Current Events and Updates of the Ministry

Well, finally a blog entry just of good stuff. So how rare is that!!

On August 22^nd I mentioned the new business venture that we helped our friend Marina set up. Last evening Theresa and I had a blast. We drove over to pick her up – with her profits – and drove down town to the market area to introduce her to the local places where she can buy the supplies which she needs to make her own product. Unfortunately, it being Tuesday evening, most of the stores that we needed to go to were closed early – but no worries. We bought what we could, and decided to give her our own supplies to continue for the next jag.

With the apples purchased, we returned to our kitchen to work since it is better lit than her little mud shack.

We washed apples, covered them with tamarindo paste and spices, poked them with sticks, and bagged them. The women then put little fancy ties on them, and they are ready. Nineteen more to sell!

Marina’s profits on the first sales, before purchases, was $335.00 pesos – just under $30.00. This may not sound too great until you remember that a days wage for a ten hour day is only around $100.00 pesos. Sure, the income map is skewed since Theresa and I have been giving her the start-up supplies. Nonetheless, she has caught the fire, and is ready, and excited to go.

We dropped her off at her little shack at about 11:30 last night after spending a fun evening with her. Before heading home we gathered around her little kitchen and prayed a prayer of blessing over her family, as well as her new financial venture. I have every reason to believe that she will make a good success of the venture.

All evening Theresa and Marina were dreaming up new ideas of things that she can sell, and new marketing ways that she can do so. Remember Marina in your prayers, and the many poor that she represents.

The second “praise report” is that it looks like the door has opened to us for the land site which I described in my last entry. It appears as if God has finally given us a green light to move forward. A down payment has been made and agreed upon. The land will be legally transferred over into the name of the new non-profit when that paperwork is completed. We anticipate a December or January date for this. The owner is willing to wait for the remainder of the money.

Wow – finally!

Theresa and I are looking at heading north in one week. We plan to pull out on the first of September.

We will remain in touch.

Plans do have a tendency to change around here. Just about the time that you think that you have something more or less pinned down, everything changes and you are left with your mouth open.

Several weeks ago we found what looks like the perfect location for the Leadership Training Center. It is just south of town, and within easy driving distance of Cd. Valles. The property consists of  6.5 hectares of land – five of which is in sugar cane, and the other one and half hectare is undeveloped land. The sugar cane is already under contract with the local sugar factory – making the land have even more value. We have negotiated a price of $70,000.00 pesos per hectare (just shy of six grand per hectare in U.S. or Canadian funds). This is not cheap, but oddly, this is what land is going for around here.

A number of  months ago we looked at some undeveloped bush land where the owner would not sell in anything less than 5 hectare chunks. He wanted $500,000.00 pesos per hectare – this is equivalent to 2 ½ million pesos for five hectares (just under $215,000,00 dollars). He is absolutely dreaming, nonetheless, someone will probably pay him the asking price.

I have been absolutely astounded at the prices in Mexico now – especially when one lines this up against the wages that people receive. A little house lot – tiny and rock covered with nothing, cannot be touched for anything less than $70 – $80,000.00 pesos ($6,000.00 – $6,800.00 dollars). This price gives you nothing but a postage stamp sized, mud-covered, rocky place to build a shack.

Compare this then with the wages: Most factory jobs begin at about $600.00 pesos per six-day work week (about $51.00 dollars per six-day work week). Our local factory here in Cd. Valles pays $580.00 pesos per six-day work week, but workers are responsible to pay their own bus fare to the jobsite (just shy of $50.00 per six-day work week).

A friend of ours from the church has a better-than-most job working at one of the larger supermarkets here in the city. He earns $900.00 pesos per six-day work week. His days are ten-hour days. This ends up being $77.00 dollars per six days, or about $12.85 per ten hour day, or about $1.28 per hour.

A field worker may still work for $30 – $40 pesos per day – $2.57 – $3.42 per ten hour day working in the sun.

