Quest September 16-23

Quest is a men's ministry of The Woodlands United Methodist Church north of Houston, Texas. This team was comprised of 9 men lead by missions director John Hull. As always John and the team did an outstanding job of showing compassion and love for the people they came to serve. To Bill, Bruce, David, Ed, John F., John H., Lynn, Mike and Tom - many thanks to all of you!

There is a saying, "Where the road ends, the adventure begins!" What truth this held for our first work project of the week! We drove 1 1/2 hours from Chenalho but had to leave our vehicles and start the one hour hike up a very steep mountain trail to reach the destination of Tz'acuclum. Each man carried different items to be used to complete the work task - 5 gallon buckets of paint, rollers, pans, drills, 5 gallon containers of water, gasoline, etc. Thanks to the Tzotzil men who assisted in carrying the very heavy welding machine up the long trail. Quest had sent funds to build a block church for this group of people, but it took great effort to reach them. Yes, it was quiet an adventure, but Quest rose to the challenge!

It was very difficult to navigate up the mountain trail, but we kept reminding ourselves of the sacrifice that the local church people had made prior to our arrival. The land had to be leveled with picks and shovels. All of the block, bags of cement, rebar, metal roofing, iron for the roof truss, gravel and sand had to be hand carried up the same one hour steep mountain trail before we arrived.

The work was unbelievably hard, but yet the people of Tz'acuclum had such determination to have a block building in which to worship our Lord and Savior. Part of the work for Quest was to assist the local men of the church to pour the cement floor, to weld and erect the roof, and to paint the interior, exterior, windows and doors of the church. At the end of the day Tuesday, we had a short time of worship, prayer and dedication of the new church with the local people.

The following days were spent painting churches that had recently been completed in the villages of La Libertad and Suyalho. We also made 44 benches for churches in 3 different villages. At the end of each work day, we prayed for the pastor of the local church and his family, followed by prayer for the sick and various other needs. The faith of these Indian people in our Lord Jesus Christ is very strong, and He touched their hearts and met the needs of so many. Our American friends were also moved by what they experienced during these special times of prayer.

Our week in the highlands concluded with a meal and wonderful time of fellowship in the home of a local family in Chenalho. The warmth and appreciation for the help that is given to their people leaves us all with a sense of fulfillment. We left with great contentment in the work of our Lord among the people of Chiapas.