AN OCOSINGO WALK....

An Ocosingo walk....

Auto parts, Valentine hearts

Up hill and down.

Tortillas, chicken.   

No one can say it's not a vibrant town!

Tomatoes, potatoes,

 and plastic pails

Flowers made into puppy dog tails.

Blankets, tires, and wares from China.    

Fabric, rope, there's nothing finah!

Taxis honking oh so loud

Tzeltal ladies ever so proud.    

Corn and beans, but no red light

Jump the puddles and run for your life! 

But there is a beauty in chaos.    

The mountains surround.

Life here is rich

I feel God around.  

MAS AGUA. MENOS CAFE'.......

Some Clinic thoughts and Picts.....

A redundant theme.....MAS AGUA. MENOS CAFE'.   as exemplified by the doctors Charlie and John.

We constantly implore people to drink water, boiled or Clorox water.  People do not drink water, instead, taking Pozol (raw corn drink), Cokes, coffee, and sugared drinks.  They then complain of  gastritis.  

Poor baby with severe case of Scabies

Young boy with asthma, using the Nebulizer we brought.  

They look pretty happy, but I think they had the gripa, a viral upper respiratory infection.

Girls with their grandmas, holding bags of medications.

One of many medical, philosophical, spiritual conferences!  Also, story telling gets away from us!  Dr. Bill has been known to embellish a story or two. 

Everyone walks arm in arm, holding hands, or hugging each other.    Nice.  

VALENTINE'S DAY, FEBRUARY 14, 2016

FAITH, HOPE AND LOVE....but the greatest of these is love.

Well, the Mexicans take Valentine's Day seriously!    There are chatchkes galore, flowers, candy, stuffed animals lining the streets.  

And church today focused on Love, of course!  

 The scripture (1 Corinthians), the prayers, songs, and sermon spoke of Love.  The great love of our Heavenly Father, familial love, love for a spouse, love for our neighbors, and the special,love of a friend.

What is not to love about these special ones??

We enjoyed a pot luck lunch after church.  Yumm!!   Jan's pork and rice meatballs, tamales, mole' chicken, tortillas, tostadas, chocolate cake and real limonada.  

You can tell by the concentration on the face of this little guy....he ate a whole adult plate of food, every last bite.  

He started scooping with a tostada, added a spoon, and then a second spoon.  Really cute.  

Later in the day the church members traveled to a sister church in a little village deep in the mountains, off a dirt road about 1/2 hour out of town.  They do this periodically to encourage this small church.  It is a village mostly of Catholics and the "Christians" are often not well received.  A church building was built there by one of our groups long ago.  There are about 5 families who wish to worship.  There has been violence against these believers.  Their houses have been burned, their water lines cut.  Things are peaceful right now, but there is tension   How sad, in this day and age.  

But it was a wonderful day of warmth and love.  

Hope you felt some too!  

More later.  Love you, my friends

Week Two....

Well, here we are again....the end of week two.  How quickly go the days.  

A week of hard work.  Many more patients than week one, for some reason.  As usual, saw some odd, some mundane, and some sad human conditions.  The old, old man, dirty, unkempt, accompanied by his young grandson.  Both can learn from each other. Generally the old people are well cared for in the family home. But as in the U.S., it is a process to know when this strong, independent paternal figure can no longer care for himself.  And the sad, sad story of senseless violence:   A 60 year old gentleman living on the outskirts of Ocosingo who came to market very early one morning last year, and returned home to find his wife murdered in their home.  It is hard for me to even relay this. The horror of it.  No one has ever been accused.  No reason ever found.  He is sad beyond words, also that her loss is a loss for his home and land.  Without her he can no longer keep up his little plot.  He is Catholic, he prays to the saints, lights candles, and does some ill defined sorcery as well.  He said he had no one in the church to talk with. Grief here is suppressed.  We prayed with him and laughed that maybe the Presbyterian prayer would give him some peace.  We offered for him to talk with anyone here.  There are a lot of troubles and sadness here, a lot of social challenges.

He came in with back pain.  

And another lady, my patient, came in with her sister, for a bad taste in her mouth.  Only in talking for a few minutes and from our dear little friend, Margarita,

who knows the lady, did we learn that her son, an Ocosingo Policeman and a Christian, was killed in an altercation last week here in town.  Apparently, he came out of his home to help with a disagreement between others, and was shot.  They took him 2 hours to San Cristobal and despite surgery, he could not be saved. The pain churns my insides. 

 But it is not all doom and gloom.  There is more happy than sad,  and through it all, there is such innocence and joy!  They do not know any other way, and they just cope with what has been given them.  They are content, and happy with small things.  Us coming, a bag of Tylenol, lots of smiles, a day without rain, a day with rain, enough corn and beans for the day.  

The smiling, toothless (well, he had one tall one sticking up...) man who was a bit confused. Didn't know how old he was.  He said yes to everything and we had him going for awhile!  Still not really sure why he came!  

