As you have undoubtedly heard, the violence, kidnappings and murders in Juarez, Mexico, continue unabated. It has touched the lives of everyone who lives there, even in the very poor neighborhoods where we work. Extortion is on the rise with criminals calling up innocent people at home demanding a quota, a “payment for protection” – or else! If the family decides to pay the quota, it usually leads to endless demands for money until they have nothing left. If they don’t pay, the family members are often killed. These dreaded phone calls demanding quotas have terrorized the inhabitants of this city.
A few weeks ago one of our volunteers named Modesta, who helps at the Lord’s Food Bank in Juarez, received this type of threatening phone call. Modesta’s daughter answered the phone first – and immediately started crying. Her brother grabbed the phone from her and heard the man on the other end say, “We’re going to kill you all. Right now we have people on the corner of the street where you live ready to kill your whole family if you don’t give us the quota. And if you hang the phone up, we are going to kill you.” Modesta’s son started trembling with the phone frozen in his grip. Then Modesta’s son-in-law took the phone. The man threatened him with the same things.
Realizing what was going on, Modesta said, “Give the phone to me.” Before the caller had a chance to say how much money they were demanding or where to bring it, she started telling him, “You don’t have any power over me. You don’t have any power over my life. The only one who has power over me is God. You can’t do anything to me.”
“Oh yes, I do have power,” the man snarled back. “Let’s see if your God will defend you. I’m heading over there now to kill you.”
“My God will defend me,” Modesta boldly proclaimed. “And you, you need to repent. Jesus loves you. Quit this terrible life you are living. Repent and return to God!” Then she quoted from memory all of Psalm 91, “You who live in the shelter of the Most High, who abide in the shadow of the Almighty, will say to the LORD, ‘My refuge and my fortress; my God, in whom I trust…’” She spoke the words with confidence and faith.
The man tried to continue his threats but Modesta cut him off, insisting, “Look, you need to repent. Ask God to forgive you. I will pray for you. Don’t continue on this path.”
Then suddenly the man hung up. “He had warned us not to hang up the phone, but he was the one to hang up.”
Modesta’s family were all crying, scared out of their wits. She turned to them and said, “No. Why are you worried if God is with us? God is here.” Her kids wanted to call the police. “Why do you want to call the police? They aren’t going to do anything. But God is here! God is the one who is going to act. God will protect us.” Gradually they calmed down, but no one wanted to leave the house. “What? Of course we are going to leave the house. We are going to go and do what we need to do.” So they reluctantly followed their mom out the door.
“At first I felt a bit nervous,” Modesta admitted later. “But I kept talking to God, asking Him for strength. As we left the house, no one was there in the streets and no one was on the corner. We had no problems at all and haven’t been bothered since. Glory to God!”