Rachel Christudhas

I’ll never forget when we first landed in Morelia and drove through the city. I remember seeing a small glass case that was lit up and in it was an idol of the Virgin Mary. The last time I had seen an idol before that was idols of Hindu gods all over towns in India. There were idols of Mary and other idols of important Catholic figures all over Mexico. I had never realized how a religion so close to Christianity can be so close to something as far from it as Hinduism. I began to see how lost every person in the world is without Jesus. It didn’t matter if you pray to saints, the Virgin Mary or one of the many Hindu gods. God was showing me the way the world was deep in the sea of dead souls without Jesus.

I struggled with doubt when I would think about how people so devoted to their beliefs can come to find the truth. I doubted how people can truly turn their lives around and find Jesus. I remember learning a great lesson when we went to a juvenile prison. As I was hearing boys who were as young as 15 years old, share about how they had stolen things, committed rape or murdered my heart was broken. Their faces reflected their pure hearts and it was hard to believe they had done anything wrong in their life. As I saw the purity of their hearts, God was revealing how that is how he sees the entire world. Internal and external sins are all the same in the eyes of God. God refreshed my heart with the Gospel as he showed me that all hearts are in equal need of a Savior and we are all just as hopeless as the next person without the truth of the Gospel in our lives. God reminded me that just as he took my helpless soul into His arms, His heart desires to reach out as much to those who have put their hope elsewhere. He overcame my unbelief by teaching me that just as He worked in my heart; He can work in the hearts of murderers, alcoholics, orphans, and university students. God opened up my eyes to see the ripe harvest in Mexico and showed me how He is eagerly awaiting for faithful workers to go out and share the Gospel. It was truly a privilege to be a part of the work God has been doing in Mexico and catching a view of His redemptive plan.