March/April 2016 - Keneutanautsa - …So run, that ye may obtain. 1 Corinthians 9:24b

March/April 2016

…So run, that ye may obtain.  1 Corinthians 9:24b

It’s a given. Every single true believer in Jesus Christ is in the race. We’ve been selected, exhorted, trained and disciplined to run legitimately, with self-control and patience, enduring to the finish in order to obtain the prize of God’s upward call to be with and be like Christ Jesus in all His glory. The prize is not exclusive; it’s offered to every single certified athlete who finishes the race.

For the past two months, the work in Tepic and the surrounding Huichol villages has been chock-full of the reality of the selection process, training, discipline, and the endurance of some very motivated athletes in this marathon.

“Keneutanautsa” is the Huichol word for “Run!” That was the theme of this year’s Huichol youth campthat was patterned after the upcoming 2016 Olympics. We laughed out loud as we reflected on the disaster it would be if the Olympics were held in the Sierra Madre:  On your mark, get set, Keneutanautsa! Six syllables! This helps explain the difficulty of the Huichol Old Testament (OT) translation process. The nine mother-tongue-translators (MTTs) are modeling amazing discipline and perseverance on this project. The goal is in sight.

We made the decision early on, that in spite of very limited resources and the very rustic facilities we have available for hosting our camp, we would not limit admission. Every single person who wanted to come was welcome. The logistics of getting everyone to camp are overwhelming. We expected around 100 Huichol campers; 147 came, along with 20 Huichol volunteer cooks, an army of outstanding IBBM-Tepic youth staff, a few observers from other states who wanted to learn by experience how to go about organizing a successful youth camp, and a team of well-prepared Huichol teachers for a grand total of 222.

We wrote the curriculum in Spanish, and the OT MTTs translated it into Huichol. The IBBM youth staff organized and carried out corresponding extreme games, music, and related activities. The campers learned what God’s Word says about becoming one of His athletes (like Timothy), the race that believers are to run (not like Demas, but like John Mark who, though he deviated from the track, got back in line for a winning finish) and the prize He has prepared for all who finish the race (like the incorruptible one Paul received).

The day after camp was over, Good Friday, Pastor Refugio and the believers from the church at La Bendición hosted a big baptismal celebration.  Eighteen new team members who have recently joined in this race proved their willingness to run legitimately. Several of those 18 are from Tutuyekuamama, a very remote village that the La Bendición teammates have been painstakingly evangelizing and training. (Salvador’s story is here.)

The following week, nine diligent, disciplined, self-controlled, and patient Huichol students finished a big lap around the track, completing five years of the Theological Education by Extension (TEE) course. Pastors Martín and Nacho from IBBM-Tepic have also run with endurance as dedicated and exemplary coaches. The student graduates have already branched out to a half-dozen other Huichol villages to hand off the torch they’ve been passed, teaching other racers who are anxious to join the relay and run, as well.

Pastor Hilario from Los Aires has taken on the job of “trainer” for the relatively new little village church at Mojarras. He travels on foot for hours from Los Aires to reach the village, and he has worked with them in establishing their own local church. They have diligently dug the foundation, made their own adobe blocks by hand, and raised the walls for their new meeting place. The team members from IBBM-Tepic came alongside to help to finish it off before the rainy season hits, giving them a missions offering to buy the metal roofing materials and pay for transporting it as far as a truck can go toward the “uttermost parts of the earth”. From there, the heavy pile of 3¢ x 6¢ metal sheets had to be hand-carried for hours to the village. Diligence and endurance in the race are easy concepts for them to understand.

There is, no doubt, a great cloud of witnesses who have gone before us, as well as many teammates still here cheering on and enabling the runners of this amazing squad. May we all run well, the race that is set before us, with our eyes fixed on the Goal as we press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.  …So run, that ye may obtain.  1 Corinthians 9:24b

January/February 2013 That your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God.

January/February 2013

That your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God. 1 Corinthians 2:5

Praise God for the faith He gives, the strength to carry on, and the power to overcome. An immeasurable dose of that divine power has been evident these past two months in Tepic as He has softened and transformed hard hearts, comforted and refreshed hurting hearts, and reinforced and energized committed hearts. This outpouring of His power could never be attributed to human wisdom.

