We're in Chahuites, Oaxaca--commonly called "The Land of Mangos," but we call it "The Land of Milk and Honey"

back to Our Walk of Faith

Tuesday (5/29) morning, we headed out...we were 28 miles from the next town, but as usual, we just stepped out on faith knowing that God would catch us!! We were taking our 5th break about 8 miles later when a family came walking out to the road...they invited us to sit with them while we rested. Raul even spoke to us in English. We were excited about an open door, so we went over to chat with them. Before we knew it, we were eating breakfast with Doña Tina, Julia, Raul, and Jared in El Sardinero. (the one who catches sardines...apparently the community is famous for sardines...we ate some fried sardines for breakfast!!) We were enjoying chatting with them and sharing back and forth. Raul decided that he wanted to give us a ride to La Ventosa, the next town, but we were having so much fun talking that it got really late. They invited us to stay and to head out early the next day. We agreed. Doña Tina's mom Trinidad also lives with them...she's 85 years old and can't see anymore. It's quite a burden for Doña Tina because it's almost as if her mom is a little girl. Also Julia has had some complications with her pregnancy, so Doña Tina is taking care of her too. When she was 3 months along the doctor detected a cyst on Julia's ovary...she had to have surgery. She's 6 months along now, and the doctors have assured her that both she and the baby are both fine now, but she has to take it easy. (Please pray for her...they lost their first baby two years ago.)

We had a great time with them...such a loving family! We definitely planted some seeds...God will be in charge of everything else! We were even able to wash some of our stinky clothes!! I also learned to make corn tortillas by hand over an open fire!! A time-consuming process with tasty results!! Several of the boys invited Chris to go play soccer...so of course, he went with them!! After playing for several hours, the boys invited Chris to share a Coke with them! I was touched at their kindness!!



Wednesday (5/30) we headed out a little later than normal, but Raul, Julia, and Jared were giving us a ride, so we weren't very concerned. When we got to La Ventosa, instead of letting us out, they put gas in and kept driving. We couldn't believe it...they dropped us off in Zapanatepec...63 miles down the road!! We were so thankful!!

Now Chris and I had a decision to make...were we going to walk on to the next city for church or look for a church there...we prayed and ate lunch. We decided to walk on. At first, I was pretty stressed out because the road was so narrow, but I started just trusting the Lord to protect us...by the time God got me straight on His mighty hand...I was in a much better frame of mind. Not even a half of a mile later, road construction started!! Awesome for us because that meant we had an entire lane to walk in! We chatted with some of the construction workers as we walked! After about an hour and a half of walking, it started to sprinkle. Again...we had to just trust that it was all part of God's plan! We waited it out under the largest tree we could find. A few minutes later, one of the construction workers came to wait with us. We talked with him about Jesus and about our walk. While we were waiting a truck loaded down with mangos stopped and threw some mangos off for us to eat!!! Praise God! It was raining mangos!

After the rain, we walked on...we arrived in a little community called "El Jicaro." (Another place that's not on our map.) We decided to look for a church...when we asked if there was a church, they directed us down another street. We arrived outside the Nazarene church, but we realized they were finishing up. They invited us in anyway, and we shared a little testimony of our journey. Then Hno Ernesto invited us to stay with him and his wife, Hna Isabel. Hna Candida also invited us to come to Getsemani Pentecostal Church on Thursday night. They are constructing close to her house, so she goes to services there on Tuesdays and Thursdays. She loves the Lord so much, that she goes to two churches since they have services on different nights. If we stayed more time, they also wanted us to visit a few families in the community. We told them that we'd pray about it all and let them know in the morning.

Thursday (5/31) morning we prayed and spent some time in the Word...we felt that we were supposed to stay at least a little while. Hna Candida and Hna Isabel took us to several houses to visit and share about Jesus. The first two houses were really closed...they listened, but had no interest in making a decision to follow Jesus. The 3rd house was different...we chatted for a while and met their pets...they have regular pets, but they also have Tejones...now I have no idea what they are called in English, but it looks like a cross between a raccoon and a possom...they were really sweet. We also talked quite a bit with Rogelio(right of CE)...he accepted Christ a few months back and his family has noticed a huge change in him. It was awesome to hear that from his wife (Nicole) and mother-in-law (Ana). Rogelio really feels like God is calling him to sing for Him now...when he stayed high and/or drunk all the time, he sang bar songs. He wants to sing for Jesus now, but he's nervous. We encouraged him to take a step of faith!! As we started sharing about Jesus with Ana and Nicole, we barely noticed Jose Manuel (Rogelio's brother--left of CE) listening in as well. When we asked if anyone was interested in making a decision to follow Jesus, Jose Manuel spoke up from across the room. The women wanted to think about it some more, but we were pumped up about Jose Manuel.

