Some Journey

hola de tlaxiaco

We left Mixtepec today and drove into Tlaxiaco where we will spend the night at El Portal, then leave early in the morning with hopes of arriving in Acapulco by 4.
Wednesday evening Alejandro and his wife, Jessica came over with their two children and ate dinner with us. It was such a nice visit, but a sad reminder of the reality that they are two of the three or four evangelical Christians in the village. The corruption of the catholic church has created disillusionment regarding Christianity, and there is little interest in truly embracing the Gospel and the truth of scripture.
Thursday was a neat day. . .it was sort of a sampler of village life for the boys. They spent an hour or so in the morning helping Demetrio cut corn stalks and leaves to feed his oxen. Sam asked me "hey mom, do you think this is a good way to share Christ with Demetrio?"
Later the boys and I helped Lina wash clothes in the river. It was fun, and Lina tried to teach me Mixteco words as we washed. She is so sweet and has a delightful laugh. She giggled at the boys as they tried to wash socks, and she kept grabbing them back out of the "finished" bucket to redo them.
After lunch we walked up to the community fields and watched the men working. They have a couple of large fields that are owned by the town, and people are either required to pay taxes or help work in the fields on town work days. The people work together to plow, plant and harvest corn, and the proceeds from the sale of the corn goes to the town for roads and things. Pretty neat, and the boys enjoyed watching the oxen pulled plow. Alejandro took them out in the field and let them help plant corn (nooni).
Later we walked up to the older Alejandro´s house to visit and give him the photo I took of him last year. He was delighted with it. Samuel´s sister, Petra, visited with us for a while. She told Nelie that it meant a lot to her that she has not forgotten their language in the years she has been away from the village.
Stephen and I tried to drive in to San Juan to have the tire fixed, but a huge storm came in and flooded the streets and all the power in San Juan and Santa Cruz was out for the remainder of the evening, so we had to wait to have the tire fixed until we went to market in San Juan this morning. That was a very interesting experience. I am looking forward to seeing the market in Tlaxiaco tomorrow as we leave. It is the second largest market day in the state of Oaxaca.

Pray for Nelie as she is now in the village alone. I am not the least worried about her, though. There are so many people there who would do anything to take care of her. They are so delighted to have her back.

Well, I am off to wander Tlaxiaco with Stephen and the boys. Can´t wait to see our team tomorrow. Please be praying for both them and us as we all travel tomorrow.

Sana ca a