Huichol students of Theological Education by Extension from the village of La Quemada studied Personal Evangelism the week before Christmas. The seven mother-tongue-translators working on the Huichol Old Testament also agreed to meet at La Quemada during the week of Christmas to continue the task of revision and in the process, to encourage the believers of that village. In addition, Huichols from several neighboring villages converged on the little church there to celebrate Christmas together.  By the end of the two-weeks filled with non-stop activity, eight new believers whose hearts were softened and transformed by the power of God were baptized in the frigid river just outside the village.  

The power of God that comforts and refreshes hurting hearts has been especially evident at a personal level lately. Jacob and Kiki’s 18-month-old son, David, was diagnosed 29 days ago with pre-B cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL). David is my 7^th grandchild. This new trial is not an easy one; it will include days, weeks, months, and even years of surgeries, biopsies, chemo and hospitalization, but we are determined to glorify God through it. Kiki summed up our feelings well: It is definitely not the path I would choose, but I know beyond a shadow of a doubt that God is sovereign and in control over every cell in David's body. It's still hard, but I pray that David will be a trophy of His grace (as we all are) and that God will use this trial to bring Himself glory, salvation to some, and strengthen the faith of those who believe. David has had more discomfort in the past month than I have in a lifetime. It's hard to watch, but comforting to know that the God who wouldn't spare His own Son for me loves my son more than I do. We have been so blessed by the prayers, encouragement, practical gifts/help and kindness from the bride of Christ. Without her coming along side us to bear this burden, it would be unbearable. Thank you for bearing it with us. Love, Kiki.  This summarizes the power of God that comforts and refreshes hurting hearts. That same power of God was also extended to Julián’s family this month.

Julián was among the group of 20 believers that pastor José López baptized on Good Friday in 2010.  They are from the remote village of Guásima del Caimán, but they came to be baptized in the village of La Bendición (The Blessing) where their brothers and sisters had relocated after Julián and his coconspirators had made their lives miserable, persecuting them with all their might. When the first believers fled the village of Guásima under the weight of the persecution, Julián later told us he was so furious he drank non-stop for an entire week, pausing only long enough to regain consciousness after blacking out. The testimony of those persecuted believers, now in their new village, The Blessing, has been spread far and wide, and many from neighboring villages have believed the Truth as a result, including at last, Julián. His hard heart was softened and transformed by the power of God, but his body suffered the consequences of his former lifestyle. Julián died of complications of cirrhosis of the liver on February 4. While Julián is experiencing the power of God in person, his friends and family are experiencing the power of God that comforts and refreshes hurting hearts left behind.

Guest Helpers, a group of 20 retirement-age workers from Santa Ana, California, opted to leave comforts of home behind, give generously of their resources, and use their God-given talents and gifts to serve sacrificially for a solid week. They set an enormous example working alongside their Mexican brothers and sisters at IBBM-Tepic to put in insulation and a drywall ceiling in order to combat the intense heat that radiates into the church. They also crafted a beautiful new pulpit, did cement work on sidewalks and floors, electrical work, painting, and garden work.  The best job they accomplished was demonstrating God’s love in action and their dedication to His service proving that nobody can do everything, but everybody can do something. The power of God reinforced and energized committed hearts in ways human wisdom never could. For assorted pictures of the teamwork click here. 

That your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God. 1 Corinthians 2:5

“… the quickening of dead sinners, the enlightening of blind eyes, and unstopping of deaf ears; the softening of hard hearts, the delivering of persons from the slavery of sin and Satan, the transforming and renewing of them both inwardly and outwardly…the comforting, enlivening, strengthening, and establishing of the saints…can never be ascribed to the persuasive language of men, but to the power of God…:” ~John Gill

September/October2012 “For we are laborers together with God…”

September/October2012

 

“For we are laborers together with God…” I Corinthians 3:9

We who belong to God’s family work together as partners.  Collectively, we are His field in which He brings about growth, His building of which Jesus Christ is the foundation, and His body where His Spirit dwells. Aristotle philosophized this biblical concept: “The whole is greater than the sum of its parts.” These past two months have been a graphic example of the synergism of that class of teamwork in action in which the combined effort of many brothers and sisters has effectively produced a product for the cause of the Kingdom far greater than the sum of individual efforts.

