Vision Trip-Day Ocho

Day 8

Bruce, Amy, JoEllen and I left for the Isthmus of Tehuantepec (teh-wahn-teh-peck) which is in the eastern part the state of Oaxaca via auto.  This isthmus (small body of water that connects two larger bodies of water) connects the Pacific Ocean and the Gulf of Mexico.   The Isthmus was originally founded by the Zapotec community and it’s culture still persists today although the predominant language has evolved to Spanish.  For sociologist it has become a place of interest because of its matriarchal aspect of tradition.  Its influence may have come from the Huaves people from Peru or Nicaragua shortly after the Spanish conquest.  Tehuantepec women are Mexico’s “liberated women” and are characterized as being “open, confident, assertive and friendly.  And they freely take part in business and government.”  This also spills over in the way they lead in the local church.

It was a four hour drive on the Pan-American Highway, which took us up and down the mountains on a two-lane road.  The mountainside highway is made up of an ominous rock wall on one side, a cliff-side that drops to the river, on the other.  There are hardly any guard rails and no nets to catch the falling rocks.  There was a heavy downpour of rain the night before, which created a rocks falling on the road.  And we drove, we could see rocks, stones and boulders in the middle of road.  Apparently it gets dangerous at night in these mountains, that there is a mission’s policy to not drive at night through the mountain roads.  I noticed a dozen or more crosses on the side of the road, in memory of a loved one who must have fallen to their demise.   At one point, three men who seemed like they were working for the Department of Transportation were trying to move a boulder, that probably weighs more than a ton, by sheer man power.  You can picture the oddity and comical nature of this.  Thank goodness that Bruce was driving; he worked as a bus driver at one point in his career and knew how to work the roads.

We arrived at a local hotel, that had great accommodations.  We grabbed a bite to eat at a place which in my opinion had the best shrimp and steak skewers .  Seafood such as shrimp and fish are abundant in these coastal regions.

After dinner, we went to a local covenant church called “Templo el Nuevo Pacto” that had a midweek meeting for a bible study.  The worship was very charismatic and apart from one gentleman who led some worship songs, the women were visible leaders of the church, which is characteristic of a matriarchal community.  We had come as guests and our intention was to observe and be participants in worship, but at one point, they invited JoEllen and I to come forward.  JoEllen did a quick intro of who we were and then asked if I could lead a devotional message.  So impromptu, I led a devotional with JoEllen’s help in translation and prayed that it sowed seeds of faith. 

The people at the church were gracious and we got invited to breakfast next day.  The rest of the night was uneventful.  We were a bit tired from the drive and from the heat, and retired early.  Tomorrow we have scheduled two breakfasts.  One at 9am at a church members home and another at 10:30am a restaurant with local pastors.  When I get back, I’m in dire need to get back into exercising!  Tomorrow I am pretty excited about going to a ministry that works with women and serves and reaches the community through micro-lending.

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