SPRING MEDICAL CAMPAIGN APRIL 14-21
We thank all the team for their dedication and hard work this week! And special thanks to Dr. Jim Nichols for the following report...
A medical/dental team of 7 people from Louisiana (along with Dr. Lulu from Tuxtla) served for a week alongside Russell and Charlotte. There were 3 dentists and 4 helpers: Dr. Ken Morgan, Dr. Damon Hughes, Greg, Valerie, and Jordan Iseral, and Carol Fulkerson. It was a wonderful week that kept everybody plenty busy serving the needs of the Indians in the mountains of Chiapas.
We worked in 4 different churches. Our first stop was Takiakum, home church of Pastor Jose, who is an overseer. Pastor Jose has reached out and evangelized many congregations in his area, some of them requiring him to walk over 12 hours by foot each way! One example of this was the church that was recently built last October in Chacte'. Pastor Jose had to walk 12 hours over one mountain, down through a valley, and up another mountain, to get to this village that speaks a different Indian dialect (Tzeltal instead of Tzotzil) in order to evangelize and provide leadership for a group of young, hungry Christian Indians until they could raise up a pastor of their own. This is so typical of the way that waves of evangelism and church growth is spreading through these mountains!
Next we went to Chanal, a Tzeltal village of about 20,000. The church that we visited there had also been built only recently, and was the first evangelical church in this town. Before the building was constructed, there were about 46 families meeting in a few homes. Many of these Indians are walking up to 3 ½ hours each way to attend services here. Dr. Lulu saw over 100 patients that day, and at mid-afternoon she still had a very long line of people waiting to see her that extended outside of the church!
After this we went to Palestina, a poor suburb (or colonia) of San Cristobal, the second largest city in Chiapas. This is the home church of Pastor Cesar, a young, dynamic, and very brave pastor. Keep him in your prayers as he is dealing with a difficult area which he feels God calling him to.
Our last stop was Rancheria Sinai, home church of Pastor Octoviano. This is a predominately Chamula congregation that started as the result of a group of Chamula Indians who had to flee their home village under the most severe persecution. There is still one area nearby that is so closed to Christianity that they will kill, or run out of town, anybody who converts to Christianity.
Lives were touched (Tzotzil, Tzeltal, Chamula, Mexican, and American), hugs and laughs were exchanged, pain and suffering were relieved, hurting and needy were prayed for, and God was daily lifted up and exalted. I am constantly amazed (but not surprised) how God can assemble the perfect team each and every time. People, some of whom barely knew each other at the beginning of the week, are now like family. Relationships and bonds between team members are stronger in one week of serving God like this than many relationships in the States are after several years. But the relationship with God, that comes from serving Him, and feeling Him work through his broken vessels, is beyond words!
Thank each one of you who have provided support, prayers, assistance, and finances. Those of us who go are blessed, obviously. But God will richly bless each of you for your faithfulness in being an extension of our team.
A medical/dental team of 7 people from Louisiana (along with Dr. Lulu from Tuxtla) served for a week alongside Russell and Charlotte. There were 3 dentists and 4 helpers: Dr. Ken Morgan, Dr. Damon Hughes, Greg, Valerie, and Jordan Iseral, and Carol Fulkerson. It was a wonderful week that kept everybody plenty busy serving the needs of the Indians in the mountains of Chiapas.
We worked in 4 different churches. Our first stop was Takiakum, home church of Pastor Jose, who is an overseer. Pastor Jose has reached out and evangelized many congregations in his area, some of them requiring him to walk over 12 hours by foot each way! One example of this was the church that was recently built last October in Chacte'. Pastor Jose had to walk 12 hours over one mountain, down through a valley, and up another mountain, to get to this village that speaks a different Indian dialect (Tzeltal instead of Tzotzil) in order to evangelize and provide leadership for a group of young, hungry Christian Indians until they could raise up a pastor of their own. This is so typical of the way that waves of evangelism and church growth is spreading through these mountains!
Next we went to Chanal, a Tzeltal village of about 20,000. The church that we visited there had also been built only recently, and was the first evangelical church in this town. Before the building was constructed, there were about 46 families meeting in a few homes. Many of these Indians are walking up to 3 ½ hours each way to attend services here. Dr. Lulu saw over 100 patients that day, and at mid-afternoon she still had a very long line of people waiting to see her that extended outside of the church!
After this we went to Palestina, a poor suburb (or colonia) of San Cristobal, the second largest city in Chiapas. This is the home church of Pastor Cesar, a young, dynamic, and very brave pastor. Keep him in your prayers as he is dealing with a difficult area which he feels God calling him to.
Our last stop was Rancheria Sinai, home church of Pastor Octoviano. This is a predominately Chamula congregation that started as the result of a group of Chamula Indians who had to flee their home village under the most severe persecution. There is still one area nearby that is so closed to Christianity that they will kill, or run out of town, anybody who converts to Christianity.
Lives were touched (Tzotzil, Tzeltal, Chamula, Mexican, and American), hugs and laughs were exchanged, pain and suffering were relieved, hurting and needy were prayed for, and God was daily lifted up and exalted. I am constantly amazed (but not surprised) how God can assemble the perfect team each and every time. People, some of whom barely knew each other at the beginning of the week, are now like family. Relationships and bonds between team members are stronger in one week of serving God like this than many relationships in the States are after several years. But the relationship with God, that comes from serving Him, and feeling Him work through his broken vessels, is beyond words!
Thank each one of you who have provided support, prayers, assistance, and finances. Those of us who go are blessed, obviously. But God will richly bless each of you for your faithfulness in being an extension of our team.
posted by Russell & Charlotte at 8:39 AM
1 Comments:
Thanks for writing this.
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