This is Conrad and Heidi. They are pastors working at our partner church in Paniasco, Mexico.
And I'm so excited to be up here to talk with them and interview them and introduce them to you,
because these guys have been huge influences on my life.
I've gotten to go on three trips when they were pastoring down in Wachinera,
and they were so impactful and to watch these guys work in faith and in trust
and the life change that God is bringing to people in that region.
Anyway, so excited for you to meet them.
So let's do this. I know it's a short amount of time, so you can't give us your whole life story in 30 seconds.
You guys just made a transition to Paniasco, but before that, talk to us about what you were doing down in Mexico.
First of all, thank you for having us here this evening.
My name is Conrad. This is Heidi, like Eric was saying.
About nine years ago, God sent us to this little town up in the mountains in Mexico.
When we get there, we thought, you know, we're going to get there and we're going to do God's work.
But when we get there, we realize that we're the only Christians in town.
We started working. That's where we met, you know, Eric and the group here from Life Center, and it was great.
But thank God that today we have, God has risen four churches up in those towns.
You know, towns that were, yes, you know, towns that were established back in the 1600s
and not a Protestant church into the late 2000s, you know, by God's mercy and grace.
That's what he did.
Yeah, yeah, and a lot of hard work and driving the van back and forth and back and forth.
So Heidi, so you guys are, you worked in Washington for nine years and now you're moving to Paniasco.
So you're going from the mountains to the ocean.
What are the kind of challenges associated with making that move?
Well, we know that if we trust God and we let Him do, make the decision for us, there is really no challenges.
This is all about him and it's his church.
So you limit, let him make the decisions.
But I am reminded of Abraham and how Abraham was chosen to do something very difficult in his family with his son.
But at the end of the, at the end of the times when he was saved, God made a covenant with Abraham to be something even greater through him.
So he called us to go to Paniasco and do something greater for his kingdom. And I see his covenant with us now.
It is very hard and very challenging to leave from one place that you have learned to love so much.
And so we have seen them grow so much and come to a different area where there's more need.
But it's a process of growing.
So I'm very blessed to have been part of God's kingdom in that.
Amen. And these guys, I mean, these guys, the faith that they live out is so, so real, so authentic.
Just so many, I don't know how, but I think we cause more problems when we come than we solutions.
But we're down there and problems are arising. And you know, for me, my first instinct is, oh, I got to fix this.
And these guys for real are just like, stop everything. Let's pray. Let's see what the Lord wants to do.
And seeing God work some incredible things out in those kinds of situations.
Okay, so no challenges because God's in control.
But what are, talk to us a little bit about the fruit that you guys are seeing.
What you're kind of leaving behind in Washington and now what you're looking forward to in Penaesco.
Like Heidi was saying, you know, the hardest thing about leaving one place and going to another is the people, the relationships.
But also the beautiful thing about it is to be able to see that generation after generation are stepping up in God's kingdom
and showing what God's love is all about. And that's what's been the best, just to be able to see people race up
and take charge in God's kingdom and show His love.
Yeah, and you guys, I mean, these guys are so humble, but just a really quick story.
So we went down there, I think five years ago, the first time, five or six years ago, and there's this couple Lupita and Leo.
And Lupita is an awesome lady. She used to smuggle cash across the border in cereal boxes for the cartel.
But now she is serving the Lord and on fire and loving Jesus. It's so awesome.
And then her husband, Leo, when we would come down, a lot of the men in Mexico, especially are really standoffish
and don't really want to be a part of the church. Don't want anything to do with Jesus.
Leo is kind of very standoffish. And as we went down on the trips, he got like just like inches closer, but still like not coming around.
And now that you guys are moving on from Washington, he is preaching and leading the church and pastoring
and it's an incredible, I mean, it's an incredible change that the Lord has produced that these guys have helped make happen.
That's right.
And he was your bus driver.
He still is.
Yeah.
He still is.
Guys, let me tell you, driving to Washington is the scariest road trip that you'll ever take.
15 passenger vans are not meant to go 100 miles an hour around corners, but they do.
It's very safe. Send your kids with us to Mexico. It's super fun.
But then you guys drive the 15 passenger van, the jankiest one I've ever seen.
That's right.
And you put 30, 33, 35 people in a 15 passenger van.
That's right. That's the record.
Totally cool.
They're trying to break record.
Hey, it's all for Jesus.
Okay, here's what we're going to do. I'm going to pray for these guys.
And I hope you'll pray with me.
And then what I'm hoping for you is they're going to be around after the service.
You want to come and say hi and meet them.
But there are some awesome opportunities for ministry to happen in Mexico and for God to maybe expand your ministry horizons a little bit.
So as we're praying, maybe think about if there's a way that maybe God wants to use you to stretch you, challenge you.
And maybe there's a way that you can step in and be of some help to what you guys are doing down in Mexico, what God's doing down in Mexico.
Let's pray.
God, thank you so much for Conor and Heidi and thank you for their ministry and their faithfulness and their willingness to listen to you and their courage.
And we thank you for what you're doing in Wachinera and all the surrounding towns and the people that are coming to know you, Jesus,
and the people that are serving you, who were far from you.
We're so grateful for that.
We pray that you continue to encourage those people and those churches and they continue to grow.
And we pray for Conor and Heidi now as they're moving to Paniasco to take over this church.
And we just pray, Lord, that you would multiply just a hundredfold the work that they're doing, that you would send more harvesters and you would help more and more people to know you and follow you and serve you and know the love that you have for them, Lord.
We thank you for Conor and Heidi.
Pray that you continue to encourage them and build them up and surround them with people to help them in this work.
We love you, Lord.
It's your name.
We pray and everybody said, amen.
Amen.
Thanks everybody.
Thank you to Conor and Heidi.
They drove here from Paniasco and they're driving back starting tomorrow.
So pray for them on the road and you can't drive a hundred miles an hour in the United States just so you know.
