In the fall of 2004, I began to feel a personal responsibility to the workers in my construction company, just as I began negotiating the sale of my business.  I began by revealing this to the buyers as the reason for selling.  I told them it had begun as a burden to help their families back in Mexico , and to see them return home to their wives and children.  My calling in Mexico , however, predates these events by many years.

I was born on December 4, 1949 in McAllen , Texas on the border of Mexico .  I lived there with my family for two years, moving to San Antonio , Texas in the fall of 1951.  Some of the earliest memories I have are of playing with my Mexican friends and returning from time to time to the citrus orchards and farms of my families’ friends in McAllen .

In San Antonio , beginning in sixth grade I began to study Spanish, eventually finishing five years of study.  At this point I was able to speak and write essays and even poetry in Spanish.  At age 15 I was awarded a summer scholarship to The University of Mexico in Mexico City to study history, art and language.  I attended school that summer in the same classes as other university students.   I first became aware of Mexican political upheaval when I was swept up in a massive protest on campus one day!  Thus, I was immersed in the culture for nearly three months.  I had previously been exposed to the culture in the north of Mexico by my high school teacher on several three and four day trips to Monterrey , in 1965 and 1966.

Three years later, I was back in Puebla , Mexico to study with a transplanted American college.  The mother of one of my classmates at Texas A&M was a professor of Spanish at San Antonio College , and I was invited to attend.  Once again, we all became close to other Mexican students in Puebla , and even observed their political activism as they protested in the streets.  Again, I studied pre-columbian art, language, geography and history of Mexico .

In 1989, after retiring from the oilfield in Alaska , my wife Mary and our two children moved to Mexico for about five months.  We lived on an island named Isla Mujeres in the Caribbean sea, off Mexico ’s Yucatan peninsula.  I worked at the island’s main bakery, whose owner was Maya indigenous.  Our housekeeper and yard man, Maria and Jose, were both Maya, and we became close with their entire family, especially their children.  Leaving them in Mexico was very difficult, but celebrating their son’s “quinceanero” at our home on the final day is a precious memory.  On our road trip out of Mexico , we stopped at the little town of Palenque , home of some of the most famous ruins in Central America .  There I saw a man dressed in a white, floor length tunic with long, waist length black hair, bobbed over his forehead.  I was drawn to him somehow, and began to speak with him.  He explained in broken Spanish that he was from a nearby village and had come to sell his homemade spears and bows and arrows.  He told me his people were called the Lacandon.  I have never forgotten that brief meeting or my indigenous friends in Isla Mujeres.

In November, 1992, I accepted Christ as my Lord and Savior.  I was broken by my financial hardship, which had occurred in a relatively short time of just three years.  I had come to the end of myself, my education and my own will.  I was reading Psalm 51, when an incredible feeling of relief and joy came over me.  I was looking for comfort in scripture when I read verse 17, “ The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit:  a broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise.”  Truly, my heart was broken!  But I had an immense feeling of peace, and I knew God was present and that He loved me.  I gave my life to Him in that moment.  My life changed forever.

Since moving to Columbus , Georgia in July, 1994 and joining Edgewood Baptist Church , my life has been richly blessed.  My walk with Him has been a slow, steady maturing in faith.  By grace I have been given discernment to know what to do in matters of family and business.  I am blessed with a strong Christian wife who ministers every day to the children of our church in the music ministry.  My own children have chosen to follow Christ, one by one in baptism.  Life is not a bed of roses, but I know what awaits me when I go to be with the Father.

Clearly, God was refining me for 42 years for a purpose.  That purpose is to worship Him  and to bring others to Him in order to receive Jesus as Lord and Savior.  I feel He has uniquely prepared me to serve Him in Latin America .  I have served Edgewood Baptist Church as a missionary in Guatemala , Cuba and now in Mexico .  I have now attended the Frontliners conference and completed a two week training in Leon , Mexico .  I am a designated Strategy Coordinator in Mexico for the International Mission Board, dedicated to the Zoque people.

I praise Him for all He has done in my life, and I intend to serve Him all my remaining days.  May I give Him glory.

First always to Him,

Stephen Haag