“What is the kingdom of God like, and to what shall I compare it? It is like a mustard seed, which a man took and threw into his own garden; and it grew and became a tree, and the birds of the air nested in its branches.” Luke 13: 18-19
The wheels on our tired little Mazda 3 have stopped turning momentarily and I bring you greetings and an update from Henderson, Nebraska.
When I last left you we were busily preparing to join Pastor Javier and Jonas on their regular five-day ministry trip into the Sierra Madre Oriental Mountains into the Pame region. Barring very unusual circumstances they make this marathon jaunt every fortnight in order to strengthen and buildup the newly planted churches throughout the region, and to encourage the local leaders who carry on the ministry when Javier is not there. It was Theresa and my privilege and joy to be able to join them and to be encouraged as well.
I could attempt to glorify ourselves by elaborating about the bad condition of the roads that we traversed (all of which would certainly be true), or about the physical discomfort of days of extreme heat and lack of water for bathing (our heat rashes proving that this certainly would not be a lie), or about hot nights tossing and turning in somewhat less than five-star accommodations (put mildly). But all of this would simply be an attempt to lift up our own pride and exalt an illusion of our self-importance. We deserve no praise or glory if indeed there is any to give; we are at best only God’s servants.
However, having said this, I must quickly add that I truly don’t know how Javier and Cristina or his missionary team do it. Javier is in his late fifties and runs a daily ministry schedule both in the mountains when in church planting, and when back home in Solidaridad that makes my head spin and makes me tired just to think about. Cristina, despite physical pain and health issues does the same. I truly believe what pastor Fred Erb recently said concerning this, that God gives a provision of grace along with his call on a person’s life. It has to be so, otherwise I have absolutely no idea how these precious brothers and sisters do it. They may run the “risk” of burning out for the Lord I suppose, but oh, what a glorious burn!
In my daily devotional bible readings recently I have been studying the book of Acts. I had not begun this study intentionally because we were going to Mexico on an extended mission trip, but it certainly was well arranged by God for our time there. Once again, as so often happens when I am exposed to the grassroots Church in its infancy as believers meet under trees or the thatched roofs of stick houses and as the hearts of new believers are opened to the Kingdom of God, I am astounded at the literal walking out of the Book of Acts and the Early Church. The Kingdom of God advances the same way today as it did then. We just often can’t see it because it is mired by ceremony or clouded by religiosity, or maybe we just aren’t as hungry. I am always humbled and honored – I love to see – the Kingdom of God “in the raw” as it is worked out in places such as the Pame villages that we had the privilege of visiting.
I don’t want to be tedious but I will take time to mention each of the names of the communities that we visited during the five days so that you will be able to pray for them individually. As I was given the opportunity to encourage the believers in each of these fledgling churches I told them that Christians across the United States and Canada know about them and will be praying for them. This was received with joy by these humble brothers and sisters in the Faith. Along with me, let’s be faithful to hold them up in prayer before our mutual Heavenly Father.
Please pray for the brothers and sisters in the villages of:
Santa Catarina
La Parada
Santa María Acapulco
Chacuala
La Joya
El Coco
El Pueblo de Tanlacut
Agua Nueva
Milpas Viejas
Tanlacut
Jalpán
Ayutla
Each of these tiny communities represents a group of new believers and a fledgling church that has recently been planted, and has its own story. Many of these you will remember from previous blogs (if not, I urge you to go back and read them again).
Santa Catarina has become home base for the Pame ministry in the western region of Javier’s missionary work. A little church has been planted here in the home of Adela, an elderly widow who is also the host of the ministry teams when they arrive. The married couple Rafael and Cruzita also live and work here. They are two of Javier’s leaders-in-training in the Pame work.
