… it’s WHO ya know that counts …

Pastors José and Manuel and six companions just returned from a two-week trek to various villages in the magnificent Sierra Madre Mountains. It sounds like a promo line from Vacations Magazine, but don’t let the mental image fool you. It was no holiday, and the pleasure they derived from the trip was not due to the change of routine, nonetheless they returned home invigorated and with strengthened faith, renewed vision and increased determination to continue pursuit of their divine call to evangelize and disciple their Huichol brothers and sisters.

They left before dawn on the first day of their missionary journey. After 15 hours on a rural transport which stops at what seems to us like the “end of the world,” they set out on foot for another 5 or 6 hours for their first stop, the village of Los Aires, where they taught and encouraged their brothers and sisters for two days until they left for the village of Mojarras. The people from Mojarras had heard by way of the proverbial “grapevine” about “Cacáüyári,” the One True God Who sent His Son to forgive their sins, and their need to place their faith in Him. Not long ago, they sent a group to Los Aires, 5 hours away, to investigate. Several Mojarras villagers accepted the gift of salvation, and they returned to their village with the Good News.

The eight Huichol missionaries spent three days explaining, teaching and discipling in Mojarras, then they set off for another week of the same in Guásima del Caimán, the village that recently has been the site of much persecution. The Guásima believers, proving their love through great personal sacrifice, butchered a “fatted calf” in true Christian style, to share with the missionaries during their week-long stay/celebration in the village. Nearly as soon as the missionaries arrived in the village, Professor Clemente, the teacher of the village school who several months ago had deprived the children of the believers their right to attend classes and had refused to give the Christians the food staples that the government of the state of Nayarit allots through him to each tribal family, arrived on the scene. Clemente went directly to Pastor José Lopez (the main pastor/leader of the Huichol believers with whom we minister) and virtually begged him to convince the Christians to send their children to the village school. It appears that Timmy’s childhood friend, Roberto, from the Department of Human Rights followed through on their July meeting and summoned Clemente along with the municipal judges to give them an "applied civics lesson" issuing them formal reprimands and to remind Professor Clemente that the Mexican Constitution guarantees freedom of religion and the right to an education for all. Clemente left Tepic with the clear understanding that his job might be at stake!

… it’s who ya know … and it helps to be a child of the King!

The new believers of Guásima, to whom 8 more have been added during this last mission trip, are grateful for this answer to their prayers. They are still sad, however, and are praying for those of their village who continue to reject the Truth and continue to mistreat their Christian neighbors.




To see more digital pictures of the Aires/Mojarras segment of the trip, click here.
To see more digital pictures of the Guásima del Caimán segment of the trip, click here.