On our way back to the house, we saw Don Marco sitting under a tree...we spoke to him, and he spoke back...as we chatted, the door opened for us to share with him...then his nephew, Jose Carlos, came up. We were able to share with him too. We had to leave to get ready for church, but Jose Carlos invited us to his house. So we promised that we'd stop by after church.

We got to church early, so we taught 3 little girls-(l to r) Suzannah, Kayli, and Diana-some VBS songs. They loved it!! We had a ball singing with them too! The service started--Rogelio and Jose Manuel came! Hno Alvino, one of the leaders in the church, asked us if we would bring the message. We agreed...first was the praise time...Rogelio went forward and sang a really pretty song about God's protection! Praise God...he took that first step of faith in obedience to what God put in his heart! We were so pumped up!







We fellowshipped for a while after the service, and then headed towards Jose Carlos's house. On our way there, we ran into a couple of kids...before we realized what was going on, about 30 kids gathered up...they started talking to us and asking questions. We even shared about Jesus...but none of them wanted to make a decision right then. However, seeds were planted. The teenagers hung around a little longer, and they started asking questions about being a Christian. They said...we don't want to get involved with religion because we can't go to the movies, dance, wear pants, etc. We tried to explain to them that these rules weren't in the Bible and that living for Jesus was not a religion...it had to do with a relationship with the Living God. Who would be interested in a bunch of rules?! Jesus came to this world so that we didn't have to live under the Law...to give us freedom in Him. How sad that all the teens have seen of the Christian life are people bound in legalism.

Friday (6/1) morning...we knew it was time to move on...the next town was pretty close, so we decided just to walk in the afternoon. We thought that the door was going to open for us to visit another family, and a couple of the girls that we met on Thursday night told me that they would be coming by (which is why we didn't head out in the morning). We ended up not being able to visit the family...God has a perfect time for everything. The girls (in the picture l to r: Karen, Nancy, RE, & Celia) did come by, but they just wanted to give me some totopes and cheese.

So instead of our plans, we did what God had planned...we played with Hno Ernesto y Hna Isabel's grandkids. Daniel, Yaritza and Yulisa live with their grandparents...Daniel's mom gave him to her parents. Yaritza and Yulisa's parents are in the US. They left 1-2 years ago...the girls really miss their parents, but they love their grandparents a ton too. Manuel, Suri, and Sami are also grandchildren...they came to visit their grandparents that day. We taught them some new songs and chatted. It reminded us of all the fun we used to have when we got together with our cousins when we were little.

Friday afternoon we headed out. We only walked about 4.5 miles. The road started off really narrow, but pretty quickly we got to another stretch where they are working on the road!! Praise God for road work!! We had a safe place to walk. We were talking to all of the workers again as we passed by...really nice guys. We even cheered for a group of guys who pushed a cement mixer up this huge hill. About 30 minutes later, that same group of guys stopped in the middle of the road and asked if we wanted a ride into Tapanatepec or Tapana if you live here. We accepted their offer and climbed up in the back of the truck.

Little did we know that there is next to nothing in Tapana, but it was date night, so I was pumped up anyway. We were able to talk to our family finally! We hadn't spoke to them in nearly 2 weeks. It was then that we found out that Addie had been born. ("El Jicaro" where we were before was so little that there were no Cybers, telephones that we were aware of, nor signal on the cell phone...not to mention no running water...usually people at least have a hose where water comes to their house and they store it in barrels daily...in this place someone has to go to the river everyday and get the water and then bring it back to the house.) So yet again, we were looking forward to a shower...hot, cold, or whatever! We stayed in a hotel, and yet again, God gave us an amazing rate! Raquel called from Rosita to let us know that a tropical storm was headed straight for where we were. We put that in the Lord's hands and went to sleep!!

Saturday (6/2) we decided to head on to Chahuites (the last city in Oaxaca before we crossed into Chiapas...the last state that we are going to cross before reaching the border of Guatemala.) We left a little later than normal, but Chahuites was only about 6 miles away...2 hours and we'd easily be there. Well, that was the plan, but on our way out of town, Andres Gama called out to us. When we told him that we were missionaries...just wanting to tell everyone about God's love, he invited us over. He quickly ran to get his Bible from inside his hardware shop and came back out. I shared with him from Romans, Matthew, and Corinthians. He was hungry for the Word, and wanted to understand it! (While we were talking he even offered each of us a mango!!) Andres gives God a lot of credit for the things that have happened in his life. He was able to quit smoking after 30 years of smoking 3 packs per day...He gives all the credit to God. He said that when the doctor warned him of cancer, he went home that day and asked God to take away the desire to smoke and to give him strength. God has sustained him! He has not smoked once in 18 years! He's struggling with his son (Gabriel) right now, and we encouraged him to keep relying on the Lord as he did with smoking...God will touch his son in His perfect time!

