Religious persecution in N. America?

Matthew 5:10 Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of Heaven.

It isn’t often in our daily lives that we encounter those persecuted because they are a Christian, much less have the opportunity to offer them assistance. Sometimes we think, "well, that kind of thing USED to happen a lot ....or.....that kind of thing still happens in places like Nepal or Iraq, but not in this part of the world." Well, think again....

Last July we met Rodolfo Lopez Velazco from a small village in the Chiapas mountains. He and his family recently accepted Christ and began holding Christian services in their home. They soon had three other families worshipping with them. Openly witnessing in their community upset the village elders who twice forced the Christian families to leave the village. In July, Rodolfo’s house was dismantled - board by board - and taken away to prevent him from conducting church services.

Attorneys for the Maya Synod and the Central Tzeltal Presbytery have tried to intervene with local officials on their behalf. Last month Roldolfo went to Tuxtla Gutierrez, the state capital, to meet with cabinet level government officials in an attempt to resolve the issue with his community. Instead of meeting with the officials, he was put in jail for four days on trumped up charges. Today Rodolfo is in Pablo’s office pleading for financial assistance for a trip to Mexico City. He has an appointment with the Department of Religious Affairs but lacked the $100 for bus fare to the city, which we gladly offered.

Rodolfo’s home has been destroyed; he has been ostracized and thrown in jail because he refuses to stop spreading the Good News! I am humbled by his inner strength and faith as he prays for his fellow villagers to understand the message of love and grace offered by Jesus. In him, we witness the living Gospel!

Matthew 5:43-44 You have heard that it was said, “love your neighbor and hate your enemy.” But I tell you, love your enemy and pray for those who persecute you.

Please pray for Rodolfo to remain strong in his faith, that he receive justice in the legal system, and that those who persecute him may come to see.

Blessing the water

Pablo and I leave Ocosingo at 6 am for a special worship service at his church in Tenejapa, a two hour drive into the mountains of Chiapas. Each year at this time the whole community gathers at each of the three springs that provide water for the village to ask God’s blessing for their continued availability. This year Iglesia Elem is responsible for the blessing services so Pablo has prepared three sermons for the day. Two hundred plus people walk, ride horses or in the back of trucks ¾ of a mile up a mountain outside the village to the first spring. We are joined by a Tzeltal Mariachi band. The spring bubbles out of the side of the mountain then flows into an underground cistern or holding tank where it collects and then flows down the mountain to the village in a 2 inch pipe.

Most of the people attending this service are not members of the Presbyterian Church so Pablo uses the opportunity to evangelize the community. He speaks of the Living Water available to us through Jesus and how much we need that water to live. An Elder of the church gives an emotional talk about how much the community has changed since it was founded in 1994 and thanks God for the many blessing of the community. The services are repeated at each of the springs that support the community.

Water, just another example of something I took for granted in North Carolina that I now appreciate so much more. Access to clean water is real problem for the people of Chiapas. Once the rains begin in May, surface water containing who know what micro biotic life will run into the cisterns and mix with the spring water that flows into the village.

My friend Glenn Pierce witnessed this problem in January ‘06 when he accompanied me on my drive from NC to Ocosingo. He went back to Asheville and convinced his Rotary club to involved Rotary International in a grant request to purchase well-drilling equipment so we can provide a reliable source of clean drinking water to villages like Tenejapa. We are currently waiting on Rotary International Foundation’s response to our grant request.

Feb/March, 2007 Update

And group season begins! February brought with it 2 US mission groups seeking warmer weather and new experiences here in Ocosingo. A group of 12 from Orchard Lake Presbyterian Church near Detroit included 4 teens – a great treat for Holly & Maggie! And on their heels was a small group of public health/free clinic folks led by our friend, Glenn Pierce.

General Mission Update:

• Hosted and organized the work of mission work groups from Orchard Lake, MI and NC. Group members worked, worshipped and played with Bible School students, elders from neighboring Presbyterian churches and toured barefoot doctor medical clinics. Insights from free clinic and a WHO public health official were shared, and medical supplies were donated.
• Arranged and led a meeting with the Rotary Club of San Cristobal de Las Casas and a representative from an Asheville, NC Rotary Club. They agreed to submit a joint grant proposal to Rotary Intl. for well-drilling in Chiapas villages.
• Joined Board of Directors for a synod-sponsored prison ministry to serve 4 area prisons and wrote funding proposals for US and Mexican funding sources. Invited to present Self-Esteem workshops at area prisons (translated by Jan, of course!).
• Helped host a presbytery meeting attended by 110+ from nearby churches
• Completed Glasses in Missions training and began producing eyeglasses.

Medical Clinic Update

• We have a name! “Manos de Cristo” (“Hands of Christ”) is the name chosen for the medical clinic. It is our collective vision that patients will receive medical care inspired by Jesus’ ministry – compassionate, supportive and open to all for quality medical care.
• Together with the Orchard Lake group, the foundation and floor for Phase I of the medical clinic was completed ! This was a huge milestone and one that helped Orchard Lake travelers feel a strong sense of accomplishment & personal investment in the clinic!
• Barefoot doctors continue to be engaged and encouraged by mission group travelers and plan to have an active role in the clinic operation.

