In Proverbs, Agur describes death as something that is never satisfied – that never says “Enough!” (Proverbs 30:15-16). It’s like a fire somehow – the more it gets fed, the more it seems to grow.
We’ve talked often about the Day of the Dead (or Days) here in Mexico. The holiday itself seems to have an insatiable appetite, like death itself.
In our time in Mexico, we’ve seen it swallow up the darker aspects of Hallowe’en (see this post from five years ago – Hallowe’en In Mexico (like never before). With the promotion of the holiday in the movie Spectre (which invented the never-before-seen Day of the Dead parade), and then later the Disney/Pixar movie Coco, the holiday gained newfound fame. The confusion of beliefs and false hope it brings spread even further.
But it’s still hungry, and it’s not done yet.
Let’s see how we can throw a love of dogs (I love dogs) into the mix. Yes, there is a way.
For this we’ll start in Nepal, where one of the most popular celebrations is a festival of lights known as Tihar (also celebrated in parts of India, and related to a similar festival called Diwali). It falls in October or November each year (changing because of the phases of the moon).
The festival is focused around the Hindu god of death, and the Hindu goddess of wealth/fortune. These and other gods are worshipped through various rituals during the five day celebration.
After the initial worship of crows as the messengers of death (day 1), we get to day 2 – known as Kukur Tihar. On this day, dogs are worshipped as protectors of the house, and representatives of the god of death (or perhaps an incarnation of the god of death himself).
Due to the propitious timing of the holiday (around the Days of the Dead), the popularity of dogs in Mexico, and the solid connection to the worship of death, Kukur Tihar came to Mexico in a big way in 2016.
A perfect addition to the Days of the Dead – a belief in the return of the spirits of adults, and children – now we can add dogs to the mix.
With a modest start in 2016 (with 200 people attending in Mexico City), the celebration has grown not only in Mexico City but elsewhere.
Many in Mexico worship their own “god of death” known as Saint Death, which is also highlighted around this time of year.
Many cultures seek ways to appease death, often through some form of death worship. But death will never be appeased. Instead, we look to the true God, who has power over death, and the one Saviour that He has given. We look to the future reality, when we will say – Death is swallowed up in victory! (1 Corinthians 15:54)
10 years ago this month we were having a very patriotic time in Mexico City! It was a part of our orientation time, and Shari and I went to see the Ballet Folklórico, and spent some time exploring downtown Mexico City.
We even got some pictures of the lowing of the flag, right in the zocalo (main downtown square). Here you go…
And here’s a close-up of the above, showing the soldiers doing their job:
If it’s raining, or if there’s a chance of rain, the flag won’t be raised or lowered. The reason being, the flag gets far too heavy to handle – I’m sure you can see why!
There are a lot of people in Mexico who have worse water problems than we do. In Mexico City, an aging system of pipes and water storage is constantly in need of repair. Neighbourhoods often go without water, and people have to line up to get a little for their home.
Usually, though not always, we have a little water on the outside tap. But there’s usually not water for laundry during the day, and often not enough water for a proper shower, and sometimes not enough water to do the dishes. It’s been a pretty steady problem since the earthquakes this past September.
Since the washing machine in the community centre (well, the building we’ve rented to house interns and have Bible studies, etc, in Las Palmas) isn’t being used right now, we decided to borrow it and put it on the lower level, where there is … more often … some water pressure.
The lovely sound of running water filled the house, and the laundry got scrubbed. Then the machine started to empty…
… backing up the drain, and pushing sewage water up onto the floor of our back “servicio” (a little covered semi-outdoor area where our water tank is) and threatening to flood our dining room.
So – next step? Find a plumber, and hope that there’s something that can be done, at least with that drain.
Since many of you ask, there’s a quick water update for you!
Our friends from the north may be interested in a recent warning from Mexico City’s Civil Protection about cold temperatures in the area. The warning, sent out yesterday, gave instructions for what to wear if temperatures dropped between 0°C and 3°C (yellow alert), and what to wear if temperatures dropped to between -4°C and -1°C (red alert).
It should be fairly obvious even to a non-Spanish speaker, but for yellow alert it’s 1-2 layers on your legs, and 2-3 on top, a warm tuque/hat, gloves, boots, and a coat that keeps the wind out.
For red alerts, one more layer, and all the same things with a special emphasis on a warmer jacket and a scarf or ski mask.
Canadians will no doubt chuckle. Some of them are breaking out the shorts when the temperatures get above freezing, after a long bout of depressingly cold weather.
But in actual fact, Civil Protection is right.
Imagine this. It’s a chilly summer day, but you still go swimming. What happens? You get out into the wind, and you start to shiver. You get a towel, and you keep shivering. Finally you get into your warm car, or get into your house, get dressed, and you’re fine.
But – what if you couldn’t warm up?
Yesterday was chilly, and cloudy. Many people have no car, and no one we know has central heating. A space heater? Maybe, but the cost of electricity is astronomical.
In other words, a Canadian who leaves a warm house and wander about in -10C is not a danger because their “core” is warm and will be for some time. But if you get cold here, it’s cold everywhere you go. You just won’t warm up.
You’re not generally in danger of frostbite here, but people do struggle to stay healthy. In fact, in many areas, school was cancelled today!
On Monday I had to go to a meeting, and I wore several layers, a fall/winter jacket, and scarf, indoors, all day. And that was good.
So it’s a different world. Canadians wonder what Mexicans are complaining about, and Mexicans wonder how Canadians survive. But this morning, I’m wearing my coat indoors, and I think I’ll go make some tea …
As far as we can tell, tomorrow is the 4th annual “Mega Service” for our associated churches in the Mexico City area. We’re heading out to an ecopark in the pass between our local volcanoes for an outdoor service (under a tent or tarp). It’s one of the few places that can hold 400+ people for a price the churches can afford! I’m thinking about 10 churches will be represented, but that’s just a guess.
(And yes, for us it will be a little chilly. Around 13℃, probably. Don’t laugh, Canadian friends.)
Anyway, this is a particular prayer requests because our team is especially involved in the service. Yes, this year a lot of missionaries are involved – our friend Chuck will be leading the service, and Rod will be leading the music, with a music group made up of talented people from various churches, I believe. There will also be a communion service, led by a pastor friend of ours (Paco) from Mexico City. And of course a host of other people are involved in setup, take-down, organization, watching kids….
And – I’m the speaker! So I would appreciate your prayers for everyone involved, including me, that God’s Word would touch hearts. And that the fellowship would be an encouragement to many.
We’ll be heading up about 9am, and the service is supposed to start at 11am, with time before and after to hang out with people, eat lunch after the service, etc.
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.