Trip to Lacadonia Jungle
For many years the work of the Lord has grown in an area surrounding the ministry headquarters in Chenalho. Many churches have been built and the work of the Lord is strong in this area. For some time I have been praying about an expanded area that God may want to direct us to minister to in Chiapas. During the third week of March, Pastor Carlos and I drove from Tuxtla for a 7 hour drive into the far eastern jungle area of Chiapas. There we met a young pastor (and former student from Atoyac) by the name of Marcelino in Ococingo. We continued our journey to the village of Monte Libano where he has been ministering to the Tzeltal Indians. That evening we met a local family and had a short church service with them. Later we walked throughout the village from home to home praying for the sick and encouraging others in Christ. That night reminded me of my first night in Chiapas in 1989 when we had a similar evening in the village of Puebla. It brought back good memories!
view photo album
After a good night's rest sleeping in the back of my truck, we began a short drive into the Lacandonia area to the village of Naha'. Our plans were to meet a young Lacandonia Christian by the name of Kinsol, which means "Big Sun" in the Mayan language. Lacandonias are some of the closest descendents of the original Mayans. These are the only Indians of Chiapas that to this day still hunt for wildlife with bow and arrows in the jungle. I learned upon arriving that there are only somewhere around 750 of them in existence. In their Mayan culture, they have 12 gods that are still placed in the center of the village where their people go to pray.
I had never been to the Jungle of Lacandonia, but I had a strong urging by God that I needed to go. Prior to our arrival my prayer was, "God, how do you want us to reach the people of this area? Are you going to use the young man Kinsol to reach his people? Are we going to have the opportunity to build a church in this area. What needs to be done and what is our part?"
As we drove into the city, we saw the men of the village all wearing their traditional white tunics. Their long straight hair reached down to the middle of their back. As we stopped to speak to the group of men, the first person we met was the leader of the village. God had already opened up the door for us to meet their most important village official. He directed us to a large lake that was near Naha'. We parked the truck nearby and began walking on a path through the jungle. As we proceeded they showed us different plants that they would use for various medicinal purposes.
view photo album
One of the Lacadonia Indians by the name of Pepe invited us to go by his house if we were interested in purchasing hand made bow and arrows. He still personally makes these and collects rocks by the Guatemaula border to make the arrows. After looking at his collection, a young women stuck her head through the window and told Pepe that we could go by her home to see some necklaces that she had made to sell. We asked her to bring them to us. We were told they were made of different seeds and dried berries from the jungle. After she didn't return for some time, we decided to walk and locate her house. As we approached her one room home, there was a young man in the back yard hand carving a 6 foot boat paddle with a machete. As we were looking at the necklaces, young Pastor Marcelino asked her if the music in the back ground was Christian. She said," Yes, and we are Christians, but Christians are the minority in the village." Immediately, Pastor Carlos and I made eye contact, and we knew in that moment that meeting this young couple was why we had driven to Naha'.
We immediately introduced ourselves. The young man making the paddle was named Chochkin. He began telling us of the wooden church that had been built in their community. Pastor Carlos commented later how you could see something in his eyes - how they were dancing with the excitement of the Lord. He told us about the young pastor that had evangelized their community and lived in another nearby village called Lacandonia. We immediately asked him if it would be possible to ride together and be introduced to his pastor. Upon our arrival at the pastor's home, we first met his wife. She said that he should be back shortly. As he drove up, we introduced ourselves and explained about how we felt like God had directed us to this area to help the Mayan Indians of Lacadonia. We immediately knew that since there was already a small church building in existence that God wanted us to help and support the work that was already established. We explained to him about our ministry of helping to build churches, of the distribution of Bibles, and about our medical teams of doctors and dentists that go into the villages to bring healing to the people. We asked him what was the most important needs of his area. He told us he needed Bibles and tracts to distribute. He would also love to have our medical teams come into the area to help the people. He offered the use of the local church to set up the day clinics. Before leaving I asked if we could have prayer. As we prayed the local pastor wept in appreciation to God because he needed someone to help lift his hands and encourage him in the work of the Lord. As we drove away from the village of Lacondonia, we all felt that our prayers had been answered. We knew why God had sent us. We are looking forward to the next opportunity to return to this area.
view photo album
As we were driving back to Naha', I was thinking about one additional problem. We would have to have an interpreter in the Lacandonia dialect when we returned. Since he spoke both languages perfectly, I turned and asked the young Lacandonia man that had accompanied us if he would be our interpreter. He was excited and said "Yes, he would!" Once we returned to Naha', we said our good-byes to our new friends. We drove to finally met our original contact, Kinsol. Immediately upon meeting him, he realized he was extremely ill and very emotionally unstable. We had the opportunity to pray with him and his family before we left. As we drove away, we knew God had answered our prayers, but it had been done through a completely different direction than what we had thought originally. We are planning on returning to this area, first of all to bring the requested Bibles. In the near future we hope to also bring in medical groups. The rainy season will make for great challenges in our return, but we know God has a plan. My experience in this area was life changing, and I will never forget the opportunity I had to visit with the Lacadonia Indians.
