Milestone in Ministry

Milestones in our ministry come at unexpected moments. This is one of those times.

Our road is notorious for its bumps and ruts, particularly during the rainy season. Take any dirt road in the Pennsylvania national forest or any mountain road in Colorado and multiply the ruts tenfold and you have the road that our house is on! Our combi drivers and their vehicles suffer greatly as they drive over these roads a thousand times a day. The drivers, Gilberto and Luis, are also neighbors. Gary and I are getting to know their wives and their children every day as we live out our life in Mexico.

Yesterday afternoon, several truck loads of dirt and rocks were dumped right in front of our house and Gilberto was supervising the loads. Gary and I began to talk about what might be going on and if Gilberto and Luis might be fixing the road themselves so as to avoid personal injury as well as tremendous damage to the combis. (This is how the Mexican people deal with pot holes, a pick, shovel, and lots of sweat!) We decided that if they were indeed going to be working on the road themselves that we would cancel our language study for the day, while Gary and Nathaniel worked on the road with them.

This is the milestone in ministry that I was referring to. So many times in Loveland, Gary and I would sit on our swing and talk about our ministry in Mexico. Sometimes it only seemed like a pipe dream. Would these things ever come true? Then of course we had many people giving us encouraging words such as, "You'll never be able to do that" and my personal favorite; "Why will it work in Mexico when you've been failures in the States?" These words haunted us, yet, on those many afternoons on our backyard swing, among the flowers and the dry summer air, Gary and I knew that this vision was not born of man but born of God. If we were to "succeed" in Mexico it was all because of God and not because of our own cleverness or strength.

This afternoon we are living out the very things that we spent so many hours talking and praying about while we were in Colorado.

I would love to fill this blog with pictures of the men working. But right now I don't see an opportunity to take a few discrete pictures. I try to be so very careful as to not come across like a field representative of National Geographic that will plaster "sad Mexican poverty filled faces" all over the news. So for right now, you will have to use your imagination to see what I am seeing outside of our front balcony.

First of all there is our combi driver, Luis. He, Gary, and Nathaniel began working together this morning. Now there are an additional few guys and teen boys. I don't know who they are but probably relatives to either Luis or Gilberto. They are shoveling dirt and rocks from huge piles into the many deep ruts in the middle and sides of the road. They have been working for three hours now.

As soon as Gary and Nathaniel went down to help, Bethany and I took off for the grocery store to buy two large bags of limes in order to make limonada. When Gilberto picked us up in the combi and saw Gary and Nathaniel working alongside Luis, a smile spread across his face from ear to ear. I think I will always remember and cherish his smile. It was the earthly form of, "Well done good and faithful servant." His smile summed up everything we had hoped and dreamed for as our ministry in Mexico unfolds.

One thing we did not want to do was to come into Taxco and act like the saviors to all of Mexico's problems. One story that was told at our church made Gary and I cringe as we sat listening in our pew. Apparently a missions team from the states went to a "poor" area and began to pass out food and clothing. As the story unfolded the missions team told of a cardboard box house that a family was living in while the dad and son build a small but sturdy house of stone. The missionaries tossed food and clothing at them while the father stood in the background with his head bowed in shame. Gary and I went home from church and wept over that story. I'm sure the shame that the Mexican man felt as the Americans came in and dumped food at his family's feet, was far worse than the difficult situation of living in a cardboard box while building a home.

This is what we wanted to avoid. We pleaded with God, "No matter what it takes, protect us from this type of American way of giving that spreads shame and despair to the recipient". By the grace of God we are seeing how it is possible to work along side of the Mexican people, giving to them in discrete and honoring ways, without stealing a Father's ability to provide or a mother's desire to take care of her children.

I don't know what is going to come of this road work day but we want to jump on opportunities such as this when they present themselves. We really take pleasure in both these drivers but Gilberto in particular has stolen our heart. He is such a sweet man with a hearty laugh and smile. He has a little girl and a baby. Many times his wife will ride along with him as he makes his rounds hour after hour through the bumpy dirt roads around our house and then into Taxcocombi alone. Both drivers are this way but it is Gilberto, with his wife, baby and little girl that have stolen our hearts.

Gilberto and his family live on the road below us. They live in a cement block house with pigs and chickens all around. Every time we take a walk and his family is there, they are full of joy and laughter. His little girl giggles at us when she rides the combi, as she is still too shy to talk to this family full of gringos.

As a family we've been praying for Gilberto and his family. Yet, in Mexico the class system is alive and thriving. How could we really get to know Gilberto when we do not live in a cement block house that we share with pigs and chickens? This is a perfect opportunity to get down and dirty with them as Gary and Nathaniel sweat and work the day away along side of Gilberto, Luis and their families!

We are eternally grateful for the open doors that God has given us. It is not by chance that we have been praying for our combi drivers and suddenly huge piles of dirt are dumped right in front of our house, with the whole road repair job beginning at our front door! Thank you Father for your grace and your favor that has given us this blessing of getting to know our neighbors!