January 16, 2006

Monday morning, it’s cool in Ocosingo as we head to the bible school. Pablo has been away for almost two weeks and there is a line of people waiting to talk with him when we arrive. Our agenda is to match our calendars to make sure we do not have overlapping workgroups this summer or commitments that require Pablo to be two places at once.

My dual role as clinic construction and work group coordinator will require that we set up new systems for communication and accountability for Hebron Foundation. We reviewed each work group that has expressed an interest in coming during the summer of 2006 and I made notes for specific questions to ask each. We then discussed the four churches that have approached the foundation about hosting work groups. We agreed that unless more groups commit for 2006, that these new churches must wait until 2007 to host a group.

Pablo was in and out all day as more people arrived to talk with him. One meeting was special for me though. Two elders from the church in Busilja came to discuss adding a roof to the church a work group from Salem Presbytery assisted with in 2004. Ginny and I were on that trip and have very found memories of the hospitality of the village and people there. I remember pouring lots of concrete for the floor of the church and working and worshipping with the members of the congregation there. I recognized both gentlemen from our stay and it was a real pleasure to reconnect with them.

One story from that trip to Busilja captures the reason why so many people that come to Chiapas once, return again and again. The task for the week was to prepare the site for the church floor by filling in the low areas with rock and dirt and then mixing and pouring concrete for the slab.

The worksite was in the heart of the village of Busilja, but we needed rock from a jungle quarry ½ mile away. So we would make trips back and forth with the van and truck loading rocks and hauling them back to the worksite. It was hot and dirty work. On one of those trips, I looked back toward the site and saw one of our team, David Meacham from Statesville leading a band of old women and little children to the quarry. David is a remarkable man that but he has a quite demeanor. He was holding the hand of maybe the oldest lady in the village and had 25 children following behind, like a pied piper in the jungle. The group came to the quarry, filled their aprons, pants pockets, or just picked up a rock or two and headed back to the worksite.

In this way, every member of the community, no matter their age, participated in the construction of their church. By offering to take the time to connect with the ladies and children, many of whom did not speak Spanish, but their native Tzeltal, David humbled us all and taught us the importance of community. He reminded us that it is the people, not the project that is the most important.