On Saturday four of us left Ixtapaluca at about 5am to attend a meeting of Bible church leaders from the area. I believe about 8 or 9 churches were represented (with three people attending via Zoom, due to a car breakdown and other circumstances).
It was encouraging to spend time together, although concerning at times to hear some of the things that people are going through. These are challenging times, and it’s good to come together as believers and look to the Lord.
We planned – or, I should say, started planning quite a few events for the coming year, including a youth event, a men’s retreat, and a joint service. Everyone is anxious to get together after having fewer activities over the past few years.
In other news, our coworkers Rod and David went to the state of Oaxaca to serve there and see what the Lord is doing. There’s a possibility of sending a team or two there in the future, whether from our area here in Mexico or (and?) from a team from outside the country. I won’t give everything away – there’s more information and a video at Rod’s blog – be sure to check out Reaching an Unreached Ethnic Group.
We’re encouraged to see what God is doing here at home as well. Here’s a recent picture from a Sunday morning, although there were quite a few who weren’t there that day. Nathanael used his growing skills as a photographer (Photography is one of his courses this year) to take the shot (with a timer, obviously!). Just click the image for a higher-resolution version in our photo gallery.
Thanks to so many of you who also are working with us to reach Mexico!
On Friday Shari and Hannah had just left for the women’s conference in Jesús MarÃa when the 7.2 magnitude quake was felt here in Ixtapaluca. It was certainly a good shake, lasting around 2 minutes.
Thankfully, no new damage in our house that we can see, although it did cause one or two temporary leaks in our bathroom.
Then the power went out for a couple of hours, along with cell phone service.
Thankfully, as far as we know no one was killed in the quake, although more homes in the state of Oaxaca (where the epicentre was) were damaged.
About an hour later, an aftershock hit, just slightly felt where we live.
Just before 1am this morning, we felt another aftershock, this one magnitude 5.9. So – I could use some sleep, but otherwise everyone is fine here.
That being said, continue to pray for people whose homes have been damaged/destroyed. And also for those who continue to be fearful. It’s high stress when the ground keeps moving, but all the more when you have no Solid Rock to hold onto.
Yesterday Shari and Hannah joined Rod and Mayra and others related to our community centre for a special wheelchair presentation here in the neighbourhood of Santa Barbara. Several people in need of a wheelchair received one through our community centre and the Free Wheelchair Mission. There was a program with family and friends, in which the gospel was clearly presented.
Please pray for everyone who heard God’s Word. Even with a “clear presentation”, there is so much confusion from false teaching here that it takes a miracle for people to understand and accept the gospel. Then again, it is always a miracle, in the truest sense of the word, when someone understands and accepts the gospel!
It’s amazing how many people are involved in a simple event like this. Obviously those who support the missionaries here are involved. But people were also given the earthquake tract provided through Camino Global, and also a Gospel of John. The Gospels were provided to us by the Pocket New Testament League.
Please pray for the earthquake outreach that’s taking place today and tomorrow. We’re not going ourselves, but through our community centre and gifts donated through Camino Global (thank you!), we have a part in what’s happening.
We have a friend who is involved in building houses for earthquake victims. It’s an amazing process – I’ll have to tell you more about it sometime. Actually, for those of you who donated, we will try to send out more information in the new year.
A group from one of our related churches is going again to share the gospel and provide help in a community very much affected by the quakes. We’re able to provide four tents for four families. There are some who not only have no home, they don’t even have access to an outhouse.
The community centre is also very much involved in providing help in the state of Oaxaca, where we have contacts. We’re focusing especially on providing comizcales, which are special ovens that people use to provide food and income for their families. Many of these were destroyed in the quakes. As one woman in the region said,”I would rather have my comizcal than a pantry full of food”.
The words of one of our contacts in Oaxaca could be in the mouths of anyone trying to serve the people of Mexico in this difficult time. “Please beg God to keep in the hearts of the Christian Church their brothers and sisters in this region of the country… because this way, at least someone cares about us and remembers to pray for us.”
So please pray for all those travelling today and tomorrow to share God’s word and help those who are still so much in need after the quakes. And pray for those who are receiving, that they will understand the greatest Gift that God is offering them.
