While half of our group stayed in Rio Chico, the rest of us traveled to the Tarahumara Indian mission in the Copper Canyon for a few days. The trip there took about 11 hours.
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| At a Pemex gas station |
First of all, this post wouldn't be complete without a little note about Pemex gas stations. Pemex was the only gas station in the area of Mexico where we were. With a lot of people and gas-guzzling vans, it felt like we stopped at every Pemex station we saw. Our stops were quite interesting, as the bathrooms at the Pemex station were-- to put it simply-- quite lacking. With the exception of the "luxurious" bathroom that we had to pay to use, none of the bathrooms had toilet paper or soap and some of the worse ones didn't have lights, doors, or functioning, flushable toilets. We are all now very thankful for all the amenities of our public restrooms in the U.S.
Driving through these Mexican towns, the stretches of run-down, tin-roofed houses bespoke poverty.
The further we got into the mountains and canyon, the poverty became more evident.
We spent the majority of our trip winding, turn after turn, through the mountains. We traveled the last 20-some miles on a bumpy, curvy, and steep dirt road into the canyon. Despite the roughness of the road, Pastor Tomas called this road "the miracle road", as the goverment just out of the blue built this road straight to the mission. No one knows why, except God! After years of trekking supplies and materials over the mountains and through the canyon, God answered many prayers with a road.
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The road in the daylight--
you can see it twisting down the mountain side |
The last 2 kilometers of the road were so steep, that we had to park our vans a ways up and hike the rest of the way down to the mission. The four-wheel drive pick-ups were able to drive down and haul our supplies and luggage.
It was dark when we got to the hiking point. Thanks to the light of the full moon, we did not even need our flashlights. It was a beautiful hike, with the full moon and a canopy of stars shining above us in the sky.
After 31-switchbacks down the steep road, we arrived at the mission, Guacaivo!
This is the mission in the Copper Canyon. Looking down from the mission, you can see many of the houses here are built right on the slope.
The Tarahumara mission in the Copper Canyon is like a boarding school where Tarahumara children from the area come for the week for food, care, and schooling. There are a few orphaned children who live permanently at the mission. Here is a little tour of the mission.
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| The kitchen in the mission building |
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| The dining area |
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| One of the bathrom facilities |
One of their goals is to improve the bathrooms. As you can tell by the picture, they are rather primative. The lights didn't work, the toilets had mismatching parts, and there was minimal toilet paper. We had to scoop water out of the basin to flush the toilets. The children also used the water out of the basin for washing. There were two shower heads in the wall, but we aren't sure if they even worked. Better bathroom facilities could do wonders to improve the cleanliness of the children.
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| The 'dorm' room where we stayed |
They have two big rooms like this at the mission with 12 double beds in each, stacked 3-high in a bunk. The children were actually gone to another school the night we arrived, so the ladies ended up using one of their rooms. (They all packed into the other room for the second night.)
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| The children's school room |
This boarding school is the only hope many of these children have, as all of them come from very poor homes and sad family situations. Here are some of our little Tarahumara friends.
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(note the tortillas-- we ate a lot of those while in Mexico!)
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The little boy on the left in the red was rescued, along with his older sister, by one of the missionaries, having been left by his family to die, as they couldn't feed the two children. He was 2 years old then and weighed 9lbs. Little Tomas is a beautiful, happy boy now, thanks to the mission!
That day, while the men worked outside putting fencing along the porch railing...
We painted "Jesus loves the little children of the world" (in Spanish) on the wall of the dining room with the children and helped them make handprints all over the wall. The little ones were eager to make their handprint and came running with outstretched hands. They even wanted to paint our hands and thus, we left our mark admists the those of the Tarahumara children. The collage of handprints in their colorful array were beautiful!
After that, we played with balloons for over an hour...their excitement was priceless!
Some Tarahumara mothers stopped by that day to pick up their weekly food supply from the mission and just sat outside waiting most of the morning.
Many of the mothers were very young. Their faces seemed so empty and hopeless. In their culture it is common to get married at a very young age and many times, after a few children, the father just leaves the mother to fend for herself and the children. A sad, sad situation. It was hard to see mothers our age with such burdens to carry.
Though we couldn't speak to them, we were able to show the love of Christ through our smiles and reaching out to their children. They loved watching us play balloons with the children and just smiled when we simply offered their children balloons. It was so beautiful to see them smile. We pray that the small seeds of love that we planted will one day be cultivated into a living hope in Jesus Christ.
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| At the ruins of an old mission in the canyon |
In the afternoon, we had the opportunity to hike into the canyon.
Needless to say, the scenery was gorgous! A small river flowed to the base of the canyon, cascading in beautiful waterfalls as it made its way down the slope. From the floor of the canyon, we could look up and see the rock walls towering above us and looking out ahead of us, the sunlit mountains rose against the blue sky. The pink blossoming fruit trees on the hillside and a variety of plants added to the beauty. (See Mexico Scenery post for more pictures)
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| Talitha and Rena, a Tarahumara girl |
We hiked to the river at the bottom of the canyon, where a few of us enjoyed a refreshing swim. :) We couldn't really shower while down there, so a swim was nice!
The hike back up was rather steep. The hike gave us a taste of what it was like for the early missionaries before the road was built, when they had to hike in and haul all their supplies by mull over a mountain and through the canyon.
When we arrived back, we had fun playing games with the children.
Of course, they loved it and were all smiles! We had fun, too. :)
Later that evening...
After receiving a lollipop and treats that we had brought, the children eagerly dove into the large suitcase we had brought filled with books and school supplies. They were thoroughly excited-- they have so little in their school.
Even the adults loved the books! The older man in this picture picked out The Hungry Caterpillar to read and proudly displayed it for this picture. :)
Maria reading with one of the little boys called Andre. (As you can imagine, it's quite an adventure trying to read in a language you don't know!)
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| Such sweet grubby faces |
For these children who have so little, these books meant the world to them! When we have a lot, we tend to take everything for granted. These children can teach us a lot about appreciating our gifts and finding joy in small things.
That night, since we were using one of the dorm rooms, the children all slept together in one room for the last night. They didn't seem to mind too much; it probably was special for them to have us there using their room. We had to say our goodbyes the night before, as the plan was to leave at 6am.
Early the next morning after a quick breakfast, we climbed in the back of the trucks and made our way up the steep road out of the canyon. We left behind us many needy children and people, but we took with us precious memories-- memories that will compel us to return.
God is working in amazing ways in the canyon. Please pray for the people and the mission down there!
After realoading our vans, we began our tortuous journey through the mountains.
Shortly there after, a rock slide that left a pile of rocks in the middle of the road delayed our travel, but the strong men working together had the rocks off the road quickly and we were soon back on our way to Rio Chico.
Back in Rio Chico, during one of the services, we sang the song "My Life is in You, Lord". The words meant so much after our experience in the canyon:
"My life is in You, Lord; My strenght is in You, Lord
My hope is in You, Lord; In you, it's in you"
When you witness such suffering and hopelessness, you realize the surpassing worth in knowing Jesus Christ. All our lives, strength, and hope are in Him. There is no hope besides Him. We have been blessed with the most precious gift. We must share it with others!
"Indeed, I consider everything as loss because of the
surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord."
Philippians 3:8
Palm trees in the city
And the trash-lined highways.