This afternoon Theresa and I decided to check out our new card at our brand new Sam’s Club in town. I was under the rather misguided delusion that we might find reasonable prices there. However, just as in all other stores here in the city, the prices there are equivalent, or even higher than U.S. and Canadian prices – across the board. Many things are still much cheaper to purchase in the States.

I will vent a bit – but I get very, very irritated with people who come down and gush about how cheap everything is in Mexico. First of all, I don’t know what planet they normally buy on. Secondly, I challenge them to earn a dollar and change per hour, and then say that the prices are so great. There is absolutely no connection between the wages and the cost of living here.

This, as I described in the beginning of this blog, is certainly the case with land costs as well. I still cannot understand how the economy holds together here in Mexico, or how people can survive.

But I am getting sidetracked…

My point was to say that we had no sooner than negotiated the asking price then when we realized that, despite what we were lead to believe, all was not kosher with the Constitution for the non-profit – Hombres Trabajando por Cristo. The bank rejected our request to open a bank account in the name of the non-profit. This took us once again to the lawyers who told us that our whole constitution needs to be revamped.

It looks like we will have a brand new, updated, and 100% squeaky clean non-profit by December. It was best to close the old one down completely and begin again. This means that HTpC will not exist anymore, and we will begin with a new non-profit, and a new name.

This also means that our land purchase, once again, is put onto the back burner. Still, God is very much in control. He was not surprised that our non-profit was not ready to begin the work of the Leadership Training Center. Everything is in his timing and in his hands.

If the owner is willing to hold off on payment until December when the new non-profit is ready, then we will be happy to continue pursuing the property which I described. If not, then God has other plans for us. No use sweating the things that we cannot control.

In one of my last blogs I described a visit with Marina and Elizabeth and the children.  In the blog I mentioned that one always leaves poverty wondering what can be done to help the situation. A gift of a couple of bucks makes one feel saintly and relieves the guilt, but I am convinced that it does little in the long run. In fact, I am further convinced that sometimes acts of bleeding-heart charity actually do more negative than they do good. If all we do is develop an expectation, or dependency, then we have made a horrible injustice even worse than it was before.

With all of this in mind, Theresa and I cooked up a little scheme to help Marina and Elizabeth. We are helping them start a business called “Manzanas Maravillosas”, or “Marvellous Apples”. These are spice coated apples and packaged so that they can actually sell them from their own house, door-to-door in their village, or beside the highway. The market in their particular village seems to be able to handle a $10 to $15 peso apple ($0.85 – $1.28). This is a little lower that the same product will sell for here in Cd. Valles, but they should still be able to make enough of a profit to make a nice supplement to their very meager current income.

To get the business set up Theresa and I bought several kilos of apples and the necessary spices, sticks, packaging, etc. We then prepared about forty five apples for sale, made a nice wooden sign advertising the Marvellous Apples for sale, and delivered everything to our friends. We then helped her make her first sales just to get the ball rolling – so to speak.

On Tuesday we will take Marina to the market with the profits from her first sales in order to buy all of the necessary spices, packaging, more apples, etc. Then Theresa will teach her how to prepare the product for sale. From there they will be on their own, and “in the money” – we hope.

We can only pray that this will actually be able to make a difference in their lives, and be something that will be doable for them from their home and with four little children to look after – the two littlest ones being only six months old.

Incidentally, Elizabeth got a job about two weeks ago. She is working six days a week in a tortillarilla (where they make tortillas). I have not had the heart to ask her how much she earns, but I am sure that it is not much at all. She is getting $400.00 pesos ($34.25 dollars) per week from her husband after he walked out on her. This is supposed to take care of the four children. In reality, it will not quite put diapers on one of the little babies, let alone buy formula for them or feed the little boys.

Marina – the grandmother, needs to look after the four children while Elizabeth is at work every day. The apple business is something that she can do from the house while she looks after the children.

We pray that it will make a little difference in their lives.

Just several other house keeping items:  First of all, check the new pics. I have been busily uploading new pictures onto the website. Have a peak.

