We left Ocosingo fashionably late, a la Mexicana time.. We were in a rickety van belonging to Pablo's brother. There were 7 of us. Before leaving town, we had to pick people up, stop for clothes, purchase water and toilet paper. As we started, in my lame Spanish, I heard the word "tire" mentioned a few times... I prayed for safe travels. We made another stop for snacks about 10 minutes down the road. About 10 more minutes down the road, indeed, we pulled over, as a tire was not good. We sat for an hour on the side of the road while 2 boys from a nearby tire shack changed the whole tire, rim and all. 
The view over the valley was lovely, and the sun was out. Always something to give praise for!
A few more stops for snacks and bano ecologico...and we arrived high up, off the very rugged gravel road, at Tsajalja. It was starting to rain.
There were hundreds of people milling around. This is a big event in the mountains, in the
Christian community. The Dedication of a new church. It is the Mother Church for 40 or more smaller congregations. Pastor Gaspar was being honored for the devotion of his life to God and his 35 years of service in this rugged part of Chiapas.
The church is built on the side of the mount., along with multiple outbuildings, kitchens, banos, etc. there is a hodge lodge of tin roofs criss crossing the area below the road The new church is huge, built on top of the original, and jutting out even further over the side of the mountain.
The Dedication itself was moving, long...3 full hours, but lovely. Music of all sorts...2 Mariachi bands, 2 traditional Tzeltal choirs, 
a pop Christian band, and a popular lady performer. Lots of accolades, thanks, etc. Pablo's sermon was wonderful, about God's house He used psalm 100 as part. He just found out an hour before that he was to preach... Serves him right...he just told me an hour before that since I was a Hebron rep., I was to make a little speech and make a presentation to Gaspar and the congregation.
I looked like a drowned rat, as did many others...as, before we could all enter the church, it began to downpour. Torrents of rain and wind. 
There were 1200 people who were in attendance! 1000 were soaked for the remainder of the weekend.
There was plenty of food for all.. It was a 5 cow event. Plus turkeys, chicken, caldo, rice,tortillas, eggs. We understand that 2000 people were fed 2 or 3 meals for 2 full days. Amazing....kind of like Jesus and the fishes and the loaves. People slept everywhere. The Mariachi band woke us all at 4 am, to honor Gaspar, as is the tradition! It rained the whole time...hard.
Sunday service likewise was nice, also 3 plus, hours. Lots of gratitude to God, to the benefactors of the church, to Gaspar. All 1000 of us passed by to give a word or a hug.
His family was all there. Lots of tears. Still raining...
We loaded up to go down the mountain... Now we were 11 in the van, plus a live turkey and 4 live chickens in boxes on top. The trip only took 2 hours (it took 4 to come up). Quite a weekend.
The trip down was un-eventful..... Gracias a Dios.
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