Thibodeaux Family Church

On Memorial Day I met Pastor Dwane Bland and the group of 11 in Houston, Texas. This group was from Family Church in Thibodeaux, LA and was comprised of men, women and children as young as 6 years old. They are in the middle of a building project of their own in LA to build a new church building. In spite of this, they gave of their time and funds to build a mission church in Xocton, Chiapas. This village is about 5 miles from Chenalho. The wonderful thing about working here in Mexico is that the churches are reproducing by evangelizing to nearby cities and building up a congregation of believers. The head pastor then appoints a young minister to the mission to preach and oversee the new congregation. This is what happened in Xocton with Antonio Ruiz Perez. He originally came out of the church in Chenalho with Pastor Alejandro where those living in Xocton would walk the 5 miles to service each week. Now thanks to groups like Thibodeaux Family Church, these people can worship God in a beautiful new building in their own community.

Together with the local leader of the church, the group worked very hard to weld the beams and screw the tin roof. They painted the church walls, windows and doors, inside and out. Everyone enjoyed seeing the building turn out so beautifully. The local ladies of the church prepared a lunch of tortillas, chicken and beans. The Americans tried to communicate to the local people, but it is very difficult to use words since they speak the Tzotzil dialect. Yet smiles and lots of fun has its own way of communicating. Thanks to Pastor Bland, Rachel, Leah, Kayla, Christian, Keith, Shane, Louis, Pat, Jory, Releigh and Anita for their sacrifice and job well done. Pastor Bland cooked a wonderful gumbo one night!

Last year this group helped pour the cement roof on the house for Pastor Victorio from Tzabalho. We had the opportunity to revisit their new home. It is now completed and painted. Pastor Victorio and his wife, Evangelina, welcomed the group with a great meal of chicken, rice and beans. We also visited the church building in Tzabalho where recently Missionary Larry Myers had expanded the length of the church by 20 feet, due to the increased number of people attending the services. While in Tzabalho we prayed for the sick, and the ladies of the church sang hymns in Tzotzil. We also visited the church in Chalchichutan and prayed for the sick there as well. At 4 PM on Wednesday was the dedication service at the church in Xocton. Congregational and special singing was enjoyed along with a sermon and prayer of dedication for the new building and pastor. Many toys, clothes and gifts were brought to different churches by the group from Thibodeaux Family Church.

Our week ended by shopping in San Cristobal and enjoying the boat ride in Chiapas de Corso on the river Canon Del Sumidero where we saw much wildlife this time such as crocodiles, spider monkeys and a variety of birds. Thanks to Missionary Larry Myers and Pastor Duane for giving me this opportunity to be with such a wonderful group from Thibodeaux Family Church.

· Russell Linscombe