Also, Theresa and I have set a date to leave for Canada. We are looking at heading north on September 1^st. We will make several stops along the way to Canada, but hope to be in Manitoba before the following weekend. We anticipate spending at least a month or two with friends and family – especially with James and Jessica and the boys. Our return to Mexico will depend upon how Jessica responds to the therapy program that she is currently on. However, as I mentioned, we are probably going to be in Canada for a couple of months at least.

We will keep in touch through this site.

Dr. Hector Tamez

As Steven mentioned in an earlier blog, we held a Narrative Bible-Orality Conference at the Cd. Valles church on August 6^th through 8^th.   Dr. Hector Tamaz, Sr. and his son Hector Tamez II, along with team member Chema, of International Leadership Advancement Ministries and ECO International from Puebla, Mexico were the presenters for the three-day conference.

According to their website, www.ilamin.org – “Today, 61.7% of the population in Latin America possesses an oral communication learning preference and lifestyle”.

Although literacy has developed and spread around the world, majorities of people still live day to day by the spoken word – by orality.  Either they cannot read; they do not read; or they will not read.1

Studies have been done in the U. S. that show that one in seven adults (30 million people) have below average literacy skills.  Some countries have better averages and others worse than that, naturally, but the point is that even in countries where public education is free and school attendance is compulsory, sizable portions of the population function primarily by oral means because their skills with literacy are limited. They would much rather gather with friends to swap stories or make music than to read alone, in silent isolation.  Many people who can read quite well will choose to watch a movie or television program, play a video game, or talk on the telephone rather than read a book or magazine.2

Ironically, an estimated 90% of the world’s Christian workers presenting the Gospel use highly literate communication styles.  They use the printed page or expositional, analytical and logical presentations of God’s word.  This makes it difficult, if not impossible, for oral learners to hear and understand the message and communicate it to others.

One straightforward way to communicate to oral learners in a way they will understand is for them to hear the stories of the Bible in an oral, sequential pattern that they can absorb and remember. The communication of stories in this way has come to be referred to as “chronological Bible storying.”  It is a proclamation of God’s word in a culturally relevant way that oral learners can understand and respond to.

This does not mean that we discourage literacy, or neglect literates. Experience shows that once oral learners accept the Gospel, some will have the desire and persistence to become literate in order to read the Bible for themselves.

Today, missionaries worldwide are rediscovering the effectiveness of sharing the Gospel by utilizing the same chronological Bible story telling presentation used by Jesus on the Emmaus road. In fact, no matter how primitive or sophisticated a society may be, the best way to communicate ideas is still through the avenue of story telling.3

Student retelling story to class

New Tribes Missions has moved from the traditional missionary approach of topical teaching to chronological Bible story telling.  Teachers begin in the Old Testament using Bible stories that point to the lost condition of all people, and of God’s promise that one day, a Savior would come to provide salvation for all humankind. After several months, the teaching of the New Testament stories of Jesus begin.

At that point, even previously unreached people-groups easily recognize Jesus as the promised Savior from God.  These missionaries who use chronological Bible story telling report that instead of waiting 20 years for their first convert among unreached people groups, they now see an 80% conversion rate in only a few months—with evidence of changed lives! 4

The Mexican culture is very relational – they closely share their lives with one another. They love to communicate through loud songs and stories. Even their announcements are orally blared from vehicles driving along the streets!  Steven and I have noticed that the church does not hand out bulletins on Sunday mornings. This could be to save the environment, but most likely it is because the congregation prefers to hear the announcements of upcoming events rather than read about them.

My job during this weekend was to provide baked goods for all the coffee breaks and help prepare the lunch meal on Saturday.

Of the 30 people who attended this conference, the general consensus was that using oral methods of teaching the Bible is a wonderful way to reach their neighbors for Christ. It is non confrontational, very relational and culturally appropriate.  Everyone loves a good story, and the Bible is full of the best ones!

The training program that ECO offers is a full eight-module course – each module being a full four days of training. Following completion of all of the modules, a diploma is presented in Bible Narration.

All of the participants were very excited to have the ECO team return over the next several months in order to complete the full course in Biblical Narration (Orality).

