FAQ: How safe is Mexico?

There's a question that we often get from groups that are coming and down, and a number of you have asked me as well over the past couple of years, how safe is it really to be in Mexico? Good question, especially considering the kind of media coverage that Mexico has been getting over the past couple of years. It seems that every Canadian that gets hurt or killed in Mexico makes the headlines and puts another notch on the never-going-to-visit-Mexico side of the equation! Granted, there are areas in Mexico that I would rather not go to, if I could help it, but thankfully, the place where we are at is a very safe place.

Some of the most violent areas are along the border where there is much drug trafficking taking place and the most dangerous places include cities like Tijuana and most of all Ciudad de Juarez, or on the American side, El Paso, Texas. The amount of lives that have been claimed in Juarez as the military and the drug cartels clash has been very sad, but both of these cities are well to the East and West of where we are and where we cross the border, thankfully.

The city of Guaymas, on the other hand, (a city of over 100,000, about 10 minutes from San Carlos) has been a very peaceful place, largely untouched by the affects of drug cartel. It is somewhat out of the way of the mountains to the east, where lots of drugs are grown and a lot of trafficking takes place. But I was asking a good friend who is also the son of Pastor Rafael, the pastor for whom we built a house this past winter, why he thought this was the case, why Guayas has been spared of the violence that other areas of Mexico have seen. One reason, he said, could be because of the presence of the Marina, the Mexican Navy here in the city, with a Naval base present in Guaymas. But the other reason he shared had to do with God at work in this city.

From my perspective, over the past four years that I have been here, this has been one thing that I have loved about being here, seeing how God is at work in Guaymas. Not only is there a large number of healthy, active evangelical churches in the area, but they have an aliancia, an alliance among the churches, where they meet once a month.  To see the spirit of unity among these churches and amongst the pastors is something very special.

The absolutely incredible part is that the government of Sonora has recognized it! Desperately wanting to do what they can, specifically in the drug war, they have actually recognized that something is different here in Guaymas, and actually approached the pastor's alliance, realizing that it was the presence of the evangelical church that was making a different in this city.  About a month ago, they came to the pastors to encourage them in what they were doing and to offer help and resources to keep it up!

One of the things that the churches have been doing is evangelistic conferences for the city.  This past week, they had a four day conference in Guaymas, outdoor, by the downtown plaza.  The conference began with about 1,000 people on the first night and grew to several thousand as it went on.  A number of people gave their lives to the Lord each night.  The pastors are hoping that with the help of the local government they can tap into some resources to help promote and continue to have these types of events.

So is this a safe place to be?  Well, first of all, is there really any place where we are guaranteed to be 100% safe?  Probably not!  Second of all, if God is truly at work here, there's no other place that I would rather be!  There are other fruits of this conference that I would love to share but maybe I'll save that for a different post.  Dios te bendiga!