The month of September started off with a quick trip to the States where I was invited to share the work in Tepic with people in two churches. Ladies from both churches lovingly used their time and energy to make toys and beautifully knitted gifts for Huichol children and babies in the villages of La Bendición and Zapote de Picachos. Pictures here:

             

Then “Grandma from Mexico” got to welcome Ben and Karley’s beautiful baby, Brynley Diane, into the Mellberg family on September 10. She’s grandkid #8, an exquisite gift from our Father, and we share our middle name!

The same week, the Mellberg kids and their spouses organized a big surprise FIESTA at my parents’ house to celebrate my birthday. An enormous thank you to friends and family close to home and around the world for your much appreciated birthday greetings! I thank God for the life He has given me and for the army of people who have surrounded and loved me during these 6 decades that have seemed “but a vapor.” May we continue to labor together this year to share His love, truth and joy with all we meet.

The Iglesia Biblica Bautista Misericordia-Tepic celebrated her 21 anniversary the first Sunday of October. Pastor Luis Medrano from New Life-Scottsdale, sponsored by friends who love him and love this ministry, shared his personal testimony and a timely, unforgettable message entitled “Kaleo-The Call,” encouraging us to continue the task of reaching out together, not only in Tepic, but in all the world.

Pastor Phil McKeown and 3 men from North Village Baptist celebrated with IBBM as well. Then on Monday, they headed to the remote village of Zapote de Picachos to labor together with Huichol brothers and sisters to install a cement OANSA game court. It was a titanic task that started a year ago with NVBC working together to raise funds to cover the cost of materials and transportation and with the Huichols hauling 1000, 5-gallon buckets of sand and 775 of gravel from the river a half-hour hike away from the village. The 150, 110-lb. bags of cement, rebar, lumber, and a cement mixer had to be transported to the Agua Milpa dam, then up-river by boat, then carried on backs and by burro uphill to the village. After the cement work was completed, David Wolf of UIM, who was here to fly selected Huichol teachers to their respective isolated mountain destinations for teaching the next installments of Theological Education by Extension (TEE), airlifted the Phoenix workers from Tepic to Guadalajara for their flight back home. The following week  a team from Lifehouse Church in Rocklin, CA, led by UIM missionary friends, Don and Janie Nellis, came to labor together in the village of La Bendición building wood-saving stoves that emit reduced smoke and installing 10 much-needed latrines at strategic homes in the village. They set apart one workday to travel to Zapote de Picachos to trace and help paint the lines on the new court. Praise God, even for the abundant obstacles we knew we could expect because the enemy really didn't want the jobs done.  He never does. Praise God for the final product that in terms of relationships and lasting outcome was far greater than the sum of individual factors.  

For nearly a year, the Sunday school children from IBBM-Tepic have been saving their money and contributing to a special fund to help pay off the church property. Last week they chose four representatives to hand over their $1000-peso offering. The children are learning the importance of taking responsibility and laboring together for the cause of the Kingdom. Please help me pray that the IBBM family members who are making unbelievable sacrifices to pay off the property will continue to be faithful and will see God’s hand of blessing for their faithfulness. We are a little past the half-way mark on reaching this enormous goal.

Eleven Huichol brothers from La Bendición took it upon themselves to give up a week of work in the fields to travel back to their home village of Guásima del Caimán. Remember, the Bendición villagers left Guásima 5 years ago because of severe persecution from their neighbors brought about by the wise decision of the believers to accept forgiveness of their sin and the gift of salvation that Kakaɨyari, the one, true God offers. Since then, their amazing testimony of God’s love and provision for them has made its way throughout the Sierra Madre Mountains, and many have come to Christ following their example; including many of the ex-persecutors back home in Guásima. So significant has been their witness, that all of the village shaman’s adult children, except for one who is in prison, are now believers. The guys from La Bendición went back to Guásima del Caimán to help the new followers of Christ there erect their new church building! 

At every level, these past two months have abounded with examples of synergism; the effort of believers from every imaginable social strata, from distinct countries, villages and homes, speaking a variety of languages, all having in common hearts changed by God’s Word and His enabling power and a willingness to labor together to achieve what individually we could not, bringing about a product far greater than the sum of its parts.  Thank you for your vital share as team participants.

“For we are laborers together with God…” I Corinthians 3:9