On the week of October 23rd, I got a call from Greeley’s undercover police that Mexican Mafia had moved into Island Grove Park. The first thing they did was run off all the homeless people in the area. The Mafia said, “Either you leave or you get shot. We are planning on taking over the entire area and we don’t want your kind around here.”
The homeless frequent this area a lot because of its availability to the river and space to hang out. Now they are going to have to hide from the presence of these guys. Some of them did challenge the Mafia, but that didn’t last long as the Mafia quickly beat them up. The undercover police have been trying to arrest the Mafia but they don’t make any mistakes for a conviction. The undercover police showed me videos taken with drones. The Mexican mafia consists entirely of guys. As I continued watching the videos, God was preparing me to take 33 Bibles to this organization. There are two gangs in Greeley called the Reds and the Blues. From the videos I could see they were losing to the Mafia guys. Once these guys were gone, the Mafia would totally own Greeley. I did not want to interfere with the operations of the undercover police and God had not, at this point in time, given me permission to go in yet. So I waited for God’s permission to do so.
The undercover police contacted me many times during the week to follow. I continued to observe and God finally said, “Sonny, you need to go and talk to them today.”
This was on a Tuesday. I immediately went home and gathered all the Bibles and left for Island Grove Park in Greeley, Colorado. Before I entered the park, God said for me to start playing some music. The selection he gave me was quite unusual. He said play “In the Mood” by Glenn Miller. If you don’t realize who this guy is, he is a singer from the 50’s. I said, “God, this is not going to help relieve the situation. I just have not heard of any Mexican gangs or Hispanic people who listen to Glenn Miller.”
After God listened to my so called advice, he said, “Sonny, just do it!”
God sees the big picture. I did not understand what he was planning. I pulled up to the Mexican Mafia playing Glenn Miller loudly. You may even wonder why or how I was able to find a recording of Glenn Miller. I happen to like the song that God asked me to play and I actually had it on my phone. I parked near them while the song was still playing and got out of my pickup. They all reached for their pistols and pointed them at me. They said, “You made a big mistake coming here. I don’t know who you think you are to pull up like you did playing that kind of music.”
I replied, “Let me tell you about the music you heard. God told me to play it loud so you could hear it.”
Before his men started beating me up, Carlos the leader of the Mafia said, “Leave him alone! I can tell you exactly why he was playing that music. That was my grandpa’s favorite song. Every time I would go over to his house when I was younger, he would play Glenn Miller and I heard this song many times. This was my grandpa’s favorite song. While he was playing that music he would always tell me about Jesus Christ.”
Now, I knew exactly why God had me play this song. Carlos then said, “Everybody put your pistols away. This is only one guy.”
But Carlos didn’t realize that I brought God’s Kingdom with me. Carlos said, “What do you want to say? What do you want with us?”
I said, “I want your hearts for Jesus Christ.”
At this moment Carlos took over the preaching for me by talking about his grandfather. He started telling his men about what his grandfather told him about Jesus Christ. He said, “My grandfather would continuously read John 3:16 to me.
16 For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.
Carlos began quoting scriptures to his gang. My grandfather would never stop. I would tell him that I do not want want to hear about Jesus Christ anymore. My grandfather would then say that everything you see is temporary. But Jesus Christ is eternal.”
I just stood there listening to everything that Carlos was speaking. He then said, “He would have this board in his living room. He used a hot knife to sear Matthew 6:33 into the wood.
33 But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.
My grandpa never gave up on me. He continued to show me all kinds of scriptures. My grandfather’s favorite scripture was Jeremiah 29:11″
His right-hand man Victor never put his pistol away. He felt it was his duty to protect the leader. But Victor was listening intently to what Carlos was saying. He then asked, “Are there any more scriptures that you can share.”
Carlos replied, “That is mostly it but hell is real. You will be thrown into the Lake of Fire if you do not give your heart to Jesus Christ.”
Victor was amazed and asked, “How can you remember all that? You are now preaching to us and you are our leader!”
Carlos said, “Yeah, some things you just don’t forget. You’re thinking that you’re not paying attention but I found out that I was listening to every word my grandpa was speaking.”
Victor looked at me and asked, “What is Jeremiah 29:11?”
I said, “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”
Carlos then stepped in and said, “When you read that verse you notice the part that says the Lord. That was actually the Lord speaking himself. That was not like Matthew or Luke writing it.”
As I was listening to Carlos, I said to myself man this guy could be a preacher. I then looked at Carlos and asked, “So now you have a gang and your primary purpose is beating up people. This park is the only place that the homeless people can hang out, but you physically ran them off. Now they have no place to go. Jesus would not do that he would come here and feed them. He would give them clothing and blankets so they would stay warm.”
Carlos immediately started crying when I said that. He said, “My grandfather told me that someday I would go to the homeless and feed them, give them clothes and give them warm blankets.” Carlos was starting to become emotional. He then said, “I don’t know what’s going on inside of me but you better stop talking.”