Russell
view photo album
After a good night's rest sleeping in the back of my truck, we began a short drive into the Lacandonia area to the village of Naha'. Our plans were to meet a young Lacandonia Christian by the name of Kinsol, which means "Big Sun" in the Mayan language. Lacandonias are some of the closest descendents of the original Mayans. These are the only Indians of Chiapas that to this day still hunt for wildlife with bow and arrows in the jungle. I learned upon arriving that there are only somewhere around 750 of them in existence. In their Mayan culture, they have 12 gods that are still placed in the center of the village where their people go to pray.
I had never been to the Jungle of Lacandonia, but I had a strong urging by God that I needed to go. Prior to our arrival my prayer was, "God, how do you want us to reach the people of this area? Are you going to use the young man Kinsol to reach his people? Are we going to have the opportunity to build a church in this area. What needs to be done and what is our part?"
As we drove into the city, we saw the men of the village all wearing their traditional white tunics. Their long straight hair reached down to the middle of their back. As we stopped to speak to the group of men, the first person we met was the leader of the village. God had already opened up the door for us to meet their most important village official. He directed us to a large lake that was near Naha'. We parked the truck nearby and began walking on a path through the jungle. As we proceeded they showed us different plants that they would use for various medicinal purposes.
view photo album
One of the Lacadonia Indians by the name of Pepe invited us to go by his house if we were interested in purchasing hand made bow and arrows. He still personally makes these and collects rocks by the Guatemaula border to make the arrows. After looking at his collection, a young women stuck her head through the window and told Pepe that we could go by her home to see some necklaces that she had made to sell. We asked her to bring them to us. We were told they were made of different seeds and dried berries from the jungle. After she didn't return for some time, we decided to walk and locate her house. As we approached her one room home, there was a young man in the back yard hand carving a 6 foot boat paddle with a machete. As we were looking at the necklaces, young Pastor Marcelino asked her if the music in the back ground was Christian. She said," Yes, and we are Christians, but Christians are the minority in the village." Immediately, Pastor Carlos and I made eye contact, and we knew in that moment that meeting this young couple was why we had driven to Naha'.
We immediately introduced ourselves. The young man making the paddle was named Chochkin. He began telling us of the wooden church that had been built in their community. Pastor Carlos commented later how you could see something in his eyes - how they were dancing with the excitement of the Lord. He told us about the young pastor that had evangelized their community and lived in another nearby village called Lacandonia. We immediately asked him if it would be possible to ride together and be introduced to his pastor. Upon our arrival at the pastor's home, we first met his wife. She said that he should be back shortly. As he drove up, we introduced ourselves and explained about how we felt like God had directed us to this area to help the Mayan Indians of Lacadonia. We immediately knew that since there was already a small church building in existence that God wanted us to help and support the work that was already established. We explained to him about our ministry of helping to build churches, of the distribution of Bibles, and about our medical teams of doctors and dentists that go into the villages to bring healing to the people. We asked him what was the most important needs of his area. He told us he needed Bibles and tracts to distribute. He would also love to have our medical teams come into the area to help the people. He offered the use of the local church to set up the day clinics. Before leaving I asked if we could have prayer. As we prayed the local pastor wept in appreciation to God because he needed someone to help lift his hands and encourage him in the work of the Lord. As we drove away from the village of Lacondonia, we all felt that our prayers had been answered. We knew why God had sent us. We are looking forward to the next opportunity to return to this area.
view photo album
As we were driving back to Naha', I was thinking about one additional problem. We would have to have an interpreter in the Lacandonia dialect when we returned. Since he spoke both languages perfectly, I turned and asked the young Lacandonia man that had accompanied us if he would be our interpreter. He was excited and said "Yes, he would!" Once we returned to Naha', we said our good-byes to our new friends. We drove to finally met our original contact, Kinsol. Immediately upon meeting him, he realized he was extremely ill and very emotionally unstable. We had the opportunity to pray with him and his family before we left. As we drove away, we knew God had answered our prayers, but it had been done through a completely different direction than what we had thought originally. We are planning on returning to this area, first of all to bring the requested Bibles. In the near future we hope to also bring in medical groups. The rainy season will make for great challenges in our return, but we know God has a plan. My experience in this area was life changing, and I will never forget the opportunity I had to visit with the Lacadonia Indians.
Russell
posted by Russell & Charlotte at 5:47 PM
1 Comments:
Survival group against God?? LOL. Good luck with that. Truth is, no one knows the exact time this will happen except the man upstairs, however, I firmly believe that there are people placed here by God that post the warning signs and it's up to you to take heed.
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