January 28, 2006

I left Ocosingo today without Pablo. Pastor Gaspar, Amalia, Pricillia (her 6 month old daughter) and Amalia’s cousin Flo and I are traveling to Tzaljala to conduct a mission conference. We are going to one of Gaspar’s nine churches, and it is the church that hosted the Salem Presbytery Medical trip last summer. I will be the lead speaker at the conference as I talk about World Missions.

I have heard great stories about this church from Ginny and Holly who participated on the medical trip last summer. One of the best was about the road up the mountain to the village. It is at an elevation of 1750 meters,(about 5,700 feet) so we will have some climbing to do. I am glad to have a 4x4 for the trip.

We travel 30 miles to Yajalon and turn up the dirt road and begin the climb. It has rained for several days, but today it is clear. The road is narrow and muddy, but we have no trouble and thankfully meet no traffic coming down the mountain. As we switch back and forth up the mountain we see the city below growing more distant and the wispy clouds blowing across the summit getting closer. We go through several holes filled with water that would swamp a normal car, but we cruise right through them.

We crest the mountain and begin descending along a very rocky portion of road. I am reminded of what the Romans were able to accomplish with their cobblestone roads, but they used slave labor to construct them. We come around a corner and see a herd of cows blocking the road ahead! We just waiting until the tenders could drive them around the vehicle. We arrived in Tzaljala at 11:30 am, we have driven 45 miles from Ocosingo and it has taken 2 hours.

We got settled into our quarters and were taken to the kitchen for breakfast. The kitchen is a large building with a mud floor and two large rooms. Three cook fires were burning in the left corner of the main room. One had a huge wash tub filled will a black frothing liquid. I asked what it was and was told coffee. There must have been 50 gallons of coffee boiling in that tub. I was told it would be enough for today’s meeting and tomorrow’s church service.

In a room off the main kitchen there was a group of ladies working and the noise of an electric motor. I walked in and found the tortilla making shop. Glenn and I had seen a new corn grinder in a store close to the house in Ocosingo, and here was one in action. One woman put boiled corn kernals into a hopper on the top of the grinder. The corn vibrated into a shoot that directed it to an auger that ground the wet corn into a paste that fell into a receptacle at the bottom of the grinder. The paste was taken to a table and kneeded, then put onto a large table where 5-6 women used presses to form thin patties. These were taken to a nearby fire and browned on round flat griddles. The corn tortilla is a stable in the diet of all rural Mexicans.

After breakfast we waited for the 3 pm mission conference to begin. I started writing in my notebook and was soon surrounded by a group of men and boys watching me write. Soon I had a crowd staring at me as I wrote and I know what it feels like to be the only white man in town. The stares, comments and laughter were directed at me, but I didn’t know what they were saying.

I wrote the word “coffee” and someone recognized it and we began a familiar pattern of teaching each other our respective language. Again, I am hearing more Tzeltal than Spanish, but we teach other all three languages. It is fun, but for an introvert like me it is very tiring. Ginny is the extrovert in the family and she would thrive on being in a group like this.

The mission conference was a success. I spoke for a little more than an hour about World Missions with Amalia translating into Spanish. I challenged them at the end by asking a question I had read in JK Yohannon’s book. He says to ask yourself this question “What is the single most important thing I am going to do with the rest of my life?” It cannot be a worldly or material thing and it must bring glory to God.

After the conference pastor Gaspar asked me to preach during the worship service the next morning. I said ok, not having anything prepared. We went to supper and were served a great meal of chicken stew, and then were treated to a 2 hour performance by a 7 piece Mariachi band composed of members of the congregation. They played until 9:30 pm while standing in front of the entrance to my quarters. I did a lot of thinking about the sermon I would write, but could not begin reading the bible or preparing until after they finished.