From the moment we thought about going to Sinaloa, we were bombarded with stories of other people. Some good. Some bad. Stories about the how the car broke down and stranded them for 24 hours. Stories about the heat! Stories about getting sick. Stories about the great people. Stories about the hard work!
No matter how you try to prepare, you just have to go to experience it.
Helio told us that over 600 people were praying for us through the churches that had promised to do so. I felt good about going into a trip with that knowledge.
At the start of our long journey, Erin and I were put in the back of a truck. I am not a big fan of riding in the back and there wasn't a lot of vision. (I used to be much more flexible, but now that I am really old, claustrophobia and the need for air is more of an issue) The seat was a fold-down bench. Not a lot of bounce. This added up over time.
But as we traveled, Erin and I made the best of it. We stopped at a lot of gas stations and I really enjoyed seeing Mexico as we drove through the Senora dessert.
Once we arrived, we were warmly greeted and we began to immerse ourselves in a new culture. Immediately, it looked very lush. There was a lot of agriculture and the houses were spread apart. Erin made the comment that it didn't look very poor. I agreed.
But as we settled in, there was a different type of poor. No running water. No insulation on the brick houses.
The poorness came from not much work. I discovered that the work that you might get is working in the fields for about 50 pesos per day. (about 4 US dollars) and about 60 pesos during the heat of the summer per day.
The land was cheap. The property next to the church where we were working was for sale for 4000 dollars. And this was a nice piece of land with mango trees and enough space to build a couple of houses and still have a back yard.
The trick was finding work.
I asked Pastor Gustavo how he chose to come to Sinaloa. About 8 or 9 years ago, they decided to be missionaries because they saw the benefits of doing this in the churches that visited them. They knew of a man who had become a Christian at the church in La Mision and had gone to Sinaloa to start a church. So they decided to go and help him out.
This is a region where there are no missionaries. They became the first ones.
Through their many trips down to Guasave, they came in contact with other pastors who were trying to start new churches. So they continue to build churches for the different communities. We stayed at one, worked on classrooms for another, held a church service at yet another church that our church has built through the years. We began to build another one as well.
One night, we held an outdoor church service/evangelistic rally.
I was struck by who was coming forward. Many older people were choosing to follow Jesus. I don't know why, but that struck me as strange. I am used to a culture where everyone knows the Gospel or has has someone tell them it or yell it at them.
What if this was the first time they had heard it clearly spoken to them? This was not an area where there was a church on every corner. We were building churches where there weren't any.
It was a joy to work with the people of our church. We had some guys from the rehab center in town with us. These are some of the most hard-working, toughest guys I have ever met. We heard the story of one guy who used to live in the US and was deported because of some dangerous activity and became a Christian and gave up his drugs one year ago. It was fun to work with them and then see them singing praise and dancing at night.
Lynette runs the orphanage in town with her husband. She brought 3 kids who were such great kids. We got to know Omar, Angela and Gladis much better because of this trip. They are all about 14.
On the drive home, we stopped for a few hours to let the drivers sleep. Erin and I left our car for a while and our seat was taken by someone to sleep. So we decided to stay awake. We spent the time with Omar and another girl, Berenice. We played game and swatted moths. Berenice told us her story and she cried as she revealed some painful things in her life. Erin and I were so honored to hear her story and a little impressed that we were able to communicate in such a real way in Spanish.
My birthday was phenomenal. I awoke early to the stupid rooster and everyone remembered it was my birthday. (birthdays are big deals here in Latin America) At the work site, Erik, who was going to be preaching in the evening service, asked me if I would help him by singing From the Inside Out (Desde Mi Interior). This is the song that they let me sing during church services. I recruited our friend Jarilyn and Erin to sing with me. It was fun to sing.
We left the work site a little early to prepare for the song and the kids, Berenice, Angela, Gladis, and Priscilla all surprised me with a dousing of water and consequently a water fight. A Mexican tradition. Erin was asked if I would like it. She said yes. I did.
That night, after the church service (the church sang me happy birthday), we went home. One tradition of the trip is that a man named Rosario (who I call Chapito), hosts a shrimp feast. So we had two courses of delicious shrimp. Chapito gave me a very nice John Deere hat from his work and they brought me a cake. A tradition in Mexican culture is to take a bite of the cake. They chant, MORDIDA, MOR DI DA! Then you take a bite of the cake. When you bite it, you usually get your head skmooshed into it. And that is what happened. (I learned that if you don't get your head skmooshed, they put it on your face anyways) Berenice was the one who got me. (I get that piece where my face was....mmmm)
As we sat and enjoyed the company, an older man and Chapito, sang some traditional Mexican songs that were the perfect end to a day in Mexico.
All in all, I really enjoyed the trip. It was an amazing way to see Mexico, to serve, and to really do the work of the Lord. The side effects are very important as well. Erin and I really grew in our Spanish, we got to know people on a much more deeper level, and people got to know us. We truly feel that this trip is going to be significant to us as we continue to grow La Mision Ministries.
Thank you for supporting us and for all of your prayers.
