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Mission Mazahua 2008, By Kyle Re
The first night we arrived at the mission, I wasn't quite sure what I thought about the accommodations, but then I remembered that I was there to serve, and not the other way around. So I asked God to help me be humble and to have a servant's heart during my stay there. The first day, we took it easy, walking around and exploring the hacienda, getting as much water into our systems as possible and adjusting to the higher altitude.
The next day, we worked on and completed a project that involved making a cement roof over a pool that they're putting in for people who come to the mission and want to cool off. We started with two groups of about ten people each working one hour shifts, but after the first hour and half, we all just started pitching in wherever we were needed. There was a true feeling of teamwork and good sportsmanship. Whether it was shoveling the gravel or cement, working on the bucket line, handing up buckets of cement, or pouring the cement onto the roof, both our group and the Mazahuans did whatever was needed, working side-by-side.
We also spent some time working up at Las Rosas, painting in and around the courtyard, hauling various materials, pasting trees with a special mixture to protect them, etc., while some of our group stayed at the mission pruning, pulling weeds and various odd jobs.
After completing our day's work, we played an awesome soccer game with the Mazahuans. We played lots of soccer with them, and at one point even bought our own soccer jerseys at some of the markets. Then we mixed with the Mexicans to make teams. On one occasion they even took us to what they called their official soccer field, which was really just an open area of dirt field with large metal frames for goals on each end of the field. Playing soccer was one of the neatest things we did, because we all were such great sports and just had fun, and the best part was how we played together like we'd been friends for years. It was such an amazing feeling.
On Sunday, we had our own church gathering, and talked about what our thoughts were on how the trip had gone so far. Later that day, we visited some of the local markets in villages nearby, and went on a tour of a gold mine, where I fell into a small stream of water while trying to get a picture of the walls. Then we saw some amazing murals painted on some of the old structures and saw a great view of the scenery as we walked around outside.
Also during our stay we got to go to a special lunch hosted by a couple who had gotten married during one of the previous mission trips to Mazauha, and it was a humbling experience to know that although this couple had so little they were willing to give and show us so much generosity and hospitality.
On New Year's Eve, we hiked up one of the mountains and as we took in the view it was a simply breathtaking sight to see. It was so vast and incredible to look down and feel as if you were on top of the world. We all took lots of pictures and got some great memories of that experience.
Then on New Years day it was time to say "Goodbye" to the hacienda and to all of the new friends we had met there. Later that day, after arriving in Mexico City we explored the Zocalo, and saw some of the sites, like the National Palace and a huge and spectacular art museum, both of which had some amazing paintings and murals. Then that night, Katie Radtke, one of the girls on the trip, got pretty sick. Her brother was constantly at her side, and prayers were said for her to get well, while the nurse Cathy stayed to help her out as much as she could. By the time we had to leave, Katie was feeling a little better, and was able to get on the bus and head for the airport, and back to the U.S.
This mission trip was truly an incredible experience for me. I was very humbled by how the Mexicans live. I'm glad that we got to live a little like them for a week. It was very enlightening to see how they live, and to do what they do. I really sensed that God was in that place, and really felt that He was at work there at the mission, and in each of our lives, shaping and changing us in ways that go far beyond that which we ourselves could ever imagine!
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Kimberly's story about the woman to whom she gave her cross pin.
As Melissa mentioned, Karl gave each of us a small cross pin before we left on the trip. His instructions were that we give it away to someone in Mexico. I gave my cross to a very old woman working alone in a cornfield. During halftime of the soccer game between our youth and the Mexicans, I took a short walk with Dianne, a trip participant from the Wauwatosa church. Strolling the perimeter of the hacienda grounds, we noticed an elderly Mazahuan woman standing in a cornfield, methodically yanking at dried cornstalks and laying them in a pile on the ground. The Mazahuans use the cornstalks for fuel in cooking and perhaps even heating. At some later point, someone from her family would likely return to gather the pile of cornstalks, tie them onto the back of a burro and take them to her home. She was dressed in brightly-colored traditional clothing which we learned is quickly disappearing - a long, full, hand-embroidered skirt, dark, thick socks, sensible, clunky shoes, a heavy sweater and a shawl around her shoulders. A very long ponytail of thin, gray hair hung down the middle of her back.