We believe that this will be a new, and wonderful tool in the hands of the local Body of Christ as they learn how to tell the Gospel in story form.

For more information on the Orality movement in evangelism today, please go to www.oralitystrategies.org. This site is full of information and resources.

1 www.oralbible.com

2 www.oralitystrategies.org

3 www.gods-story.org

4 www.gods-story.org

What does poverty look like? I suppose that poverty has many faces, and perhaps different levels. Few of us, I suspect, would call themselves rich, but maybe we would not consider ourselves to live in poverty either. Who sets the parameters on the upper and lower ends? The government of countries set poverty levels based on family income, and can then state statistically who is, and who is not living in the state of poverty. But really what does any of that mean in real life?

I will tell you what I think poverty means by telling you a story of friends of mine. However, in doing so, I also realize that even in the telling, there are different levels, and probably different self perceptions. For example, Dan and Regina Bumstead, friends of mine, are working in Africa. They are serving among the AIDS orphans and the poor in Zambia. Many there are dying for lack of proper nutrition, or due to diseases, many times easily prevented. That is a tragedy, and a travesty of justice.

Perhaps it could be argued that poverty there is more tragic than poverty in Mexico because there is even less recourse for help there than in a developing nation such as Mexico – I don’t know.  What I do know however, is that poverty, grinding poverty, has the same face wherever one encounters it. I have traveled to many countries, and seen many of the world’s poor in my travels. Disease, malnutrition, gauntness, and hopelessness all carry the same identifiable features…

But, maybe that is exactly it – “hopelessness”. Hopelessness, to a large extent is an attitude of one’s mind. One can be very poor, but not feel impoverished. Indeed, one can feel joyful and blessed despite their lack of money and resources. Some, on the other hand, feel “poor” when others would consider them to be very privileged and rich indeed.

My story is about friends of ours living in a little village just to the north of Cd. Valles. By all standards they are very poor – if this is measured by being short in wealth and resources.  However, if riches are measured by joy, generocity and love, then they are very rich indeed.

Marina is the mother in my story (actually the grandmother  – however, since she raised the “daughter” since she was a baby, she considers her to be her own child). Marina is a sixty-something year old Huastecan Indian, and has had very little education or other breaks in life. She is used to hard physical work in order to hold her family together. Many years ago when she became a Christian her common-law husband walked out, leaving her to support and raise the family alone. This she has done well, and diligently, through much hard work. Marina, for the fourteen years that I have known her, has lived in a number of shacks which she has build herself.  All have been constructed with scavenged materials, and poles from the forest. Marina is one of the most generous souls that I know. Even with her meagre income she loves to give, and will never be without a cup of coffee and some pan dulce for a guest.

As I mentioned, Marina raised her granddaughter from infancy. Elizabeth, or Eli (pronounced Āleé), is one of the happiest people I know – at least she appears to be. I don’t know what fears and apprehensions reside in her heart – and certainly there must be many – but she always is ready with a big smile from ear to ear, and an embrace and a loving word. I have known Eli since she was twelve. Now she is twenty six. Eli married young – actually, like many here in Mexico, she never did legally marry, but rather lived common-law with a young man. Unfortunately he turned out to be a heavy drinker and did not support her well. They lived in a little shack beside Marina’s hovel, sharing not only walls, but also duties of care for the children which began to soon come along as well.

Two little boys soon made up a bouncing duo. Their home has only one bed, some very worn bedding and piled up clothing, a table, a couple of wooden homemade chairs, and a barrel cut down, and filled with sand to make a cooking stove (there is no chimney).  Outside are some old, blackened cooking pots and some miscellaneous plates and cups.

In February of this year twin baby girls were born to the family. Both are healthy, and with an unbelievable mop of the thickest, blackest hair that you can imagine on a tiny little person.

Theresa and I popped over to visit the family about a week ago. As you will remember from my last blog, we have been having weeks and weeks of rain – unusual for us. We felt that we wanted to see how our friends were doing in their little shack. We knew that the sheets of recycled corrugated tin that made their roof certainly had many holes, and the walls in many places were only sticks covered with scavenged cardboard, and even then, they did not all reach to the roof. Marina has only recently had major surgery. And anyway, we wanted to see the baby girls again.