Family Update:

• Overall, we’re all healthy, happy and focused. Mostly we’re just glad to be together!
• We celebrated Holly’s 15^th birthday last week. Read the blog entry, “To quinceaños or not to quinceaños?” if you’re interesting in knowing more!
• Holly & Maggie are enjoying activities with our budding youth group and outings with bible school students from time to time, including guitar lessons!
• Prayers for the gift of language are still needed, but we’re definitely improving!
• As she tries to finish up geometry, Holly was blessed by the angel “Patrice,” a math teacher from Orchard Lake, who was able to supplement Keystone instruction with qualified hands-on instruction! She was truly a gift from God!
• Ginny’s dad seems to be doing pretty well and is grateful for NCAA basketball, a busy schedule and great friends. And John’s sister, Ellen, is recuperating well from her double knee-replacement surgery last month but she’s got a ways to go before she’ll be running any marathons!
• We still need a tenant for our house in Winston-Salem, NC. The tenants moved out last Wednesday, so we need your referrals and your prayers!

Prayers

• For God to continue to open doors of opportunity for us to be of service;
• For travelers from Orchard Lake, MI, New Bern, NC, Asheville, NC and Chicago, IL – that their experiences here have blessed their lives, inspired them in their walks of faith, and will lead them to continue in service at home and abroad;
• For the prison ministry and well-drilling proposals to be funded so these projects to grow;
• For the Director of the Ocosingo prison as he tries to maintain a safe environment and receive outreach efforts from our prison ministry and others;
• For continued success during the medical clinic construction progresses;
• For continued comfort and healing for the family of Hermano Cristobal, a former foundation helper who was killed last December;
• Of gratitude for the new director at the Bible School and his family;
• Of gratitude for the safety of our friend, Ramiro, who had been lost in the desert in February but is now safe;
• For continued comfort and healing for Ginny’s dad, Jim;
• For a tenant family to come forward to rent our house in Winston-Salem;
• Of support for those coping with illness (including Bonnie Bode, Mary Wynne Perryman, Tom Edwards, Peggy Skrynksi, Katie Yarbrough, Hal Newell, Dick Dye, Marshall Hollingsworth, Louise Holshouser, and the families of Cecelia Belk and Sandra O’Brien) and for those coping with losses (including the families of Ann Atkins and Dennis Moody). Again, please let us know of your prayer needs and whether you’re comfortable with us sharing them.
• For Pablo & Jan’s daughter, Amalia, as she progresses in her pregnancy
• For fellow missionaries Pablo & Jan Feliciano, Dick & Ann Dye, Merle & June Dye, for future missionaries Julie Alexander and her husband, John, and for newly retired missionaries, Jim & Sharon Heneveld.

Opportunities

• If you know anyone who might be interested in renting our house, send them to www.rentalhouses.com and have them search for Property ID NC97034.
• Propose to your church’s Mission Committee that they adopt our family as missionaries representing your church until August, 2007.
• Donate to First Presbyterian Church in Mt. Airy, NC for our family’s missionary support (details on our website at www.millsfamilymission.org/7.html)
• Donate to Hebron USA for Phase II of the Manos de Cristo Medical Clinic in Ocosingo (details on the HUSA website at www.hebronusa.org/8.html)
• “Missions Tip of the Month”- A senior at the Presbyterian college, Lake Forest College, (not Wake), teamed up with Google to run a donation-generating search engine called SearchKindly.org. Whenever you use www.searchkindly.org, you generate $ for the charity of the month. This month all proceeds go to support Smile Train, a medical ministry for children with cleft lip and palate problems. Giving has never been so easy!

Paz en Cristo,

John, Ginny, Holly & Maggie

Coffee anyone?!

One of the primary goals of our mission has been to provide a ministry of hospitality on the campus of the Alfa y Omega Escuela Biblica here in Ocosingo. As people arrive to meet with Pablo, visit the campus or attend various functions here at the school, I try to greet them, offer them coffee, and assist them in any way I can.

So, Pablo had mentioned yesterday that he “had a meeting at 10 on Saturday morning.” No suggestion that it would be any different that his usual gatherings of 4-10 people who routinely meet with him at his office on the campus. Well, about 8:30, a small group of men had gathered on our front porch, and by 9:00, I thought I should probably brew some coffee and extend the ministry of hospitality until the meeting began at 10:00. So I started brewing, and the crowd grew. I brewed some more, then retrieved a larger coffee urn from foundation kitchen, and I kept brewing. John hurried out for cookies….by the kilo! By 10:30, we had prepared cookies and sweetened coffee for the 120 men who arrived for the “meeting” that has lasted most of the day. All in all, it went fine, but I must confess, I think I need a bigger coffee pot!!!!

To quinceaños or not to quinceaños?

