Animal Projects

John is very happy to begin working with the animal production for the base. He has two projects in mind at this time to use for boosting the protein consumption here: the cattle herd and the fish ponds.

He found they had a small herd of 6 cows and 3 calves with a very small bull that wasn’t functioning. He had priced bulls here and found they cost around $2000. Now, how to get a bull? During the recent Youth Explosion some cattle were donated for butcher. It was said that a good sized bull was in the allotment so John asked if the small bull we had could be traded for the large bull. It was agreed so John sent the small bull ahead for butcher. However, the big bull didn’t come, and didn’t come. There was some legality of paperwork that had to be accomplished and it was being put off till someone could go to the farmer up in the mountain village and get his signature. After 2-3 weeks, the new bull came and it was just what we needed. We were so happy at how God heard and answered our prayers so quickly. New fencing is being put up around a larger field and grass that was trampled during the Youth camp is being watered to restore it for grazing. May the Lord bring the increase!

The fish ponds were in very sad shape. Some were completely torn, ripped, and unable to be used as they were. Some simply needed a good cleaning and with the help of the pastoral students, that cleaning has begun. Different size Tilapia fish were found barely surviving in some of the existing ponds but now, they have all been put into one small pond during the cleaning and will soon be placed in the bigger ponds to multiply and grow. We hope to see some fish on the plates in 3-4 months as we understand they are fast growing and fast reproducing. May the Lord bring the increase!

            

(top left) Damaged pond liner     (top right) Clean pond      (bottom left) Cleaning a fountain pond  
(bottom right)  Littlest pond holding the surviving fish




One big concern remains. All this will be nothing unless there is someone who will take the responsibility to take care of the animals even when we are not here. John has found one young man named Gabriel whose desire was to become a veterinarian but who was financially unable. He would seem to be the logical answer. Pray for these areas of need:

1) that Gabriel or someone qualified will accept the responsibility to oversee this endeavor
2) that the current animals will prosper and reproduce to bring increase
3) new corralling for managing the cattle

April Outreach trip

In the summer heat of April, with temperatures reaching above 100 F, we crowded into six vehicles in caravan towards the two villages, El Mosco and Yucuyaa. We were on a mission, carrying the Light of Jesus in our hearts to the mountains. In the lead was the medical team along with their clinic pastor, Jesus (Hesus), who evangelizes and prays for every patient going through the clinic, and his wife who came to do the cooking. Next was a group of seven youth with their four adult chaperones from New York who were bringing gifts, games, and ministry for the children. Third, a group of nine Spanish language students were traveling with us for the cultural experience. Among them was a family from France with their boys’ teacher, and three singles from the USA. We had three extra drivers, and we picked up four to six interpreters along the way who would translate from Spanish to Mixteco, the mountain Indian dialect. A five hour trip took us seven hours. Every bathroom break took up to an hour with 25 people all waiting to use the only toilet available.
The caravan carried a large amount of food and water which was needed to feed us for the weekend but it disappeared very quickly when we began sharing it with the host family and other unfortunates who hung around the clinics so that after the first two days, some of our meals became rather sparse. Our Sunday night supper was two tostados spread with a watery black bean mix and a sprinkling of cheese along with a drink called atole. This was made from corn milk, sugar, cinnamon and a bit of rice floating around. It was hot and nourishing, so it made you feel more satisfied. However, we hadn’t eaten from 1:30pm till 9pm so, many were rummaging through their packs for snacks to supplement the meal. Some of us were able to buy a rich pear or pineapple banana from a local girl’s bucket for a peso each. They had a very unique and wonderful flavor like no other banana we had ever eaten. It gave us a very real sensation of what those people face every day of their lives.

The youth group and Spanish language students had their ministry well prepared in Spanish and really blessed the children through puppets, drama, songs with actions, and the balloon art, face and nail painting, candies, hakki sacks, and leis that they brought. Some of the group became rather overwhelmed when they realized that they weren’t in ministry for an hour or two as it would be in a Sunday school class situation, but rather, they were being surrounded by masses of children for the entire time we were in the village. They tried to stay involved with the children as much as they could and finally relaxed to just playing with them individually as one might at any family gathering.

