street had lost his job and the father of the pregnant sister’s unborn child had left after deciding that he didn’t want to be a part of their growing family.

The sisters went on to share that the six-year-old girl was mute. She had had some limited testing done to assess her condition, so they knew that she could hear. However, specialized teaching wasn’t available in their area, so they had worked around her lack of speech by responding whenever she pointed or yelled. They said the little girl got frustrated at times but seemed generally happy and loved to play, dance, and listen to music. Her mom and dad cried as they shared how much they wished they could help her to talk and how they worried for her future.

The married sister also explained that since her husband had lost his job, they had been scarce on food—sometimes only having tortillas to eat. The children were always asking for milk, but the family hadn’t been able to afford any for a long time. We spent the rest of the evening praying over the little girl, that God would use her voice to speak words. We prayed for the expecting sister’s baby to arrive safely, for the grandmother’s business, for the dad’s job search, for the family to have food, and for safety, hope, and joy.

Seeing Him Move

When we finished, the family said they were so glad that we had come and that they felt as though their fears and burdens had been lifted after sharing and receiving prayer. After learning that they knew a little about Jesus but had not been connected to a church, we invited them to visit ours. They excitedly said yes.

As we walked back to Raquel’s, I mentioned to Mark how we had unused food in our home. A few days earlier, we had bought groceries for an event to feed the kids at church. We found out afterward that there was going to be a taco fest instead, so the ham, cheese, apples, and bread were still fresh and unused in our home. Mark and I immediately knew that we were meant to share them with these new friends.

The next evening, we came back to that dead-end street with the food and some milk for the kids. As we rounded the corner, the little boy noticed us right away. He got excited and called for his family. By the time we reached his house, they had all gathered around with big smiles—such a different scene from the sad faces we had been met with just the day before! As we shared the food, the little boy jumped up and down while chanting, “Milk, milk, milk!”

After he had settled down, we learned that during the night the little girl had woken up and said, “Mama, Poppy!” Having never heard her speak before, her mom and dad ran to her side. She then said to them, “Poppy, turn on the light.” They were stunned and overjoyed and knew that it was the work of God in their home. We were so excited to hear their story and so encouraged to realize that even with our halting Spanish—full of mixed-up tenses and mispronounced words—God is using us and placing us where we can see Him touching wonderful people whom He loves. God ministered to all of us through this exciting and fast answer to prayer, and now this family is attending church! Mark and I are currently praying for the greatest gift of all—that they’d all come to know Jesus as their Savior.

Pray With Us?

One of the toughest aspects of experiencing hardship is the vulnerability that accompanies it. However, vulnerability leaves opportunities for stories to be shared, tears to be shed, hugs to be exchanged, and for hearts to be lifted to God. “We pray that the communities that struggle and have such desperation will one day know the Lord because we walked together with them through the hard times,” Sue Davis said. Will you join us in praying that this family and others the Davises will walk alongside would come to accept Christ as Lord?