La Parada is where the national workers Catalino Santos and his brother Jose Santos, along with two of his adult children are working with Kris Toler under Wycliffe to translate the Bible orally into Xi-Ui, the Pame language. It is also where a little radio station was set up in Kris’ living room to transmit the gospel in Xi-Ui, the heart language of the region (mentioned in previous blogs). Javier works closely with both Catalino and Jose in the churches that they pastor in the region. Also, just outside of this village there is a little Baptist work where we met Dr. Neftalí Santos and his wife and daughters in a very small crossroads community named Puerto de la Cruz. Dr. Santos has also begun a mission church among the Pame, and he and his team are working on translating the Bible into Xi-Ui in written format. He is also in the process of building a small hospital on site.
Santa María Acapulco is the religious and cultural center of the Pame region and for thousands of years has been under a stranglehold of demonic activity and witchcraft. Over the past two years God is bit-by-bit cracking open a once-closed door for the gospel. A children’s ministry is developing inside this enemy territory and the message of the love of Jesus is advancing.
Chacuala is a tiny village in the extremes of the mountains where a group of new Pame believers meet together to worship. Although a little piece of rock-covered property on the outskirts of the village has been donated by the new believers for a church building, the Church still meets under a tree in the center of the community. Access into the village is over many miles of almost impassible roads.
This was Theresa and my first time to visit the tiny community of La Joya nestled in the mountains north of Chacuala. This is a fairly new work for the ministry team but already there is a little children’s church begun here. Within minutes of us driving into the village the children cheerfully arrived at the little galera where they typically meet. This is Jonas’ “little flock” and he gave the Bible lesson and teaching to the children (and one adult) who came to hear God’s word, after which Pastor Javier played his guitar and led them in some songs.
[Jonas bears mentioning I believe: He is a young man of 18 years, and for several years now has been Javier’s “Timothy” in training. Although he does not have a “flashy” personality in any way, nor indeed does he have any apparent gifting in more “up-front” ministry like teaching or preaching he has a willingness to lower his shoulder to the task and to be faithful in ministry, and to be trained in mission work. He, perhaps best exemplifies the Apostle Paul’s teaching on the varying gifts and functions of the Body of Christ. We are not all eyes, or hands, or ears, or feet, but we all are valued members of the body nonetheless. If one member does not function properly then the whole suffers. Jonas quietly carries chairs, runs to the store for tortillas, or carries amplifiers and loudspeakers so that Javier does not need to do so. He is a vital part of the functioning missionary team and of the Body of Christ. I am excited to see what he develops into as he matures into his calling].
El Coco bears specific mention since its story has come up in various blogs. It is here that Ciro and his family live. Ciro is one of Javier’s faithful leaders-in-training and ministers in a large number of scattered villages when Javier is not able to do so personally. (For more on the amazing transformation of Ciro and his family please refer to previous blogs). The Church in El Coco now meets under a tree in Ciro’s “front yard” amidst wandering turkeys and chickens. Here Theresa and I also witnessed the power of “friendship evangelism” in its truest and most natural expression. While a group of us were sitting around talking and waiting for others to show up for the meeting, an elderly man in a broad brimmed cowboy hat rode down the road in front of the property on his horse. Being a friendly sort, and obviously curious as to what we were doing, he turned his horse around and reigned it in and began to chat with Javier. It was very interesting to see the skillful and truly natural way that Javier drew in Primativo, and was very reminiscent of Jesus with the Samaritan woman at the well in John 4. He didn’t shove the message of the gospel upon him, nor indeed did he really answer his question as to what we were doing in El Coco. Rather he simply drew him in through curiosity, almost like fishing with a baited hook, into a conversation which inevitably turned naturally to the Lord. In the end Primativo stayed for the service and joined in. To my knowledge he did not make a decision to Faith, but the door has been opened in his heart and an avenue of friendship has begun.
