Then and
now: How missionaries have impacted Mexican villages
By Nick
Smirniotopoulos (Summer 2013 Student Worker)
Several
decades ago, there were no known Christians in this small village outside of
Oaxaca, Mexico. However, one man's life was radically changed by American
missionaries.
In the
1980s, Pedro accepted Christ and became the first believer in his village, yet
he immediately encountered persecution.
"When
they found out, they threw me in jail," Pedro said. "I was scared. I
didn't know what was going to happen to me."
Pedro
only stayed in jail for several days, but he endured a full year of loneliness
as the only believer until his wife came to accept Christ.
Today,
Pedro is a part of a bustling Christian church in the village with about 30
regular attenders. This summer, another group of missionaries, from IMB's
Nehemiah Teams who were serving with the Holeman and McLamb families, joined Pedro and his church in reaching the village.
Nehemiah
Teams is a 52-day mission trip aimed at reaching the world for Christ in this
generation; Joseph Lewis,
Destinie Duckworth and Ashleigh Prejean served in
Pedro's village this summer.
"I
initially thought people would be less inviting," Duckworth said. "I
had no idea that even if people didn't want to accept the gospel, they would
accept us purely because of their hospitality."
This
hospitality differed radically from the days of the early church in the
village, which allowed the team to make meaningful relationships. They had four
or five families with whom they returned to weekly to share various Bible
stories and talk about Jesus.
Many of
the families were devout Catholics, who attended mass, had elaborate altars to
saints in their homes, but seldom read the Bible. Many of the families were
very inquisitive and interested in learning more about the Bible. However, one
day they received a question they didn't feel equipped to answer.
"He
brought out the Apocrypha and I was thinking, 'Lord give me the words, the
wisdom'," Lewis said. "I had never read it so I said, 'Lord I cant do
this, so you're going to have to'."
Since
Prejean didn't speak any Spanish and hadn't read the Apocrypha either, she did
the only thing she knew to do: pray.
"God
clearly spoke through him," Prejean said. "He didn't understand it at
all at first, but after praying it just came out so clearly."
Prejean
experienced a lot of frustrations this summer being the only one unable to
speak Spanish. However, God had a different plan for her.
"Even
if my purpose here all summer was to pray for my team and the people in my
villages then God was going to do big things," Prejean said. "Prayer
is the most important part of it."
While the
team encountered many obstacles sharing the Word, they had a constant
encouragement in the local believers, like Pedro. They attended Pedro's church
every Sunday and a local Bible study every Wednesday night.
Growing
alongside local believers encouraged Duckworth to put others, whether it was
the nationals or her own team members, before herself.
"I've
learned that I should submit myself to others because Christ first submitted
himself for the world's sin," Duckworth said. "It's a daily struggle
learning to walk in humility."
Lewis
encountered some similar growth in humility this summer.
"The
Lord has made me listen a lot to what He and other people are telling me,"
Lewis said. "I realized that this summer that I have a lot of issues in my
heart that I haven't allowed The Lord to heal. He's begun to heal that."
Leaving
after two months of building relationships with the people in this village was
hard for the team; however, God has already moved in the hearts of the national
believers to pick up where they left off.
In their
last Bible study, they talked about the power of sharing their testimony with
the people in their village. The next day, they went out together and shared
the gospel to people in a nearby village.
In that
village, one man named Luiz, who had struggled for a long time with alcoholism,
accepted Christ into his heart. It may have taken all summer, but they were
ecstatic to see the fruit of their labor.
Having
the opportunity to share with so many people over the summer, like Luiz, made
Lewis want to share more when he returns to the US.
"It's
sort of like God has taken my life and turned it upside down in just a few
weeks," Lewis said. "The same way I shared here, I can share at home
and not fear."
