One of the roles I gladly accept here is servant. If I am asked to do something that I am capable of doing, I always say yes. Frequently that involves the use of our mission vehicle, a 1994 Toyota Land Cruiser affectionately named “The Beast” by my daughters. Early one morning Pablo called and asked for my help. He said the Dodge Durango used by Pablo was broken down somewhere in the mountains and could I drive Santiago and a mechanic to see if we could get it started. He also said I might need to tow it back to the main road if we were not successful in getting it to run.
The Durango had been given to the Maya Synod by the state of Chiapas after it sat in an impound lot for 3 years. We had scrapped together about $3000 USD last October to have the engine rebuilt and new tires, but I wondered if we could get it to run once we got to it.
San, the mechanic,and I turned right off the paved road from Ocosingo to Palenque, onto a dirt road, and started driving into the mountainous rain forest. After 3-4 miles, we came around a curve and saw a crowd of people standing in the road. There was an over-turned Nissan pick-up truck in a culvert to our left. The truck had flipped over after its left wheels ran off the road when making the turn. Luckily, the driver was uninjured and there were no people in the back of the truck when it flipped. These trucks are one of the primary transportation methods here, and it is not unusual to see 12-15 people in the bed on their way to and from town.
We got out to look and help, and I noticed ropes were tied to the axles and frame of the truck. The people helping had placed tree trunks across the culvert beside the road. I realized that these men planned to flip this truck onto the logs using the ropes and human strength. But first they needed me to use the Beast to pull a large tree they had cut down with a machete (which is another story altogether) out of the jungle. So we tied a rope to the Beast, and I used the low range gear for the first since coming to Chiapas and pulled the tree from the jungle. The men cut it into three pieces and added these to the logs over the culvert. Then, before I knew it, everyone was holding onto a rope and preparing to flip the truck. I grabbed hold and like a mad tug-of-war, we began to pull on the ropes. With each pull, the excitement grew, the yelling got louder, and eventually the truck flipped onto its wheels on the tree trunks.
I was elated and surprised that we had been able to do something that no one I know in the states would attempt. As the men held the ropes, I attached a tow rope to the truck and to the Beast and slowly pulled the truck back onto the road. Everyone was yelling and whooping and patting me on the back for helping them, but they did the hard part! I just used the power of the Beast to help them complete the task.
These indigenous Indians are an industrious people who accomplish so much with the limited materials at their disposal. And they are a community of people helping each other. No one knew each other when they arrived at the scene of the accident, but they all worked together to help a fellow man out of a jam. I was happy to have participated and to have been able to help. I left with a renewed sense that if anything happened to us while we were in the middle of nowhere that we would be okay because of the hospitable and generous people of Chiapas.
The rest of the story is that we found the Durango, quickly found the problem, corrected it, and San drove it back to Ocosingo. Thanks be to God!
Wednesday, January 31, 2007
The birth of a mission
On Sunday morning I left the house at 6 am to drive Pastor Pablo to one of the 16 congregations planted by his main church in Tenejapa. We arrived at the Filipi congregation for the morning service. That afternoon we learned that the congregation had begun witnessing to a nearby village and found a Presbyterian elder from another church living in the community. He was pleased to know there were other Presbyterians near-by and asked if Filipi would help him start a church in the village.
On Sunday night, Elder Estephan cleared out his small house to make room for an evangelism service. His house is plain - a 30 X 15 ft wooden hut with a concrete floor spread thickly with pine needles, as is the custom in the highlands of Chiapas. Two bare light bulbs accented with a pulsing string of Christmas lights provide the only illumination in the room. Outside, a black plastic tarp had been draped across the front porch and staked to the earthen bank to protect the small sound system from rain. A praise band from the Filipi congregation had a guitar, bass, drum and accordion set up to play so the neighbors could know that services were being held.
Five Elders from the congregation sat on benches around the walls of the hut as 15 family members and neighbors came in for the service. Pastor Pablo offered a sermon explaining the basics of the Christian faith and our belief that Jesus is our salvation. I realized that I was witnessing the birth of a new mission, a term used here to describe a small gathering of believers. After the service, the Elders from Filipi discussed the creation of the mission and asked what the name should be. Elder Estephan requested the mission be named Mt. Sinai, but that name was already taken by another mission of the congregation. He then asked me to name the mission! I was surprised and honored. After running through several choices everyone agreed upon the name, Mt. Hermon.
The Elders continued discussing details about how they would support this new mission. Then we all sat down for a meal (my fourth of the day with the Filipi Elders.) We returned to Ocosingo in the fog and rain, thankful to God for his provision of safety and for the open hearts that received the Good News on a fog swept mountainside in Chiapas.