Before we realized it, 2 hours had passed. We quickly said bye to Andres and continued on down the road. After about 15 minutes, we heard some men calling out to us. One of the guys held up mangos and motioned for us to come on over. We stopped to see what they were doing...they were packaging mangos to ship all over the country. So of course, they gave us a few mangos...a new type (this makes 6 so far) called Mango Oro. We also shared with them about our journey and about God's love for them. Then we kept walking...

Just outside of Chahuites, we realized it was a long way in to the city (a mile and a half...3 miles round trip...an extra hour of walking), so we decided that we would just get something to eat at the restaurant on the highway and to keep walking from there. Arriaga, Chiapas, the next town, is about 19 miles away. At that point in the day it was impossible for us to make it to Arriaga, but we know that nothing is impossible for God. We wanted to get a picture of the entrance to the city, so as we were walking towards it, we prayed that God would take us where He wanted us to be that night. If we were supposed to stay in Chahuites, we asked God to make it obvious. If we were supposed to walk on, we wouldn't worry...we'd just walk in faith that He was going before us. Just as we reached a spot close enough to take a picture, a lady called out to us. We went over to tell her a little about our journey and to ask about the restaurant on the highway. She told us it would be better if her son took us into town because it was a long walk and the restaurant on the highway was closed. That was part of our answer...

The lady's son dropped us off and told us where the market place was...we went to find some food, but most of the places had run out of food because it was 4 or 4:30. For some reason, I wanted french fries...they didn't have them and there were a lot of flies around the food that they did have. We kept looking...we even asked a few people, but everything looked like it was closed up. (we learned later that most of the town shuts down from 3-5pm everyday for people to go home and eat...we also learned that the state of Oaxaca doesn't observe daylight savings time so we've been getting places an hour early ever since we've been in this state.) They finally told us a place around the corner, so off we went. I don't know what caused Chris to notice the bakery across the street, but he told me we could come back to it for dessert. While we were reading their sign, a girl came out...we asked if they had french fries, but they didn't...we asked what they had to eat and another girl came out...they told us enchiladas verdes and quesadillas. We decided to stay and eat.

It was a God thing!! (We found out later that the girls were just minutes from closing and going home because they weren't doing any business!!!) Wow...The Bakery is called Leche y Miel (Milk and Honey). That should have given us a clue, but we didn't know. Next the guy that appeared to be working there as well, put on a cd of Funky (a Christian Rapper) that I recognized. Then it started. Samy (on the right) and Taly (the two girls who were working there) asked a few questions, and we asked a few questions. We quickly realized we had encountered like-minded people...where there are like-minded 20-something girls, there are like-minded parents. The conversation flowed like you wouldn't believe. We didn't want the time to end. The more we talked the more we fell in love with these girls and their parents (even though we hadn't even met their parents--Salvador and Esther--yet).

We learned that family had moved from Mexico City almost 7 years ago to Chahuites. God had revealed to Salvador and Esther that they were going to have another child when Samy was 14 and Taly was 12. It turned out that they had twin boys, Emmy and Chavito. When the boys were 1 year and a half old, someone wanted to steal them to sell...the people were stalking their family and following them around everywhere. Also during this time, Esther's dad died leaving her mom alone in Chahuites. God opened the door for the family to move to Chahuites to be with Esther's mom. They moved from the 2nd largest city in the world to a city of maybe 6,000 people following the open door God had given them. God had given them a vision of a cake business...God gave them the name and the recipe. (The cakes are amazing by the way!!!!) But they had to leave behind an amazing church that focused on teaching the Word...that focused on Jesus and having an authentic love relationship with Him. When they arrived in Chahuites, they looked for a church, but they are all filled with legalism...rules...many Christians in these churches wanted nothing to do with Salvador, Esther, or their kids. They said that they way they dressed (they wear pants), the music they listen to (contemporary Christian music), etc. is of the devil and they needed to change. So they've not found a church to fellowship with. They long for the fellowship that they had in their home church...they live off of times they can go back and hear the Word and sermons on cd. I'm telling you though...their relationship with the Lord is real and authentic...it is deep...they are passionately in love with the Lord! It makes my heart sad that this same legalism that keeps the young people from wanting to know Jesus is keeping this family from being able to congregate with a church...the people here have rejected them because they won't live by the rules some man made up.

The girls decorated cakes and fixed other food as people came in, but we just continued to fellowship, share testimony, and talk about God's Word in the bakery. EIGHT hours after we arrived at the bakery, we went to their house to stay the night. Who know's how long we'll stay...we're pumped up about what God's going to teach us though!! God bless you and keep you! We love you...we'll be in touch soon!



More pictures...1) hundreds of windmills (used to produce electricity) that we passed by on our way through La Ventosa (The Windy Place) 2 & 3) Another interesting "pet" that we've seen along the way...we hear that they just keep the armadilla long enough to fatten it up so that they can eat it!!























This may be last of the flowers...I haven't seen very many lately...we'll have to see...they've been beautiful will they lasted...Praise God for His beautiful creation!