nopala

There was an amazing group of people at the base this past week. Our time with them was precious. We all went to Nopala to see how the church was doing and visit some other churches in the area. There is a lot of religious oppression in this area from the idolatry and Catholicism. The women of the Nopala church held a women’s conference last Saturday. Around 30 women came and about half were unbelievers. Everyone came to Christ. It was a beautiful celebration of women and their love for God. My grandmother crocheted scrunchies that we gave to the women and they loved them. We also brought Spanish Bibles and taught them how to look up verses. It was wonderful. We all spoke a little bit about who we are as women in Christ.



Matt, Tim, Arnulfo, and Rebekah got to attend a church service in Cerro de Aire. They said that the worship was amazing and that it was good to see both young and old whole-heartedly worshiping God. Sunday we went to church in Nopala. It is held at the house where the mission team lives. It’s a small but passionate church. A few of the new believers from the women’s conference came. That night we went to Tiltepec for another church service. The Catholic oppression was very obvious in this church. Many women wore veils, no one smiled, and the worship team looked like zombies. There was no joy in this place. Please pray that the pastor will be strengthened during his training at Roca Blanca to bring a revival of joy to his church.

The kids in this town were adorable! And there were bunches of them everywhere. The whole town is on a 75 degree incline hill and the children run up and down it like it’s nothing. They taught us how to count to three in Chatino and we told them words in English.
While we were there we had an earthquake! I slept right through it but everyone said it was pretty scary.



There are about 30 pastors from local village churches here at the base for the Pastor’s Conference. They have meetings about ways to improve their churches and programs. Did you know that half of the population in Mexico is under the age of 18? Maybe 2 of these 30 churches that were represented had a good solid children’s ministry program. We must reach the children. This is something that is very heavy on our hearts. Please pray for the children’s programs to be strengthened.

Matt and I have been working on a system that will allow us to do most of the work we do here from the States so that when we go back we will still be actively involved with the work of Roca Blanca. Matt has developed a new database of supporters and visitors and it is awesome. It is much more organized and efficient. From the States he will maintain the database and I will correspond with supporters by writing thank you letters, making phone calls, even visiting local churches.

Today a lady named Janelle spoke at the pastor’s meeting. She is Chatino and she speaks Spanish and English. She just got back from a 3-month trip to Tunisia. It is her heart's desire to reach the Muslims with the Gospel. She was raised near the base and she said that the thing that impacted her most was seeing teams come down to the base year after year. Because of this and the influence of Duane and Sue (the founders of the base) she wants to take the Gospel into a new place. She will be returning to Tunisia for a year to study Arabic and French.

The harvest is plenty, but the workers are few. Luke 10:2


Prayers needed:
-pray for the administration of the base to stabilize and strengthen so that Duane and Sue can spend some time in the States raising support
-pray for the new surrounding churches, that they can break free from this religious oppression so that the people can find true Freedom
-pray for our continued good health and safety
-school started on Tuesday. Pray for the students as they prepare to be the future pastors and worship leaders of the indigenous churches in this area
-pray for the churches and their children’s ministries; that leaders from the church would rise up and strengthen the programs to reach the children
-pray for Janelle; that God uses her in mighty ways to reach the Muslims

amuzgo

Friday night Duane asked if Matt and I would like to accompany him to the town of Amuzgo for the weekend. We accepted and headed out on Saturday morning. Along the way we stopped in Pueblo Nuevo to pray with Gerardo's mom. Gerardo is a student at the base. A few months ago a man with a machete mistakenly entered in their home, thinking it was someone else's home, and attacked their family. He wrestled Gerardo to the ground and swung the machete at his mom, cutting her head open. She was taken to a hospital and is recovering but there is still a large part of her skull missing, leaving her brain covered only by skin. She has to be extremely careful not to hit her head. Her memory and vision are coming back, but she has lost the ability to read. They can’t afford the $5,000 surgery to fix her skull. We prayed for God to heal her head and her heart. She still has strong faith and knows that God is good. She also completely forgives this man, who is in the local prison. Matt feels lead to go there and minister to him.

After we left Pueblo Nuevo we headed over to the church in Amuzgo. Duane's purpose in going was to see the progress that the church has made there. We ate lunch with the pastor, Alejandro, and his family. What an interesting man! He speaks Amuzgo, Spanish, and English! He lived in the States for 8 years and owned a landscape company. He became a Christian and left his comfortable life in the States to come tell his people about Jesus. Now he has a church of about 300 Amuzgans, the first ever to become Christians.



