Around noon, we left the Mercado Jua'rez for the "Cathedral" plaza. Called this because of the large cathedral in the square, the plaza sits in the downtown, red-light district of Jura'rez. In the shadow of a gazebo, the team set up their drama equipment and our translator, Lily, introduced the group and each drama, as well as translated student's testimonies between dramas. She closed each time with an explanation of the dramas and an invitation for those who wanted prayer to come forward.
"The dramas were powerful and touching to people. I had the feelings they felt. I was there," said Kim Smith. Translators went with small groups of students out into the crowd to pray with people. Some wanted healing, some wanted to accept Jesus, and some just wanted to know more. After seeing the dramas done in the square, one man said that they would be "burned in my mind forever" and thanked God for bringing him to that place at that time.Tonight, we returned to the barrio to do the dramas for a different group of people. Only a few people sat outside the small church when we arrived, so we split into our small groups again and walked around, telling everyone we met about the dramas.
When we returned to the church, the audience had grown, and Lily and Penny, a Mission Adventures (MA) leader, had begun to lead us in a time of worship, singing Spanish praise songs and praying. Then the group performed their dramas, two students gave their testimonies, and Lily closed with prayer.
"The dramas were definitely powerful," said Lindsay Hackmann, a college student. "The ministries in general were a humbling experience. You saw how little they had. They wanted us to come back. I liked hearing the prayer of salvation in Spanish. In any language it was cool."
The sun had begun to disappear when we finished, so we set up the generator to light up the little area, and we gave candy and piggyback rides to the grateful children, laughing as the kids painted our faces and jumped on our backs. "There was no way an American boy would have been content playing catch for 30 minutes," said Stephanie, talking about a boy named Luis who we had met the day before when passing out flyers. "It's sad that we crave so much, but they are content with so little. Do I need all this? I can't get that little boy's face out of my mind. My heart was praying that God would do great things with this boy and that I would see him in Heaven."