You're being watched (do you know?)

Pastor Jorge leading us to his house

Do you ever wonder who's really watching you?  Do they watch you because you're wearing something nice, or because you drive a nice car?  As Christians, we know people are watching our lives to see if God is really living in our lives.  

As we travel in Mexico visiting pastors, we know people are watching us, because in the towns and villages where we go, there aren't usually any Americans so we notice that people are watching us because we stand out (sometimes heads and shoulders above the rest). 

In 2006, many pastors from the state of Sinaloa started attending the conference in Chacala (that's a 12-15 hour drive).  Since we like to understand the circumstances of the lives of the pastors who attend the conferences, we started visiting some of these pastors in Sinaloa.  We were always struck at how concerned they were that we call them to tell them that we were coming.  I had saved a number of the their houses on our GPS so I didn't want to trouble them with having to meet us "at the edge of town" as they seemed so eager to do.

When I called Pastor Jorge yesterday to ask him if we could come by he said (in Spanish),

"Oh yes brother Chuck, I'll wait for you right outside of town."

"No, it's OK Jorge, I know where you live, and you don't to have to wait for us."

"It's no problem brother.  You just let me know about when you'll be coming."

"OK. Thanks Jorge."

Today I called at 10am to tell him that we'd be arriving later than I had thought.  We had planned to arrive at 11am, but we would be arriving at noon.

"No problem brother Chuck.  I'm waiting for you."

Was my Spanish breaking down?

"Jorge, we won't be there until 12pm."

Visiting with Jorge and his family.

"It's OK brother."

How many friends do we have that wait 2 hours for us with joy in their hearts when you arrive?  We have more of these friends here than we deserve.


When we arrive at Jorge's house, I'm reminded of what a privilege it is to serve these pastors.  Jorge's entire family (him, his wife and three daughters) live in the one room seen behind us in the picture.

Typical lunch of refried beans and tortillas.

For 20 years, Jorge has been ministering to the indigenous Yaki people who live in the mountains east of the coast.  Five years ago, Jorge was attacked by elements of the cartel, which controls Sinaloa, and caused him to move his family to this house closer to town.  While his location is now "safer", it's still at the center of cartel activity.



In 2010, the area of Guamuchil and Culiacán, Sinaloa erupted with cartel violence to the extent that at night, no one ventures out after dark.  Even just last April (2012) another pastor in this same area, told us that he stopped holding evening services because it wasn't safe for the people to come out of their house at night.  

As we are sitting eating tortillas, fried tofu and beans I see Jorge watch Sydney (who's not eating, she's not a big bean enthusiast) and he makes a phone call.

Jorge: "Hello, brother Pedro.  Do you have a liter of honey?  Can you send your son on the motorcycle right now?  Good.  Thank you.  God bless you."

I look at Sydney.  "You're being watched" I say to her.

"Yes, more than you know Sydney," says Jorge.

When I ask Jorge about how the cartel violence is affecting him now, he says that the violence is down because the cartel is now in better control of the area.  They announced to the people that "the peoples' time" is from daybreak to 10pm, and 10pm to daybreak is "cartel time" when the people should allow the cartel to conduct their business.  

"Everything is recorded," Jorge says.

"When you arrived, your car was reported [to the cartel], your license plate was reported, the people visible in your car were reported, but then because you met me at the edge of town, they knew that you were with me and that was reported" explains Jorge.

Jorge's wife Olga preparing our lunch in their kitchen.

In a few minutes, a young boy drives up in a motorcycle with a soda bottle full of honey.  We pour the honey onto a plate and dip our freshly made tortillas into the honey which Jorge tells us comes from the mountains.  The man whose son brought us the honey goes into the mountains and collects honey from wild nests of bees in trees.  The honey definitely has the "wilder" bite of honey (not the smooth flavor of store-bought honey), but for Sydney this makes an acceptable meal.