Neither Dianne nor I speak Spanish, but recognizing a photo opportunity, Dianne walked over to the woman, showed her camera and the somewhat suspicious woman nodded, giving Dianne permission to take her picture. The woman posed next to a cornstalk but did not smile while Dianne snapped away. Dianne thanked her (she and I do know "gracias!") and the woman went back to her cornstalk gathering. I dug for my cross in my pocket and then it was my turn to approach her. Not knowing how to say, "Here, I want you to have this," I simply took her hand in mine, put the cross in it, and closed her weathered fingers around it. She looked at me, still no smile, but said, "gracias." I'll never know what the woman did with her cross. Maybe she showed it to her family, maybe she told nobody and just put it in a drawer of thick socks. Maybe the brief encounter meant more to me than to her. I do know that I will remember the moment until I am her age.
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Mazahua Trip Cistern Remarks 2007
My name is John Carson
Like the others, it was my joy and privilege to participate in our church’s recent mission trip to Mission Mazahua
And, like the others, I had a wonderful – life changing – time
I took part in “three dimensions” or “capacities…”
As a member of North Shore Church; As the parent of one of our young people; and As our National Association of Congregational Christian Churches’ Executive Secretary for Missions – of which Mission Mazahua is but one of many wonderful – life changing – works of love
While there, I had the opportunity to be part of what was called “the cistern project,” the building of a cistern to capture rain off a roof of a deserving about an hour’s drive from the Mission
We were told, the first of 8 more cisterns to be built by Mission Mazahua for the
residents of this community
An example of Mission Mazahua’s “wholistic transformation” strategy of
reaching out to others with tangible expressions of the love of God revealed in Christ
Expressions that would touch and change the hearts and lives, the minds
and bodies, the spirits and communities of their neighbors
In my “brief!” time, I want to share with you… something of my experience, the appreciation felt and expressed by those who took part, and the “transformation” of all concerned…
I speak on behalf of the friends who when with me
From this church, Bruce and Melissa Block, and Heidi Lange
From the Wauwatosa church, Diane Miller and Mike ???
And from Ozaukee, Andy Radke
We took Andy along because he speaks Spanish
Even better than Bruce
My experience…
We picked up the forms in the early morning…. And then drove in a packed
van to the work site…
The family had already set the space for the cistern, leveling a space beside the
house and down the hill…
At the direction of the masons, we set the first tier of forms and poured the
concrete – actually, brought the concrete one bucket at a time!
We adjourned thereafter to put brushwood in Norberto’s truck, to bring to the
masons and their families for their cooking fires…
We then returned to the site – for the second tier of cistern forms, and more concrete – while the women played games with the children…
And then, a lovely fiesta… with tortillas prepared by all the women, chicken,
mole and colored sodas
with chocolate for the children that Mike brought to share…
It was a beautiful, indeed, an AWESOME time, with God blessing us from
beginning to end…
As to the appreciation felt and expressed by those who took part…
There were smiles and laughter throughout the work…
Which was shared by the men, the women and the children
There was joy, and more laughter, at the table…
Over halting Spanish
And shyly offered English
And then, there was heartfelt thanks… at the end…
Passed from men to men, and men to women
Passed from women to women, and women to me
And passed from men and women… to the children
Now, to the “transformation” of all concerned…
We gathered in a circle beside the cistern…
Countless pictures were taken…
Groups of women, men and children were gathered, and re-grouped
There was awkwardness about the work being done, and the day being over
And no one… wanting it… to end…
We cast around for “closing things” to say…
Norberto expressed his gladness for the day, and the work that we’d accomplished
Then, when called upon, and after I expressed sincere appreciation for their hospitality, I said
“it was a privilege to spend the day with you, to do good work, and especially to work together with your family and your friends…”
Thereafter, in responses one after another,
the mother and father of the house, their friends and neighbors,
and then their neighborhood leader said,
“We are so glad you came, and so grateful for your work…
“When we heard you Americans were coming, we wondered what it would be like to have you here with us. But when you worked so hard, beside us, with humble spirits – and when we ate together -- we were surprised -- and happy that God had brought you here…
“Please come again. You are welcome – any time…”
My Friends,
It doesn’t get any better than this…
Sharing the love of God that’s come to us… and then,
Being shown, and showered with God’s love…. In return
By the grace of God, and the help of this church, we were given the opportunity to make a real difference in this family’s life
and through them, the lives of their neighbors round about
With just a little bit of work – together
And just a little bit of money – each cistern costs Mazahua about $800 to build,
And much of that is repaid by those who receive them –
We ALL got a whole LOT – of TRANSFORMATION
A new view of each other
A new view of the preciousness of water, and the importance of water to families
and communities in need
And a new view of what God can do
When we open ourselves to His love
And offer our hearts and hands to the work that He gives us to do
It was a great experience
A transforming -- life-changing – experience for all of us
But just one among many -- on a truly terrific trip
Coming home, we were all SO grateful to have gone…
To have shared the days’ adventures…
To have shared the lives of those who welcomed us so warmly,
Who worked with us, and took care of us so well
(We were…) so GRATEFUL to have gone, and to be changed,
Indeed -- transformed
By living life together, and in service,
To the God who gives us life
Who shows us love, and bids -- and HELPS us –
Share that love with others
Just a check won’t do it
You need to go and see… and be… and WORK with others…
To experience all that God intends… for all concerned
We went – because you helped us
And we’re so glad you did
And next time, it’s YOUR turn – to go
To experience all that God intends… for you.
