Valverde Family

Family Life

August 19, 2026

Life in Mexico has been different than we had imagined. Learning Spanish has been both easier and more difficult than we had hoped. Certain topics and themes of life are very similar to the States and others could not be more different.

Language learning is a hard task. We commit the majority of our time to reading, listening, and speaking Spanish. We have been learning for about eleven months and have seen much growth in our lives, but with our growth comes our knowledge of how much further we have to go.

Church has (probably) been the biggest adjustment we have had to make here. The church community we are blessed with has welcomed us warmly and is helping us to learn and practice our Spanish, but at the same time church is different than in the States. For one, church is significantly longer than our church was back in Georgia. On average the service is about 2 hours and 15 minutes or so. Sermons can be upwards of an hour. Things we took for granted in churches in the states are not common here. Consistent expository preaching focusing on what the text and authors (divine and human) intended is not common. Systematized and consequential preaching plans through books of the Bible are few and far between. There are no greeters to welcome you, help you to find a seat, or show you around the building, because frankly they are not needed.

People who attend church here are committed. It is not a social gathering for people who want a little spirituality in their life. To identify as a Baptist is to reject the cultural acceptance of Catholicism and all that entails.

By Baptism all sins are forgiven, original sin and all personal sins, as well as all punishment for sin.

Catechism of the Catholic Church (1)

When compared with a true view of baptism, as the Scriptures teach, the Catholic understanding falls short. “In all instances of baptism in the New Testament, the act always followed a person’s faith in and confession of Christ, along with repentance (e.g., Acts 8:35–38; 16:14–15; 18:8; and 19:4–5). Baptism is not what gives us salvation. Baptism is an act of obedience after faith.” (2). When Christians show their public commitment of biblical believer’s baptism, they are showing they have placed their faith in Christ alone for their salvation, not by works or by following Catholic tradition and doctrine.

The amount of spiritual deception is so apparent. It is mind-numbing. Everywhere you go in the city you will see bell towers on top of beautiful architecture, murals depicting scenes from the Bible, and crucifixes with Jesus still on the cross. What is rarely seen is people trusting in the Lord, confessing sin directly to God, and the triumphant resurrected Jesus. People focus on the suffering Christ endured, not so that they might receive the Lord’s forgiveness and mercy, but so that they have the chance to earn their way to heaven. Catholics and Mexicans are focused on what they can do to obtain eternal life.

I am reminded of the story of Simon the Magician, who, when he encountered Peter and John laying hands on believers and saw them receive the Holy Spirit, wanted to buy the power of the Holy Spirit. Like Simon, people here are trying to buy/earn/gain their way to heaven. Praise God we cannot earn our own way but,

“For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” Christ took our place, bore the wrath we deserved, and paid the debt in full; so that we, fallen sinners in need of a Savior, could and would be redeemed.