We put together a little box of food items to share with them, picked up a roasted chicken and some fresh tortillas, and headed over to see them.

We were greeted with love and warmth. We could not sit in the first room of the house – the “kitchen and dining room” because the mud floor oozed with slimy muck. The weeks of rain had brought rivers of mud through the house. Instead we moved to a higher sleeping level where Marina actually has a concrete floor (however, the water still runs through this area as well, and comes in though the walls when the rain is accompanied by wind). We placed a chair in front of us as a table, and shared our feast of chicken and tortillas.

We found out the sad personal story that has unfolded within the family over the past months. Marina cannot work now due to lingering health problems following her surgery. She is basically without any sort of income whatsoever since she can no longer go out to work. Eli’s husband has recently walked out on her and the four children, leaving them without any means of support at all. She too, cannot work because her little twins are only five months old (the boys are two and three). Despite her broad, loving smile there was sadness in her eyes.

The little boys played and vied for attention as little boys will do. At one point, the littlest one was trying on grandma’s shoes and took a tumble – down the step and into the mud of the “kitchen” floor. Mom picked him up and wiped most of the mud off – at least from his face and hands. His clothes were still covered, but what else can be expected of little boys who live in houses of mud?

Theresa and I left feeling loved, and happy that we had come to spend the afternoon with our friends.  We also left feeling so grateful for what we have. At about the time that one feels that they have been given a tough row to hoe, a look across the garden to one’s neighbour will quickly remove any self pity.  We also left with the question that we so often ask each other – “what can, and what should we do”?

Theresa and I are planning to head north sometime around the end of August, unless we hear otherwise from James and Jessica. We have an “Orality” conference coming up this weekend which will be taught by friends of ours from Puebla, Mexico. I will try to bring you up to date on this in a later blog. We also have a number of other obligations which we need to “baton down” before we feel that we should leave.

If you have not done so yet, I really encourage you to look up James and Jessica’s blog site at:  http://mainlandmessage.blogspot.com

I do so, not only because they are our kids, and we love them dearly, and are extremely proud of them. But also, I believe that you will find the insights and revelations that they bring are deeply moving and profound.

God is good. We rest in his hand. This year has brought several records for me. This winter was the coldest, or at least the longest winter that I have experienced since I have lived in Cd. Valles. It has been the wettest, at least the longest periods of rain that I have seen here. I have witnessed the worst unemployment, and joblessness on the streets since I have lived here. And there has been more violence than I have ever seen in Mexico before. Last week somewhere between seven and fifteen police officers were shot to death here in Cd. Valles when a death squad of teenagers stormed into the main city police offices and shot dead on sight. They then drove the streets gunning down other police officers at random. They were allegedly hired assassins of one of the several Mafia groups vying for control.

Still, God sits on the throne. He remains unshaken, and unchallenged…

Sometimes I have to wonder if the natural circumstances around us reflect the inner and spiritual condition in which we find ourselves. I realize that the incessant rain that is drenching Mexico from north to south, and the resultant flooding that it is causing is related to tropical storms brewing in the gulf waters. However, I can’t help but see spiritual applications as well to the raging tempests.

Those of you who have been reading my blogs will know that our daughter in law, Jessica Frey, has been diagnosed with a brain tumor. As black clouds roll across the region and rain pours in tropical torrents outside, causing flood waters to rise in the streets of the city, I sense a similar rising deluge in my own spirit.  If one looks at the raw medical data, it doesn’t look good. However, praise God, we are not limited to the natural, but can look beyond the physical to the supernatural. We worship a God who loves us intimately. A God who knows and loves Jessica more, and better, than we ever can. I am unspeakably proud of both James and Jessica as they voice their faith during this difficult time. Nonetheless, I feel the floodwaters rise in my spirit.