There were plenty of patients in both locations but many complaints were backaches from hard work or headaches and stomach pains from malnutrition and dehydration which only a changed lifestyle could truly cure. There were three or four other patients with more severe problems. One was a pregnant married girl of 15 yrs of age who appeared to be miscarrying her baby. She was carried down the mountain to the hospital on our return trip.

We were the most excited about seeing the food distributed since we had been there to experience the need on the previous trip. Ed & Jane Leonard of Springfield, Mo helped begin the packaging process while they were visiting here by pouring salt into small bags. That salt bag was put in a larger bag along with rice, beans, oil, sugar, and tortilla flour to be given to each family. A dozen eggs were given with each bag as they were passed out. Over half of the bags were handed out in that village from the back of our truck and the remaining was taken to another remote village. Two villages were blessed in that same day. Please, Lord, multiply that food among them.

Sunday began with clinic from 9am until 2pm when church started. The church was packed with people: some regulars, and some who had been drawn by their medical needs. Children swarmed in and out and all around. The service continued till after 5pm with Bro Jesus preaching and then clinic opened again going on until 9pm, which was when we ate our supper. After clean-up, we dragged into our sleeping bags and quickly fell asleep in the cool mountain air.

                                                                                 Picture:  Old lady walking her pig. 

Our return trip Monday was started early and we hurried home like a horse to the barn with only one delay, when a truck broke down. We were thankful the Lord had prepared us in advance by adding a driver who was a mechanic. He had us up and running again in thirty minutes. Once we reached the base, we ran for the showers and to the Monday night meeting. Thank you so much for your prayers for us.

 Please continue to pray for the work among the mountain people of Oaxaca, Mexico. Please pray for the people in training here at the base that many of them will be called to go out and take the gospel to those spiritually and physically starving mountain people.

Deep sea fishing for John

Deep sea fishing with the local villagers was quite an experience for John on April 6th, 2010. He was invited by the Base Spanish language school director, David Nelson, to join him and the local fishermen of the village for the morning excursion of bringing in the nets that had been set out the night before. High waves crashing against the shore require exacting experience on when to push out and launch the small fishing boats. One minute too late and the next wave is upon the boat, lifting it up and turning it over, dumping all the equipment that has been placed inside for the fishing trip. One minute too early and you are hitting the breaking of the wave which slows the process for launching way down and again, puts you in the position of hitting that next incoming wave.


On this day, the haul was not too large but the currents of yesterday had been too strongly mixed and had tangled the net so that parts of it had to be cut off. The haul was pulled out of the net and placed in coolers. A big block of ice was picked apart and scattered around between the layers of fish as they were packed. David shared many tidbits of information with John about the different kinds of fish and the ways to handle them because most of them have sharp fins and barbs that can easily cut the hands deeply. Some fish were described as being quite dangerous because they can carry venom or electrical voltage up to 200 watts. You would definitely want to learn what you were handling before you reached your hands into the net too casually. A red snapper and jack of around 2 lbs each were cleaned out and put aside for John to carry home. Once they reached “home”, they were immediately washed, seasoned, and baked in foil for a late breakfast at 10:00 am. Big smiles were all around the table as John, Joyce, and Chris dug into such a sumptuous fare. We were blessed and thankful for the Lord’s gracious provision. Until the next trip!

Youth Explosion 2010

Bienvenidos!  Welcome to Roca Blanca.
All through the month of March, the Roca Blanca campus people have been preparing for the coming Youth Explosion scheduled for March 30th - April 2nd .

They are expecting close to 6,000 people, mostly youth. Many hours of labor have gone into clearing and cleaning the adjoining open fields of coconut trees. Coconuts have been harvested, dead branches pulled down, bush-hogging and mowing have followed the burning of the dead materials. Palm branches were pulled down to make tamales, temporary toilet and shower stalls, and to roof the top of lifeguard stands and fast food stalls. Chalking is in many of the fields to designate parking and walking areas. Many trips have been made to town for supplies and many more have been made far and wide to bring in donated equipment such as wiring, freezers & refrigerators, tents, four wheelers, cattle for butchering, big pots, and much more. Companies are delivering and erecting large tents and sound systems. Porta-potties are trucking in. Wiring is being strung from tree to tree to add outside lights and plug-ins. The acreage around the campus is being quickly transformed. Inside the hotel, hours have gone into deep cleaning of every corner and cabinet and ceiling including all the storage rooms. Every piece of wicker furniture has been re-oiled and every room refrigerator has been restocked to ensure happy guests. The medical clinic has been stocking first aid supplies and lots of rehydration powders. Several of the language students currently studying Spanish are also planning to sleep and help in the clinic through this event. They will get plenty of opportunity to practice the Spanish they have been learning. One student is a registered nurse (from France) who is planning to practice here in Mexico. She will get to practice her Spanish and her profession before reaching her post.