Alistair playing Jenga with Jorge's daughter Susanna

I ask Jorge about how his church is going up in the mountains.  He says that even though they can only travel to the mountain areas Friday thru Sunday, the church has grown to around 40 people.  Just last weekend, their church held an event for children and many more families participated.  You can't help but notice that Jorge has MUCH less than the average pastor in the U.S., and yet he considers it a joy to have a ministry where he has sacrificed his comfort and safety to reach people where no one else cares to go.  It's always a joy to visit him, share a meal together and here an update on how his ministry is going because he isn't embarrassed by his humble situation and considers it a honor to have us visit him.

Us (minus Ethan) with Jorge, Olga and their daughters.
We don't stand out do we?

Pastors Conference Day 5 - Goodbye's

14th Pastors Conference Chacala, Nayarit April 2012

A week always goes by fast.  With 90+ attendees, it goes by even faster.  Thanks to our faithful "mesa directiva" of Mexican leaders we stretched our budget and everyone had a hotel room, and everyone was fed.  For us Americans, we're always struck with how blessed we are to have the privilege to serve pastors who are so thankful to be at each conference.  We can see the changes in their lives, and hear their stories throughout the week of how God has changed them.  We're so thankful for John and Lindsay Palomo who came and helped make all of the administrative tasks run smoothly, taught, served food and really connected with the pastors.

Final goodbyes

Lindsay Palomo saying goodbye to a pastor from outside Guadalajara.

Pastors from Acapulco in their (un-air-conditioned) van ready to leave for the 20 hour drive home.

Doesn't everyone need a sign to tell people where they're headed?

Pastors Conference Day 4 - Celebration

Set free.  It's the feeling you get when your kids are spending time at a friends' house, or when you've sealed a big deal and YOU'RE DONE, FREE, READY TO PARTY!  Ever wonder what pastors do when they don't have their churches around them?  When they're with their colleagues, and THEY'RE FREE!  Thursday night has always been the celebratory time at each conference.  Each pastor has been filled up for 4 days on worship, teaching, food and rest.  They've made connections with new friends, and had time to visit with old ones.

This video is just a small snippet of the party we had under the palapa, praising God and thanking Him for a great week.  When we read passages describing the kinds of parties that God throws because He rejoices over us (see Luke 15, Revelation 19), I can't help think that heaven will have this kind of rejoicing.  What a blessing to be able to rejoice in God's presence!

Pastors Conference Day 3 - Lindsay's talk

We're so thankful for John & Lindsay Palomo for volunteering their time to help us with this conference.  They've also been writing a blog that I'd like to encourage you to read.  Wednesday evening we asked Lindsay to present a lecture on diabetes for all the pastors because we're always wanting to give them tools that they can use in their churches.  Health education is generally lacking in Mexico for a variety of reasons- distrust of traditional medicine, cultural misunderstandings, and many people finishing only through what we would call Jr High or less.  Thus, it was with rapt attention that Lindsay was able to hold her audience of 90+ as they listened to symptoms and treatments for diabetes.  Lindsay also brought with her a spanish cookbook with healthy recipes for people with diabetes.  As she was swamped with people asking questions afterward, we scrambled to print more cookbooks as many people wanted those also.  What a great opportunity to give people tools that they can use to change lives in their communities!

Lindsay Palomo teaching on diabetes

Q &A with Lindsay after her lecture

Pastors Conference Day 3 - Blessings

Pastor Sanchez and his wife from Acapulco

What's your story?  We always make time for couples who are here for the first time to share their testimony (briefly).  Here's what Pastor Sanchez said: "Good evening, my name is Ricardo Sanchez and my life Lidia.  We've lived in area of Acapulco for all of our life, and we've been married for 35 years, and always in the ministry.  We are so thankful for the invitation to come to this conference because for various situations and difficulties we've never taken a trip or vacation in all of our lives.  This is the first time we've been gone from Acapulco, and so we thank God for the blessing that this conference is- to learn, to know other pastors from this area and we know that God will continue to bless this precious place.  May God bless this place, the organizers and people who have prayed to make this happen.  We cannot express to you how big a gift this is to us as a couple, yes there are not words to express our thankfulness to God for this time we have as a couple and together with all of you."