I wonder if the rising, mud-chocked, polluted and foul-smelling water which is taking over city streets and filling homes, carries the stench of what is taking place in the nation on the spiritual level. Does the natural reflect the unseen? Darkness is rising – sometimes silently and stealthily, sometimes in a raging flood across the nation on Mexico. The nation has been reeling in horror over the past few short years as it watches the rise of violence, abuse of power, and sometimes open anarchy. The engulfing tide sweeps across the nation.

But God is on his throne! I love the imagery in the second Psalm – while the nations rage, shaking their fists against God – the one who sits in the heavens laughs. The Lord himself scoffs at them, and rebukes them in his anger. It is he who will break them with an iron rod and smash them like clay pots. We know that this ultimately speaks of principalities and powers in the heavenly realms, as Paul describes. Nonetheless, “nations” refers to people – people who are in rebellion against God. As the flood torrents of violence and evil arise, we can rest assured that the day is coming soon when every knee will bow, including the knees of those who are so proudly and arrogantly in rebellion against the King today.

The chapter ends with the statement “But what joy for all who find protection in him!” What a place of glorious joy and protection against the rising waters of the enemy.

Pray with Theresa and I in several other areas as well please:

On Tuesday we looked at a beautiful property that we would love to be able to purchase for the Leadership Training School. The land consists of five hectares of sugarcane fields, and one hectare of scrubland. The five hectares of sugarcane is under contract with the sugar mill. The fact that the land is contracted makes a huge difference in its value. Further, the hectare of undeveloped land would provide us with an excellent place to begin building the school and housing necessary for the work. There is a new highway being built from San Luis Potosi, the state capital, to Tampico, on the gulf. This new highway will pass within only half a kilometer or so of the landsite. There are power lines passing in front of the land, and water accessible if we drill a well. The vision is to be able to use the sugarcane to form the backbone of self-financing for the school, as well as the agricultural base providing a hands-on training platform for the students as they are trained to be laborers in the Kingdom.

We are still in the initial negotiation stages with the property owner. The price is not cheap, but it is certainly within range of the going rate for land in this area. There are some definite pluses with this property that increase its value immensely, and we are excited to see if God will open the door for its purchase. It is by far the most exciting piece of land that we have looked at yet, and the potential is tremendous. We need several miracles to take place if we are going to be able to purchase it – all of them involved in the difficulty which we face every time that we attempt to purchase land in Mexico. There is a great chasm between the unbending nonprofit laws of the Canadian government which regulate Canadian charities, and the equally stringent land laws which regulate property ownership in Mexico. Both are unfeeling, unbending and impersonal, and both are the final word for their respective nations. Please pray with us that if this is the place that we are to own, that the impasse will be overcome.

Also, Theresa and I have a very big personal need which greatly affects the ministry as well. We are in the process of opening an English Language School (other than the Easy English School which did not do well, as you will remember from earlier blogs). I will write more about this school, and the vision for its ministry at a later date. However, for the present, let me simply say that our pressing need is for two ESL teachers to come down immediately. These must be very special people with not only the ability to be excellent English language teachers, but who also have missionary hearts and who will have a similar vision for ministry. As I have already stated, I will write more about the ongoing vision for the school later.

If anyone feels the “niggling” of the Holy Spirit in their heart following my very brief description above, and if they are qualified ESL teachers who can come down to Mexico almost immediately, you would be a definite answer to our prayers. The urgency has arisen because of the unforeseen need for Theresa and I to return to Canada as soon as possible in order to be with James and Jessica during this crisis time in their lives.

I am attaching a link to our ESL Job Description below:

http://sites.google.com/site/eslministries/

You will see the heading “URGENT! ESL Teachers needed for New ESL Ministry in Mexico!” If you click into the link you will be taken to our job description.

Or, you can simply click directly onto the link below to see the job description as well.

For details click here

We covet your prayers in these maters. Theresa and I want very much to be with James and Jessica and their two little boys as soon as we can be. However, we feel that we also need to fulfill commitments and promises here in Mexico before we can go. Because of this, ESL teachers is a big prayer item for us at present.