I said, “It is not me talking to you but it is the Holy Spirit. You have forgotten what your purpose is in this world. That is to preach to those who are lost and broken hearted. Just like your Grandpa and your Dad used to do.”
Carlos was definitely ready to lose composure. He just had to walk away. As soon as Carlos left the scene, Victor looked at me and said, “So you come here to tell us about Jesus. Then you bring all these tacos from Taco Bell for us to eat. Our leader, of which I have no clue what just happened, but he knows all these scriptures. You tell him that his purpose is to feed the homeless, give clothes to them, and tell them about Jesus.” Before I could answer him he then said, “You do not know all the things we have done. We do not mess around.”
I said, “Victor, it does not matter what you have done. If you ask for forgiveness from our King, he will forgive you. Then he’ll forget everything. But you need to ask him for forgiveness first.”
Victor then paused as he was thinking about what I said. He then said, “I don’t know what is happening right now. I have to go take a walk.”
At this Moment, he finally put his pistol down. Then he began to walk away. His men did not know what was going on either but when Victor mentioned the word “tacos” they looked at me and one man asked, “Did you really bring us tacos?”
I then put the tailgate down. I brought the Bibles and the tacos and laid them out on my tail gate. I asked what his name is and he revealed his name is “Hyman”. I had him write his name down on a piece of paper. I then had the rest of the mafia do the same thing. I personally put their individual names in each Bible and wrote a personal message to each one in their Bibles. The Holy Spirit told me what to write for each man. As I handed each man his Bible, I said, “It is your responsibility to give your heart to Jesus Christ. I cannot force you to do that.”
Meanwhile Carlos came back and said, “I have been thinking about what you said. I am going to go back home in Mexico. I am going to start a ministry there. I want to rededicate my heart to Jesus Christ. Will you help me?”
I prayed over Carlos as he rededicated his life to Jesus Christ. I looked at his men and said, “If any of you guys want your name written into the Lamb’s Book of Life, come over here. I am not going to force you to come over here but you will not be able to say that no one ever told you about Jesus Christ loving you. You can never say that. I am telling you right now that Jesus Christ loves you. He came to this world for us. Even before we were born he knew us and he still does.”
Victor then shared, “I never liked hurting people. I did it to protect my leader. I always felt bad after we hurt people.”
They all started sharing things about their life and soon they were all giving their hearts to Jesus Christ. Soon they began calling their parents and telling them that they were ready to come home. Carlos shared with his folks the ministry that he was going to start with the homeless. All his men continued eating while all this was going on. Some of the homeless people were curious to see what was going on. They watched us and kept coming closer. Carlos shouted, “Hey, if you guys are hungry we got some food here for you.”
Carlos was already starting his ministry feeding the homeless. Soon this taco truck suddenly appeared. I had no idea where this truck came from. The driver shouted, “I hear somebody needs some food around here.”
Carlos said, “We don’t have a lot of money here, so you can leave.”
The driver replied, “No it’s free Taco Tuesday.”
The man’s wife was also in the truck and they both started making tacos and burritos for the gang and me. More of the homeless were hiding behind the ditch on the Northside. They were watching all that was going on. They now felt more bold and came over. I looked at Carlos and said, “God is already bringing them to you.”
There were close to 50 people there being fed including the mafia itself. The driver said, “We need to stop eating and thank God for this meal.”
He used the intercom system on his truck and started praying to the gang. The homeless guys began crying. Carlos walked up to them and asked, “Do you guys know Jesus Christ. He’s the way, the truth and life. He is eternal.”
I already had given him his Bible. He opened it up to John 3:16 and started reading that verse. He was definitely ministering to homeless people. Wednesday morning they all jumped into their 61 Impalas and headed back to Mexico as changed men.
I had a Freitas taco that was out of this world. The driver, who somehow knew who I was, said, “Good work Sonny!”
I said, “I did not do anything thing. Jesus Christ did it all.”
The driver then said, “No charge. These tacos are all free today. Do you want anymore?”
I gratefully said, “No, I am full. That is one of the best tacos that I ever ate.”
What was interesting, there were nine undercover police that were watching and listening to everything that we said. They confided in me that they have never cried like they did when I was sharing Jesus with them. We saw the whole thing. What you just did blew us away. But they said, “We were really concerned when you started playing Glenn Miller. We all thought you lost it! ”
God gets the Glory and the Victory. There was no way I would have chosen Glenn Miller. God knew Carlos’s heart much better than I did. He could not have made a better choice to deliver his message.
A few weeks have passed and Carlos and his men are getting support in Mexico. He calls me frequently to share what is happening. He will be reaching the homeless. Likewise in Greeley this was a desperate situation. Nothing could stand up against these guys and they were worried. They did not realize that God’s Kingdom was present. Getting rid of a threat is one thing but turning the threat into a ministry, only the true God, Yahweh, could master such a plan.