Birthday in the Sierra Madre Mountains

Celebrating my 26th with the Benders & Arehmi.
Machelle Bender (behind me) & Dennis (taking pic) with kids, Natalie, Lydia, & Brooke.

Happy Birthday!

If Yesterday was my Mom's birthday, that means TODAY IS MY BIRTHDAY!

It is a fun day. The sun is out again after 3 days of clouds, rain, and hail.

Bad weather does make beautiful sunsets, though!

We're making cake and pizza for tonight.

Birthdays make even normal things special.

Happy Birthday!

Happy Birthday, Mom & Auntie Marge!

Stepping out the Front Door

"For since the Creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse." Romans 1:20

This is the world that the Guarijio people live in. By nature, they can clearly see that there is a God who orchestrates all life. The god they worship is not the God of the Bible, but rather the sun. Two families here, Benders & Reeds, are in the end stages of learning the Guarijio language and are preparing to teach the people about God beginning at Creation. Pray for them to be able to consentrate on language and lessons. Pray for the Guarijio people's hearts to be prepared to hear God's Word.

Arehmi & I are here for a month, getting an orientation to missionary life in the mountains. We are visiting the people to build relationships and learn their culture. And, we're learning bits of the language - how to culturally greet people and take leave & how to put words together in sentences. Today a girl is coming to teach us how to make flour tortillas. We'll learn all the words for that process in Guarijio!

Sierra Madre Mountains!

Today Arehmi & I fly to the Mountains.

The Trip

Isaiah 41:17-18 says,

"When the poor and needy search for water and there is none,

and their tongues are parched from thirst,

then, I the LORD, will answer them.

I, the God of Israel, will never abandon them.

I will open up rivers for them on the high plateaus.

I will give them fountains of water in the valleys.

I will fill the desert with pools of water.

Rivers fed by springs will flow across the parched ground."

Pray that the people of El Pino (high plateau) and Polvoroso (valley) and the surrounding areas will thirst for the Living Water.

The group of us: Andrea & Chava with baby Abby; Arehmi Barrera; Myself; Ramon Murillo; and Joe Swanson, our pilot

Polvoroso - our first destination - is located in a valley in the middle of the mountain range. About 1,200ft. We were there a day and a half. It's a town of both mestizos and Cora. The Cora live on the upper and lower ends of town and up the mountain sides, so they are separate a bit from the mestizos.

The Lord gave us Rosa as a friend. She lives right next to the hotel we stayed at and we got to know her the first day. The second day we 3 girls went to visit again before we left and she sold Arehmi this outfit she made for her oldest daughter. Here she is with her younger daughters, Rosita and Nelva Rosa.

We walked A LOT both days. I couldnt wait sometimes to get back to the hotel to take my shoes off. It was very hot in Polvoroso. We walked around even in the hottest part of the day b/c we wanted to make good use of the time we had there.

These are some of the Cora political & religious leaders participating in a ritual of another major religion. The Cora have mixed elements of that religion with their own traditional religion. They do not know the Truth & have never heard the Gospel in their language.

We left Polvoroso at 4:00am and got off the bus at Mitad to wait another bus for El Pino. It was cold while we waited for the sun to come up!

Finally the bus came. Thanks for praying for travel that day. We were just trusting the Lord to be able to hitch a ride. We found out the night before we left Polvoroso that there was a bus to El Pino on Saturday. It was the first we heard about it so didn't know if it was true. But Praise the Lord, it was. We took that bus from Mitad to El Pino.

This is El Pino- our second destination. It is located at the top of a mountain. In this area, the mountains top off with plateaux. It is very interesting. This is at 7,100ft.

The road into El Pino with the bus we rode in the distance.

We stayed at a cabin managed by this woman, Rita, and her husband. It turns out they are "Christians." As we talked them and to some of the others that we met, their testimonies seemed to of trusting in the good works they do now that they are "Christians" instead of Christ's sacrifice on the cross as payment for their sins. Every morning she made tortillas for us out of blue corn. I think they were the best tortillas I've ever had.

The Cora people are a communal people. They are more bold than other tribes that NTM works with here in Mexico. Several initiated conversation to find out who we were and what we were doing there. Rosalma was one of them. She's a 3rd grade at the public school.

I got to fly most of the way home. Joe handed the controls over to me just after takeoff. When we got within sight of our destination he took it back again to land safely. It was really fun.

We had a good trip spending 4 full days out in Cora land. Both places are spiritually dark with no Gospel witness. They need clear teaching in their own language, the Bible accurately translated in their language and literacy to be able to make use of the Scriptures.

Thank you for your prayers with us. We had a safe trip. The Lord paved the way. We had a good reception from the leaders of the villages. And, we only got sick just a little, the night before we left. Thank you, Lord.

Back Home

Well, we got back safely. It was a good & profitable trip.
Both Polvoroso & El Pino are spiritually dark, lacking the Gospel. These people need the Lord & they need to hear it in their own language. Who will go?

Guess what? There´s a cyber cafe here in Polvoroso! They even have high-speed internet.
We arrived safely yesterday morning by plane. A truck passed just then by the airstrip and we got a ride down to town. We got a nice hotel right next to where the Cora live. It is extremely hot here. Everyone goes outside in the later afternoon after it cools off abit. We had a better time meeting people and talking at that time when it is much cooler.
We´re here until tomorrow morning early. We´ll go part way by bus then hitch a ride the rest of the way. We´ll have all day to try and people say that there´s trucks and pickups passing all the time. There´s a bus that goes on Monday if all else fails.

We´re looking forward to El Pino´s cool weather.

Thanks for praying, we´ve been able to meet quite a few people and are doing well. The Lord has opened up doors.

The Lord has us in the palm of his hand. Keep praying.