Lots of kids with scabies today...  And the usual bolitas, cu'x (pain) all over, gastritis, colitis, hot feet, numb arms, overweight diabetics who cannot eat a thing!  High blood sugars,

high blood pressures.  A little girl with a "granita" a little dry itchy spot on her eyelid.  I had trouble seeing it.  Kids with growing pains, and belly aches, but who manage to daily eat lots of cookies, Sabrita snacks, Coka colas, and sweet "juice".  Poco a poco we try to make changes.  Will we ever get there?  Will it ever be a perfect world? 

Do I yet know why I am here?

Again,   "Oh, that I had wings like a dove;  then I would fly away and rest!  I would fly far away to the quiet of the wilderness."   

I know that I am already here in the wilderness.  I think I will rest and contemplate matters.  

More later.   Love from me.  

SUPER BOWL. 2016

Well, to continue our restful weekend, we were invited to Sharon And Jim's house to watch the Super Bowl!  They live about a mile down the road.  They are friends of the Feliciano's and of this ministry.  They worked as missionaries here in Chiapas for 23 years. They now are retired and spend 3 months here in Chiapas and the rest of the year in their home state of Michigan.  They are fluent in Tzeltal.  Jim was a primary translator of the Bible into Tzeltal.  Imagine the joy of the Tzeltal believers on that day some years ago when the Bible was first distributed in their own language.  Like Dr. Bill likes to say, Jim is the guy who wrote the Bible!  

I don't have great interest in the Super Bowl game, but in respect for my friends from North Carolina, I suffered through it!

 It was fun to watch in Spanish, and visit with each other.  

SIGHTS AND SOUNDS AROUND TOWN

Kennedy, these are for you!   Cute pony.  

I would bring him home if I could!

Slaughter house next to our dorm.  They slaughter them at night, so they are ready, fresh for the market in the morning. 

3 Little Kittens.....Keaton, for you!!  

Yum!   Pure, natural Chiapas vanilla.    12 pesos (about 80 or 90 cents) for these bottles

Yes, Minions are here too!   These are Minion Chia pets.   Chiapanecan Chias! 

Imagine pizza or bread out of this oven!   Could be Italy, as well as Mexico. 

My 2nd floor dig at the Feliciano home.  

The front half of my suite!  Out these windows one can view the mountains, but more so the roof tops, the top of trucks in the alley and Fiestas!  

Last night was an example:   A Catholic festival of saints of some sort.  I heard they were celebrating the God of Farmers, from Mayan days, so that it would be a good year for crops.  Coffee plants had a plague, so those that suffered, lost everything this year.  The alley filled from front to back with trucks and floats.  We could only go in or out by foot.  They strung garland across the alley, attached to the wrought iron Windows on the 2nd floors, and to the electric wires.  

The HUGE speakers blasted marimba, drum, trombone, guitar, and Mariachi music all through the night.  

The sound vibrated the buildings and pounded your heart.  Firecrackers blasted all night too.  In the morning, the band changed and the party continued!  The drunks from the night before were replaced with new partygoers. 

It is a vibrant place, for sure!

R and R in San Cristobal

Hate to,start with this!!   But you need to know all of the cultural oddities!  

It is the season for mature ants to be harvested or hatched, and fired to be enjoyed as a delicacy.  Those are peanuts on the left and the ants on the right.  They offered a taste, and I was tempted....but politely declined.  

This is in San Cristobal.  We traveled with Group One 

for a nice day shopping and preparing for departure early on Sunday morning.  Adios to the friends we have come to know well.  We picked up Group Two, consisting only of Doc Charlle and Doc John and Dee.  Another member was not able to come.  We should have enough providers, but not nearly enough helpers.  We'll see!

Hasta Luego! 

DINA AND SEBASTIAN

Welcome Dina and Sebastian!

It has long been our hope to make a  plan of succession, to find someone to work alongside Pablo, to be mentored and to share the significant load of this beautiful ministry.  

Dina and Sebastian will apprentice with Jan and Pablo, and serve as assistants in the complex and intense work in Chiapas.  The work varies from providing spiritual and pastoral care, hosting cross cultural groups, directing the Medical Clinic, maintaining  relationships and  serving the many Tzeltal Presbyterian churches. 

It is hoped that Dina and Sebastian will learn and grow to be vital and valued members of this mission team.

Dina and Sebastian are both graduates of seminary and have lived most recently in Northern Mexico.  They served there as lay pastors, working with migrants and the youth of the community.  Dina is Pablo's sister.  They have 2 children, Josue, 9 and Paula, 6.   They look forward to returning to their home state, and to the challenges and joys ahead!

Sebastian has been traveling with Pablo as necessary and seeing first hand how these Medical Caravanas are organized and how they run.  He was welcomed as a member of the church in Matzam.     This is Pablo's new church.  He will be pastor there for one year, and it will overlap with his time left in Sibal.  While there, the church asked Sebastian to work there as a Lay Pastor.   He was installed at the same time!  This is wonderful, in that he is being accepted, and that his apprenticeship with Pablo is valid and taking roots.  The fact that he will preach and visit will be a huge help to Pablo. 

If you choose to make a donation to Hebron, consider designating funds to Sebastian's support.  This is a new budget item and a challenge for Hebron!  

It was Sebastian's 29th birthday while the group was here.  

He had already wiped the frosting off his face from the  "mordida", push your face in the cake tradition!  

it has been wonderful to meet and work with them.