Once again we are trying to catch up on the blog a little! Semana Santa (Holy Week) here is a pretty big deal and most people are on vacation for either one or 2 weeks, so this gives me some “down time” to catch up on some projects.
In April of 2022 we had a chance to visit Pastora Dalila in San Miguel El Grande, about a 2 hour drive from our home. Or at least it would have been that long if the car had not decided to have a crisis. To make that long story short we decided to leave the car in a city about 45 minutes from where we were going with some believers who promised to take care of it while we visitied Dalila. We then took a taxi to and from her home and the car limped back to the city on our return. We discovered while we were there that there are very few mechanics in this part of the state that work on automatic transmissions. We also were reminded that God provides for all our needs. Virtually the only family Dalila knew in the city was where we left the car. Taxis run constantly between cities. The car made it back to our mechanic who was able to find and fix the problem. God is good all the time!
We went with 2 sisters from the Ellos te Necesitan team, Macrina and Evangelina.
In our brief, 2 day visit, we were able to visit the church that Dalila pastors and see the home she is living in. At the time, she was still having to use an outhouse as their was no functioning bathroom inside her home or the church. What a blessing it was to sit and talk with her, to hear her heart as to both the significant challenges she had had over the previous year as well as the ways that God was working with and through her. As we walked through town, we learned about the older building style used here, which reminded me a lot of the building style used long ago in the Colorado mountains near where I grew up.
We visited nearby towns and enjoyed the incredible architecture, art and ambiance there.
We were blessed to stay with a local family. We learned about their work and life in this community. The husband of the family nearly died of COVID and the family shared their difficulties from not being able to find oxygen, which meant that the family members literally kept him breathing by manually fanning him for 2-3 hours before someone found and delivered oxygen. Their community refused to allow them to stay in their home while he was sick, so they had to find another place in a nearby city to live for several weeks. The husband is working with others to translate the Bible into his native language, Mixteca, which he is fluent in. The very first indigenous language scriptures in the state of Oaxaca were translated here, and he shared with us memories of those first translators that came and lived and worked in their community. He was at the time of our visit, an elected community official, and often had to be creative as he did his job since protestants often conflict with Catholic rituals and requirements in these communities.
We learned that in their community, when a person dies, the community members come to the house with things to help the surviving family, much like we do. However there are some significant differences. The items they bring may be a chicken or a goat or some lumber or other tangible objects that they have access to. There is a person from the community government who is required to stay with the family during the several days after the death to make a list of exactly who brings what. It is expected that the family will repay or replace the “donation” at some point in the future, so careful notation is needed. It may take years for the family to repay these “gifts”. As is customary everywhere here, there is no embalming, so funerals do take place within 1-2 days.
The family generously gave up one of their bedrooms for us. Unfortunately, because of our general size (in comparison to theirs) we weren’t able to share the bed, so I (Bev) slept on the concrete floor! I had a sleeping bag underneath me and I actually did get a little sleep, but it wasn’t the best night’s sleep ever! On the other hand, they had an indoor toilet, so that was a super blessing for those middle-of-the-night trips.
They have a beautiful place which is along the “main” 2 lane highway, but they also had all sorts of lovely animals and some crops growing in their fields. It was idyllic in so many ways!
The mom in the family was super sweet and cooked such excellent meals for us! She had a large, detached kitchen where she cooked over wood flames. It amazes me what she was able to do in that kitchen!
Visiting Mexican missionaries is a special joy for us. A road trip with beautiful scenery, spending time with other believers, learning about their way of life, listening to the missionaries as they share the hard, painful, joyous, challenging, sweet things of their lives, praying for them, supporting and strengthening them when we can. What a joy this trip was!
Barefoot missionaries 