On Sunday night, Elder Estephan cleared out his small house to make room for an evangelism service. His house is plain - a 30 X 15 ft wooden hut with a concrete floor spread thickly with pine needles, as is the custom in the highlands of Chiapas. Two bare light bulbs accented with a pulsing string of Christmas lights provide the only illumination in the room. Outside, a black plastic tarp had been draped across the front porch and staked to the earthen bank to protect the small sound system from rain. A praise band from the Filipi congregation had a guitar, bass, drum and accordion set up to play so the neighbors could know that services were being held.
Five Elders from the congregation sat on benches around the walls of the hut as 15 family members and neighbors came in for the service. Pastor Pablo offered a sermon explaining the basics of the Christian faith and our belief that Jesus is our salvation. I realized that I was witnessing the birth of a new mission, a term used here to describe a small gathering of believers. After the service, the Elders from Filipi discussed the creation of the mission and asked what the name should be. Elder Estephan requested the mission be named Mt. Sinai, but that name was already taken by another mission of the congregation. He then asked me to name the mission! I was surprised and honored. After running through several choices everyone agreed upon the name, Mt. Hermon.
The Elders continued discussing details about how they would support this new mission. Then we all sat down for a meal (my fourth of the day with the Filipi Elders.) We returned to Ocosingo in the fog and rain, thankful to God for his provision of safety and for the open hearts that received the Good News on a fog swept mountainside in Chiapas.
Pray for the Maestro
If you have visited with us during the last couple of years to work on the clinic or on a project in a village, then you have met and worked with our friend, Ramiro. I am sure you would recognize him if you saw him….short, black hair, bright smile. We affectionately call him “Maestro” because he is a master mason and expert in construction.
Ramiro has been an important member of our team working on the construction of the medical clinic in Ocosingo. So I was distressed and saddened to learn that he had joined 300 local men on a journey to the border and beyond to find work that pays a wage which would allow them to support their families. As a master mason, Ramiro can make more in one hour at a US construction site than we pay him for a day's labor here. We are paying our workers well above the average for their work on the clinic, but the draw of the dollar was too strong for Ramiro and his brethren.
Ramiro paid a “coyote,” a human smuggler, $18,000 pesos (about $1,650 USD at current exchange rate) to provide him safe passage across the border to the US. We learned from his brother that somewhere in the desert along the US border, Ramiro was abandoned by the coyote and left to find his way to the pick-up point where transportation was waiting for him. He apparently did not make it to the rendezvous.
After wandering around in the desert for several hours, he was found by another coyote who took him to a safe house. However, this coyote demanded another $1,600 USD before he would release Ramiro. Please pray for Ramiro and his family as they negotiate with this coyote for his release. Stay tuned for more news.
Ramiro has been an important member of our team working on the construction of the medical clinic in Ocosingo. So I was distressed and saddened to learn that he had joined 300 local men on a journey to the border and beyond to find work that pays a wage which would allow them to support their families. As a master mason, Ramiro can make more in one hour at a US construction site than we pay him for a day's labor here. We are paying our workers well above the average for their work on the clinic, but the draw of the dollar was too strong for Ramiro and his brethren.
Ramiro paid a “coyote,” a human smuggler, $18,000 pesos (about $1,650 USD at current exchange rate) to provide him safe passage across the border to the US. We learned from his brother that somewhere in the desert along the US border, Ramiro was abandoned by the coyote and left to find his way to the pick-up point where transportation was waiting for him. He apparently did not make it to the rendezvous.
After wandering around in the desert for several hours, he was found by another coyote who took him to a safe house. However, this coyote demanded another $1,600 USD before he would release Ramiro. Please pray for Ramiro and his family as they negotiate with this coyote for his release. Stay tuned for more news.
Make a Joyful Noise (Rattle the roof)
The Psalmist says “Sing joyfully to the Lord, you righteous.” Psalms 33:1. In Presbyterian services in Chiapas and Tabasco, the people here do that and more. Most services last 3 hours and include choirs, Christian Mariachi bands playing acoustic instruments, and electrified praise bands using powerful sound systems. When a well amplified bass guitar is combined with concrete walls and floors and a tin roof, one has a new kind of sensory experience while listening to praise music. The tin roof vibrates, the bass from the guitar and drums pulsate through the benches, and you can feel it in your chest. Maggie once said she thought her heart was going to explode from the vibrations of a particularly loud praise band.
The Tzeltal language is different, but the hymns are the same. Celebrating communion by intinction with 250 members of a congregation in the highlands of Chiapas is a moving experience. I felt the presence of the Lord in my heart while the roof rattled and the benches shook.
The Tzeltal language is different, but the hymns are the same. Celebrating communion by intinction with 250 members of a congregation in the highlands of Chiapas is a moving experience. I felt the presence of the Lord in my heart while the roof rattled and the benches shook.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
