Jon in Mexico

I posted a few pictures here before I left Puebla for the Mexico City airport to pick up Steve and Verna. I had no time to write anything before I left.. but I have a few minutes now at the airport.
The first few pictures here are of a church we visited yesterday called ¨Chililix¨. Dr Emilio, who is in charge of the clinic at San Andres recommended that we visit this village to see if there would be the possibility that our group could help with the construction of their church. San Andres is in a very remote location... but Chililix is even farther out there! The pictures you see here are of the church in Chililix (Still under construction), the path to climb up to the church, the existing church building where they meet and a few other photos of the area. After our stop in Chililix we continued on to San Andres to meet with Dr Emilio and talk with him about the upcoming week of work. It was raining very hard when we arrived in S.A. so we had to talk quick or we would not have been able to get out of the village. We were able to nail down a number of projects that we will be doing as well as a day or two visit to the church in Chililix. It was a LONG day of traveling over very bad roads, in poor conditions. About 13 hours of driving, and two hours of visiting (mostly in Chililix). We were very thankful to be able to get out of the village last night, since the rain made the unpaved mountain road quite challenging (see last picture). Among other things, please remember to pray that the Lord would be gracious to us and hold back the rains when we travel to and from the mountains. It was very eye opening what a lot of rain can do out there, and if the roads are impassable, we won´t be able to get into the village to work and serve. That´s it for now... Have to run and check when Steve and Verna come through customs. Sorry... no time to edit this for spelling and bad typing on a spanish keyboard. We´re really excited to receive the team on saturday. Thanks so much for praying. I´ll try to keep this up to date as long as I can.

In Him,
Jon

Posted by Jon at 11:11 AM | Permalink

Last night I arrived at the Naredo's home around 1am. Gilberto and Norma Naredo will be hosting me, Steve and Verna and the rest of the group before we go to the village. The flights were uneventful... which is good. Today I went with Gilberto and Norma to the Hernandezes home (Efrain, Salvador... etc...) We ate mole (mo-lay: a traditional Mexican dish) and talked a lot about the projects we will be working on in the mountains.

This is me with Eli and Ruth, Rosa's children, Efrain's niece and nephew, Salvador's grandchildren...

I was able to talk to Omar today on the phone, but I'm not sure if I'll be able to see him. He won't be able to come with us to the mountains, but he seems to be doing well. His mom, brother and sister are still here in Puebla. Tomorrow we'll be leaving for the mountains at 6am (Wednesday). Neil, our missionary friend here who with his wife Cheryl help us out so much every year, will drive Efrain, Pastor Juan and me to San Andres. We hope that this trip will give us a more clear idea of exactly what we will be doing when we begin working next week. Please keep us in your prayers tomorrow as we travel, investigate, and decide what will be best for the team and the brothers at these churches that we will be visiting (There are two: the church at San Andres, and a church at a village called Chililix).
It sounds like Cristo Victorioso will be really full this Sunday. They invited 5 different churches to attend the dedication service! That doesn't mean that everyone from those churches will come, but whenever there's food after a church service, that attracts a lot of people. I think it will be packed. We will be eating "barbacoa de borrego" (lamb barbeque) and, you guessed it... pollo (chicken).
I'll try to keep this updated as long as I can... but unfortunately when we get to the mountains with the team, I won't be able to update it until we get back.

Que Dios los bendiga,
Jon

Posted by Jon at 09:51 PM | Permalink