El Pueblo de Tanlacut is a place that I did not even know existed. I have been to its neighboring, much larger village of Tanlacut many times but never to the original village from which the latter began. El Pueblo is now a very tiny and almost abandoned village. Here Javier faithfully visits a number of very elderly believers who have no other Christian fellowship. One lady that we visited lives with her elderly daughter and is in her late nineties. Another elderly couple are both over one hundred years old. These dear believers, uncared for by most are loved and encouraged by Javier and they eagerly await his visits.
The tiny crossroad of Agua Nueva is where the Pame Mission Church property was donated some years ago. It is a building where the believers from Milpas Viejas congregate if they are able to traverse the couple of hour walk down the mountain. It is also a base for missionary teams to stay when they are in the eastern side of the Pame region. We did not hold a service there on this occasion since the believers up the mountain in Milpas Viejas were not able to walk down this time.
Rather, we all piled back into Javier’s road-weary pickup truck and pounded and jolted our way up to the tiny mountain top village of Milpas Viejas to meet with the believers there. As a number of family units gathered around their stick and thatched houses, and despite their severe poverty it was easy to see and feel their love for Jesus and for us. After the service one of the elderly women gave Theresa a beautiful gift of embroidered cloth – a skill that the local women excel in.
We then bounced and jarred our way back down the mountain to the larger town of Tanlacut where Mariana and her family live. Mariana is also one of Javier’s leaders-in-training in the Pame work. Along with her parents she also donated a little building and property for a church in Tanlacut. When we saw it a year ago it was basically an abandoned shell of a building with the roof caving in. Today it is fixed up and the place where the little group of local believers meets. After the meeting we spent the night at Marianas house.
Early the following morning we set off for Jalpán, a larger center to the southwest located in the Sierra Gorda Mountains and outside of the Pame region where we were to meet with the local church at 11:00. We were there by the invitation of Pastor Jorge Luis Resendiz De La Cruz and his wife. As a young man many years ago Jorge had been a “Jonas” to Pastor Javier. He now has gone on and planted several churches of his own. The house-church in Jalpán is one of them.
From Jalpán we drove down into the little ejido of Ayutla where Jorge also pastors a little church. There we had a wonderful Sunday evening service with the local believers and shared in a group meal with them. Unfortunately by the time that it was all over it was well after 9:30 pm and many hours after dark.
However since we all had things that we needed to do the following morning in Cd. Valles we decided to attempt the rather dangerous drive back through the mountains despite the late hour, and notwithstanding the fact that this would mean that we would be arriving after midnight. Since Javier is developing cataracts and has great difficulty driving at night I took the wheel. Thankfully we arrived home at about 12:30 without incident.
Each community that I mentioned is a real place and people live real lives. Also, in each are little groups of believers who need our prayers. They are often very much alone in their faith while being surrounded by unbelievers, idolatry, and often paganism and witchcraft. Please remember to keep them in your prayers.
As I have mentioned many times in my blogs over the past years, this region of Mexico is in near-disaster due to the drought that has continued now into its fifth year. This year it was again in everyone’s conversation and an area of grave concern. Rivers are literally dried up and gravel and stones are being harvested from their dried beds. Wells are mostly dried up as well. In the Tanlacut area there is only one well which still has water. From here people have to pay exorbitant prices to have water trucks deliver into their household tanks. When this last well dries up no one knows where they will go. Maize, the normal sustenance crop in the region cannot be planted because of the absolute lack of moisture and everyone wonders what will be next. Please keep this region, but specifically our brothers and sisters in Christ in your prayers. Many times during our visits among the villages Javier reminded people of the reality of God’s judgment throughout the Bible when he withheld rain because of personal and national sin, and of the need for repentance. May Mexico repent, and may God have mercy on it.
I will draw the first part of our time to a close and call this Part 1, and will post a second blog later. There is so much to write and so much to give praise for, but I know that one can only absorb so much at one sitting.
Please remember to hold up Javier and Cristina and the ministry in prayer. They are truly faithful in their service.
Your fellow laborers in the harvest,
Steven and Theresa