That is the question that we faced this week as we prepared for Holly's 15th birthday. The 15th birthday, or quinceaños, is a major birthday in the lives of Latin American girls. It is typically celebrated with a GRAND party not unlike a "wedding without a groom" or a debutante ball. It is an official coming-out for girls and symbolizes their availability for both dating and marriage. Some wealthy families who are trendy and less devoted to tradition may offer their daughters a chance to forego the big party in lieu of a trip to Europe with other 15 y/o girls and chaperones, but that's the rare exemption.

So here we are, having encouraged Holly & Maggie to embrace this new culture and its joys, and suddenly quite wary of the whole quinceaños thing! Our minds were filled with "yes, but..." retorts to the whole subject! Yes, we want them to embrace the culture and appreciate the cultural traditions here. No, we don't want to suggest that she's eligible for marriage --- but then again, neither does SHE! Yes, we want them to be able to have some once-in-a-lifetime kinds of experiences here...experiences they could never have in NC or the USA. No, we can't afford to buy the equivalent of a wedding dress, wedding cake, mariachi band and reception hall! Yes, we want them to enjoy all the same joys that their Mexican peers have/will experience! No, we don't want one daughter to experience such a memorable event but not the other (Maggie will be living in NC when she turns 15 y/o in 2009). Yes, no, yes, no, yes, no.....UGH!!!

So in the end, we elected to celebrate with tradition over 2 nights, but without the grand party. One night we enjoyed an incredible dinner out at the Brazilian steakhouse and then on Friday night, we enjoyed a brief, informal worship service with prayers and blessings for Holly and lots of coffee, cake and crepes with church members at the coffee house of one of the church leaders. Both events, of course, included the traditional "face in the cake" experience, and we THINK Holly's finally gotten all the cake out of her nostils!!! Then John presented her with our gift, a beautiful Mexican guitar with encouragement for her to learn to play and follow in her dad's footsteps.

We hope it was a wonderful 15th birthday for Holly, albeit without the luxurious dress and all the extras. It makes me wonder, though, about what cultural forks-in-the-road will may face during our time here. What will be next?

My Education about Mexican Prisons

Our friend and fellow missionary, Sharon Heneveld, began a powerful prison ministry several years ago. What had began as an outreach by 2 women who overheard a conversation between prison guards about collecting food waste for prisoners to eat, has grown into an important ministry. Sharon retired in January, 2007 and entrusted those who had worked with her to continue the ministry.

But let's go back to that conversation the ladies overheard! "Food waste?" I asked. As I listened and learned more, I came to understand some of the important differences between the US and Mexico and how they treat their prisoners. Imagine this...

If a person is sentenced to prison in Chiapas, whether he/she will serve 4 months or 40 years, the State only pays for food for the first 90 days. After that, his family is responsible for providing food for him. The family is not only forced to survive without their primary wage-earner, but they are now responsible for having extra money to buy his food and get it to him regularly. Prisoners are provided with one set of clothing (not even 2 so they'll have something to wear while the other set is being washed!) and a mattress (not even a blanket).

Sharon and her partners in prison ministries had established a strong ministry since 1992. They visited 4 prisons in all, bringing basic food rations for those who had requested it and providing a monthly prepared meal for all prisoners who chose to participate. On their regular visits, they did not reach out to speak with any particular prisoner....just let it be known that they were available to anyone who wanted to talk. They never asked the nature of anyone's crime or tried to shove the Gospel down their throats. They simply lived the Gospel --- showing the love of Christ through their attention to the physical, emotional, spiritual and family needs of those prisoners who sought their care.

Many prisoners who had been involved with the church have returned, while others have come to know Christ for the first time. Others may be wary but are grateful for the "no questions asked," judgment-free concern by Sharon, Luisa and Antonia. Prison guards and the director have requested assistance with getting materials for prisoners to build a new chapel at their new prison and are consistently supportive of this ministry.

So as a person who's always touted the party line of personal responsibility, how do I feel about this "provide for yourself" model of corrections? After all, it's not the state's fault the person committed a crime. Many in the US bemoan that prisoners get better care than many law abiding citizens, all at taxpayers expense. And yet who suffers in this system? Perhaps family members suffer most of all, and they committed no crime. They are responsible for caring for their own, even if they struggle to meet their own needs. Perhaps that is the price for loving the criminal, I don't know.

What I do know is this....Jesus set the example for everything that we as Christians are supposed to believe. And what, pray tell, was Jesus' example of how to respond to the criminal? It was, as always, to reach out with compassion, forgiveness, love and encouragement for them to live a life that would be pleasing to God. No questions asked. Period.

So it is that I find myself the "counselor" member of a newly formed Board of Directors for the prison ministry of the Maya Synod. As my Spanish is limited, I'll begin by helping sell handmade goods for prisoners, writing grant proposals, dyeing orange t-shirts for those who need an extra change of clothes, and leading translated discussions about self-esteem, forgiveness and recovery from addiction. With God's blessing, we will secure the funds to help these devoted Christian prisoners build their house of prayer, help feed & clothe them, and help their families in the spirit and tradition of Jesus. No questions asked. Period.