The week is now upon us. Campers are piling in from everywhere in buses, cars and trucks, and on foot. Suburbans are going to the airport to pick up the speakers’ families and musical guests. Everywhere, food is being prepared. We have an outdoor cafeteria in the acreage off the campus for the campers and another one on the campus for the workers. We have outdoor fast food stands where you can buy tacos, enchiladas, playudas, tostidos, cold drinks, popsicles, and much more. Then, we have the hotel kitchen with extra workers for the 25 guests and Joyce’s kitchen, full of baked goodies for the hotel coffee shop.

The meetings started Tuesday night with around 2,500 but by Wednesday, the meeting tents were completely full and overflowing. Each meeting lasted 3-4 hours and were held 3 times a day. There was a 3 hour free period in the afternoon when many enjoyed playing soccer and volleyball on the beach or going swimming in the ocean. It is rather hard to say anyone was swimming because the waves and currents are too strong and many were from inland cities and mountain villages where they have no pools or beaches. There were many lifeguards, one or two boats beyond the swimmers with lifeguards, and two four-wheelers traveling up and down the beach all day for security purposes. Much precaution was taken because there was loss of life in one of the previous years. We did have one close call that was rushed to emergency in the nearby town of Puerto but, most of the casualties were minor injuries or were related to heat exhaustion. There were teams of security guys all throughout the day and night to keep the campers and campus guests in their respective areas and to discourage trouble. We thank the Lord for His watch and care over the campers and workers throughout the week.

We praise God that through the wonderful music and speaking ministry, many hearts were revived and reborn. Throughout the camp meeting, services began at 8am till 10:30-11:00 then they ate breakfast. The next meeting began around 11:30-12pm and lasted until 3-3:30. Lunchtime followed with some free time. The evening meeting usually started about 6:30pm and finished around 10-11pm. Then, they would get their evening dinner. The fast foods stands and the three snack shops were always open for business. On the last day, one of the main speakers came dragging back into the hotel sopping wet, very sandy, but grinning from ear to ear. When asked why he had been in the beach, he replied he had been baptizing about 500 people. He was so overjoyed he was dancing most of the evening service, along with all the other happy campers. But then dancing was what they did for an hour or more every meeting. The worship was vivacious and full of boisterous singing. The speaking was passionate and powerful. It was hard to believe on the last night that after many hours of meetings, and three and a half days in the heat and humidity, they still had the energy to dance and sing strongly for almost two hours.

It is interesting to note the special offering taken in this week. It was for the poor and needy village we found on our last medical outreach trip. We will have the privilege this month (April) to go back to that village and take beans, rice, and a few other staples. The offering that was taken will help tremendously to ensure they get the food that they need, plus, more trucks to haul it up the arduous journey through the mountains. We pray that this will help to open wider the door of that village to the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Thank you for your many prayers that covered this Youth camp. We pray this update will encourage you as your prayers encouraged and supported us and all who were here.

Two lovely business ladies

A blessed birthday.....
We would like to introduce to you two of the lovely ladies who are living on this campus. This is Sokoro (right) and her sister, Veronica (left). In 2003, the village of these two ladies heard and received the gospel of Jesus Christ for the first time. An illegal alien working in the USA heard the truth and was set free. He returned to his people, the Muscos, to proclaim the Good News. Soko and Vero were among the first new believers and are zealous to serve the Lord. They have given themselves entirely to serving others through their professional capacities as office manager (Soko) and computer lab manager (Vero) here on the Base. But, you will just as easily see them serving in the big outdoor kitchen, washing someone’s truck, or anything they can find to put their hands to. We are very blessed to know them and call them Sisters in Christ. We have been invited to go and meet their people soon.