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Melissa's remarks
I am very grateful to have had the experience of going on this trip for many different reasons. We worked hard, we learned more about ways we can help support Lisa and Norberto in their incredible holistic ministry, and we experienced wonderful fellowship among with the Mazahuans - one small step in creating understanding between two very different cultures. But what impressed me the most were two instances of hospitality and generosity we received from people who are so desperately poor.
Judith Tellez is a 25 year old Mazahuan woman who for a number of years worked in the kitchen at the hacienda and whom our son Wes befriended during his extended stay at the hacienda two years ago. Last fall, due to the generosity of others, she entered Olivet College in Michigan, where she hopes to earn a degree in education. Judith was our house guest during her Thanksgiving break, and while we were in Mexico her parents wanted to reciprocate by having us and a couple other young people whom Judith had gotten to know on past mission trips to their home for dinner. It took forty minutes for Wes to drive us over roads that were barely passable through arid cornfields inhabited by barking wild dogs (on an empty gas tank that Norberto assured us would get us there and back) to the Tellez home. (Judith would walk to the hacienda when she was employed there.) When we arrived at the whitewashed adobe brick home we were ushered into a room that contained one long table and some standing shelves along a wall. With Judith, her parents, four sisters, two brothers, a cousin, his wife and baby, a friend and the eight of us, there was no remaining space. The room had no ceiling; only the corrugated metal roof overhead. The balance of the house was so small that I could not visualize how this large family functioned. Yet in spite of these humble surroundings, there was only pride, love and warmth on the faces of Judith’s parents. Her father stood and made a most gracious speech about being honored to have us in their home and then requested that Bruce say grace. We had a delicious and lovingly prepared meal. I cannot imagine the sacrifice it must have been for them to feed us in this way. And even though only Judith and her friend could speak English and only a few of our group knew Spanish, I felt very much a part of and grateful for the warmth, camaraderie and laughter in that room as we sat around the table for several hours. Pictures were taken, and there were hugs and more speeches when we left. Emily reminded me about the crosses Karl had given us at our commissioning with instructions to give them away while on the mission trip. It was a privilege to pin mine on Judith’s mom’s sweater and assure her (through Wes’s interpreting) that Judith would always have a home with us while she is so far away from family.
Our entire group shared a similar experience as guests at the anniversary celebration of a couple who had invited the mission team of two years ago to their wedding. This in itself is something that none of us could fathom: inviting forty-one near strangers, few of whom could speak Spanish, feeding them and treating them like honored guests. Once again we traversed steep hills around crater-like potholes on unpaved roads to a very modest dwelling that housed an extended family. Three-quarters of the tables that were set were for us Gringos. Tamales, soup, precious lamb, rice and liter bottles of Coke were served. Once again this was an experience that included speeches, compliments, laughter and warmth. The wedding album was passed without concern among hands greasy from salsa and avocado and bananas mixed with sour cream and sugar. We talked together as if we were playing charades. The children enjoyed it all – there were no electronics in sight. People and family togetherness was all that mattered. It was love for love’s sake.
The lesson I came away with is not a new idea to any of us. All of us know that contentment, happiness, and joy are not found in material things. All of us know that it is in giving that we receive. All of us know that it is in trusting God to provide all that we need that we find peace. But because of the material wealth we take for granted and safety nets that are in place for all of us, I wonder if I any of us will ever be called to really demonstrate the truth of these things we claim to believe. Being with these Mazahuan families provided clear evidence of these truths for me. It was a humbling experience that I hope never to forget.
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