This week, for the first time after the recent quakes, many students finally returned to school. It took a long time before many schools were either repaired or declared safe. (Our church was finally able to meet at our normal location on the 8th, after scrambling for two Sundays to find other options.)
As you might guess, the kids are being slammed with make-up homework now, so everyone will be very busy for a while!
Meanwhile, many people are having their homes demolished, because the buildings are structurally unsafe. Aftershocks continue in Oaxaca. And some buildings still haven’t been inspected.
As a part of the ministry of our community centre and church, Rod will be going to Oaxaca today (along with another man from our Camino Global team – Chalo Sandoval). They will be making the 11 hour each-way trip to deliver tarps, hearing aids, tracts, and other items. They will be returning tomorrow, Lord willing. I know they would appreciate your prayers.
I heard that some from the church in Jesús MarÃa may also be planning a trip to Oaxaca, but I’m waiting for details.
Another friend is going with a group from his church on the 21st, Lord willing, to Ecatzingo, where I’ve been a couple of times. I would like to get back there maybe later in the month, but we’ll see how things progress.
On Sunday, we challenged our church to continue to reach out using the new tracts that have been printed. Please pray that God would use us as a church to bring hope to people around us in this difficult time.
Mexico continues with recovery efforts after the three earthquakes in September (or two and a major aftershock, depending on how you count them. But of course there have been many aftershocks – which continue even today). It’s about time for another quick update.
What’s Been Happening?
We personally have not been able to go out to do specific earthquake relief again. We hope to go again, but for the time being will be focusing more on support and administration for those who are going.
Since I last wrote, we’ve been able to get earthquake related tracts out to several churches, to help with their local ministry and relief efforts further afield. I was also able to meet with Camino Global missionaries last week to discuss next steps, and longer term help.
Many of the immediate needs have been met, at least in Mexico City and other parts of central Mexico. I’m not sure what people are going to do with the mountains of clothes they’ve received! But in harder to reach areas, and in southern Mexico, there seem to be many urgent needs.
Rod had been hoping to get to Oaxaca last week, but reports of significant violence on the way down led to a change of plans. They went closer to home again, delivering blankets and tarps to those who are struggling with a lack of proper shelter. (See more here)
One of our coworkers was able to get to Oaxaca to help there. A typical story he told was of a woman and her four children. She lost her husband to cancer a few years ago, and makes memelas (a kind of baked tortilla) for a living. The family house was seriously damaged, and the oven destroyed.
As you might imagine, it is very difficult for a family like that to recover.
What Next?
Another trip is being planned from the 9th-15th of this month.
Many churches in Mexico City are hoping to go out again in the weeks ahead.
So, Lord willing, various types of ministry will be going on over the next couple of months:
Ministry at home: Not only does normal ministry need to continue, there are many who are struggling with fear after the quakes. Also, many are growing in their faith as they reach out in new ways.
Continuing to meet immediate needs: Making sure that there is proper shelter, medical supplies, and food in affected areas. Sharing the gospel of hope with those who are angry, confused, and discouraged.
Longer-term needs: Supporting churches, rebuilding homes and businesses.
We continue to be thankful for those of you who have prayed and donated to the effort. At Camino Global Canada, the director’s wife Ruth Ann was inspired to make salsa verde – 40 pint-sized jars, made from her fresh garden harvest of tomatillos! She was able to share about the need in Mexico and sell the salsa, resulting in a generous donation for the work. Thanks, Ruth Ann!
Please continue to pray that people would find their hope in the Lord, and that needs would be met in His Name. Many, many people have a long road to travel before they can have a normal home and normal work day again.
A significant aftershock hit on Saturday (Shari felt it, I didn’t), and another today. We say “aftershock”, but there is even disagreement about which earthquake these are aftershocks of. The fact of the matter is, we know a lot less than you might think when it comes to earthquakes and plate tectonics.
As far as I can tell, there have been aftershocks every day since the quake on the 7th. But here is a map showing just the quakes/aftershocks magnitude 5 and up from the past week (the orange one was from today). (Actually, that red one snuck in while I was capturing the map. It was a 4.7 but it just happened.)
Setting aside Mexico City and area for a moment, can you imagine the strain in the state of Oaxaca, where the earth is moving every day? There are towns which after two and a half weeks have no water yet.