We stayed the night at our friend Soco's house. We love Soco very much. She will be coming to Tulsa in January to study English for a year. Her father has a similar story in that he also went to the States, became a Christian, and came home to tell his family about Jesus. His family, however, rejected him, when he came back. And it wasn't until years later, when Soco accepted Jesus at a youth conference at Roca Blanca, that his family understood and accepted his decision. There is a lot of witchcraft and idolatry in the mountains of Mexico. It’s real and scary. They cast spells and put curses on people. That’s why it is so incredibly important to be strong in Faith when you come here. Soco’s mom used to practice “healing” with potions and things until she became a Christian. Now people come to her for real, spiritual healing and prayer. Their family has opened an Internet café near their house where they minister to the local people. Matt and I learned how to do the embroidery that the women do on the hand made clothes in the mountains!

Church the next morning started at 7 and lasted until 11!! Duane spoke and the pastor had to translate from Spanish to Amuzgo. Everyone looked beautiful in their hand made embroidered clothes. The people are so passionate and excited. It was wonderful to be a part of it. Our purpose here really sunk in during this service. We saw these people as another tribe that has been reached: the first Amuzgos ever to enter the Kingdom. They are reached because of the work that Duane established at Roca and the pastor who has dedicated his life to missions. What an amazing feeling it is to play a small but vital role in such a beautiful movement. Thanks to all of our supporters who are making such an eternal difference.



After church, Soco cooked a wonderful lunch and we ate way too much. They just kept feeding us! Everyone was so generous. Soco’s mom gave be a beautiful shirt that she made and sent us home with some more food. We stopped again to pray for Gerardo’s mom on the way home and we also stopped to see Cata, a cute little old lady who has known Duane for 30 years. Cata and her husband were the first Christians that Duane and Sue met when they came to this area 32 years ago. She told us of a dream she had where she went to heaven and everyone was dressed in white robes, dancing. She asked if she could dance, too. They told her, “not yet, you’re not here yet, go back and you can dance when you get to heaven.” And she woke up. Precious.

blood, sweat, and Cheer

Spanish school is over! We had a month of intensive Spanish classes taught by our Korean teacher, Joe. It really was great getting to know the other students who came down just for the class. Matt's Spanish has improved tremendously and I am more confident when I speak. We all lived in a house in Cacalote for the month of July. There was a lime tree out back by the wash station so we made fresh squeezed limeade a lot. We even threw in some green oranges to make a drink we call 'limorangeade'. It was a tasty treat on those really hot, sticky days.

Lately we have been working on strengthening the correspondence that the base has with supporters in the States. We've been writing letters, mailing reminders, and designing new stationary. There are some groups coming in this week to prepare for as well.
Lee and Clay Morton, our friends from Fayetteville, were studying Spanish in Oaxaca City and they came down to visit the base. It was wonderful to have their company and share with them the awesome work that the base does.
A couple weekends ago, we were awakened with the news that the base had flooded. We had been living on the outskirts of the base for Spanish school so we fortunately weren't there when the waist deep waters invaded. It happened at night while it was raining. Part of the retaining wall broke and the nasty lagoon water came in. Everyone was really scared because they have seen snakes and alligators in that lagoon.
So anyway, we came to the base to help and it was terrible! The entire office building and the praise and worship building had flooded. We had to move out all of the furniture so that we could take out the carpet. And just like your favorite episode of Trading Spaces, when we pulled up the soppy carpet there was fabulous Mexican tile under it all!!
Everything was dry and back to normal in a few days and I think everyone realized that tile is much more practical than carpet.

There has been some tension at our church in Cacalote. Pastor Bartolo has been working full time at the base and taking care of his wife who has been very sick. He and his daughter, the worship leader, have seemed a little disappointed in their congregation. The other Sunday they scolded the people for not bringing their Bibles. Things are improving, though. Last week they had a box of Bibles ready for the ones who didn't bring one.
I'm still teaching English to Miriam. Our friend Socorro asked for help writing her thesis. She travels 9 hours to Oaxaca City each Saturday for classes. She will be studying English in Tulsa for a year starting in January. I can't wait to bring her to church at the Grove!



Matt and I have been experiencing the second phase of our culture shock. The first 2 month euphoric phase was great because everything was new and exciting; like cold showers, washing laundry by hand, and eggs and beans. Recently, however, the showers seem to be getting colder and it's just really hard to wash clothes by hand. The other day I couldn't even eat dinner. I was hungry, but I just couldn't do it. Matt had a similar experience a few days later. We are handling it gracefully and know that it's only temporary.
Please pray for us:
-pray that God will use me in whatever way I am needed here
-pray for financial blessings for the base
-pray for our church in Cacalote; that a strong leadership will emerge
-pray for joyful spirits in all situations

I love you all so much.