But tension is high here too, as rescue efforts continue. Even if there is little damage from the aftershocks, it still adds to the emotional strain.
The Personal Report Part
I won’t write a novel and tell you all our adventures yesterday – adventures including off and on power and cell service, muddy roads, and lots of driving. Over lunch time we met with people from a few families, some of which had been affected directly by the quake. One man made a confession of faith – so maybe from an eternal perspective that was the purpose of our whole day!
In the afternoon, with a lot going on, I made the split-second-without-thinking-much (maybe I was too tired to think!) decision to suggest we head up to the town we had visited on Thursday.
To be honest, I only had a vague idea where this town was, but I knew that by a big Roman Catholic chapel there was someone I had met. And I knew that there was a lot of damage in the town.
So we found our way to the town, and to the centre of town, but athough I had recognized some streets, I had no idea where to go from there.
There was a lot of immediate help in that area, so we were talking about going nearby to just help whoever we could find. We talked to a police officer, and he said something along the lines of,“You know, we have lots of help here. But if you go about 5 minutes down the road, they need more help there. Actually – I’ll take you.”
And he drove us right to the block where the person was that I had been looking for, and I got out of the van and walked a few metres to his house.
And they say God doesn’t answer prayer.
You can see the family house above – this was their house and business. It’s a complete loss. Three families are now living in a single room next door.
So I asked this man if he would be willing to walk with us for half an hour to help us find those most in need.
And so he took three of us from the group, and we went on a walking tour, giving people some food and praying with them.
For example, we came across this house (it was a business too, actually), which also is a loss (no, that is not a door on the right!). When we said we were from a Christian church, we found out that he was a Christian too, with a bunch of big Christian guys moving rubble behind the house. We prayed with them, and they enthusiastically and LOUDLY thanked God for His blessings and prayed for those who still did not have salvation. It was quite an experience there in the semi-darkness, with clouds of cement dust in the air! (I’m still coughing… dust was everywhere in this town…)
I got home this morning around 12:30am or so.
A couple of the towns we visited, including this last one, did look like war zones. The bad part is that there were destroyed and semi-destroyed buildings everywhere you looked. But the good part was that there were people working all over the place – trucks moving rubble, people organizing supplies. The Mexican people have been amazing in their response.
But this will require more than an immediate response the few days afterwards.
I want to leave you with the story of one man we met. Below you can see a picture of his two story home, which they now can’t enter. It will soon be torn down. As you might be able to see, all his belongings are outside under the clouds (clouds which will likely become rain, if they haven’t been already).
On the right you can see rough shelters that were just being put up last night, so that they would have a sheltered place to sleep.
This man’s wife just passed away a month ago.
We prayed for him, but in this case, as Romans 8:26 says, “…we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words.”
Today and Next Steps
We had a service this morning, but we were split in 3. The building where we meet has not yet been inspected, so we met in three homes at three locations (we weren’t able to find a place big enough to meet – unless we were willing to pay a large amount of rent.) From what I heard all three mini-churches had a good service. It was an encouragement to be together, praying and singing and hearing from the Lord’s Word. And, of course, hearing more stories from everyone!
This afternoon I went to the city of Puebla to pick up 28,000 evangelistic tracts that have been printed just for earthquake relief. The front of the tract says,”Fear in the face of tragedy”. It talks about the recent quakes, and then goes on to share about the “God of all comfort” (2 Corinthians 1:3).
I’ll be shipping those to various churches in our network tomorrow as they continue to bring news of comfort as well as physical aid.
We have a conference this week for missionaries from around the country. We have decided to go ahead with the conference, but to use it not only as a time to “go up for air”, but also to have some times of prayer and meetings to strategize some longer term plans. But it’s going to be difficult for everyone to be here, but not be here. That will be Tuesday to Friday.
And then – well – we’ll take it from there! As I’ve alluded to before, things are changing day by day, and even hour by hour. So it’s more than a full time job to stay up to date with the current needs and what everyone is doing.
Rod will be going to Oaxaca this week, where he has friends, to help there. Depending on what funds are available (you can help here by giving to our community centre fund), and how the situation develops, we will see what direction we go next.
Thank you again for your prayers. God is answering them! People are being helped and encouraged in the face of this tragedy. Let’s keep looking to the Lord.