It's for this that we spend time searching out pastors in various remote areas in Mexico because the pastors who need these conferences the most are usually the least connected.

Pastors Conference Day 3 - Noche de Amor (Night of Love)

For those of you who were wondering what the men were doing while the women had a special event- we were working!  One of the greatest weaknesses in a church is the uncared-for marriages of pastors.  After God as his first priority, the second priority of every pastor should be the care and spiritual growth of his wife.  Frequently however, as the pressures of work and church mount, and the seemingly important (and publicly more visible) needs of the church supplant the real needs of marriage and family- the very things which the pastor must serve as the example to his church.  It's also rare in Mexico for couples to have access to counseling if they have more profound difficulties or addictions.  This is the reason we emphasize marital restoration and healing.  One of the exercises we use at each conference is a love letter that each husband writes to his wife.  So while the women were relaxing, eating cake and making a craft, the men were writing letters to their wives.  In the evening on Wednesday we hold a raffle where letters are selected, and the husband has to read the letter he wrote to his wife.  Then the entire group votes on who wrote the most romantic love letter to his wife.  As the leader of the conference, I put my letter in the pile, and out of 47 letters, they picked mine 3rd!  I guess everyone has to serve as an example at some point!

Reading my letter to Colleen

Pastor Oswaldo reading to his wife Natividad

We know what he's thinking: "Whew,  I wasn't chosen again!"

Pastor Conference Day 3 - Women's Event

The Wednesday afternoon of each conference we hold a special event for the women who have come to the conference, and we also invite women from Chacala to come as our ministry to them.  As in the US, and perhaps even more so in Mexico, the culture has not typically valued women as God does.  Thus, we make every effort to serve the women with a special time with gifts, encouraging teaching, a craft, some cake and refreshments to help them feel loved and valued.  We hope that with each conference some of the women can develop new ministries to the women in their town based on some of the events we have held here over the years.  We want to say a special THANK YOU to one of our ministry partners, Keely and her daughters, for buying all of the supplies for this year's craft which was to paint a terra cotta pot and make a pen/pencil holder out of these pots (pictures below).

Women with their gift bags and pots.

Colleen teaching about how we need to be "soft clay" in God's hands..

Ladies decorating their pots and making flower pens.

Lindsay Palomo giving away the floral arrangement to one of the women.

Ethan giving Maria Silva his painting that Maria won in the raffle.

Sydney giving her painting

Finished pots drying in the sun

Finished pots!  When they're dry we will fill them with beans and the flower pens the women made.

Pastors Conference Day 2 - overflowing

Evening worship

When we invite pastors and their spouses to come we ask them not to bring their children because we can't fit families into shared hotel rooms, but the larger reason is to give these couples an opportunity to hear from God together without the distraction of children, their work, and their church burdens.  Family and community is one of the greatest strengths of Mexican culture, but it also keeps couples from have time apart.  As the pressures of surviving financially, and leading churches, most of the couples arrive exhausted physically, emotionally and spiritually.  In the evening we have times of "koinonia" which is a Greek word for fellowship- a time of sharing our lives with each other.  For most couples this is a rare time where they are only with other people who also serve in ministry.  They don't have to worry about their parishioners or their kids watching what they do or say- they are free to worship and let their hair down.  During these times we ask them to reflect on their marriages and to tell their spouse how much they love them and to forgive them for whatever difficulties they are facing.  These are great opportunities for couples to pray together, worship together and grow together with the concerns which normally surround them.  You can see from the pictures below how significant this time is for them.

Pastors Conference Day 2 - Alcapulco arrives

The vans from Acapulco finally arrive!

The pastors of Acapulco having a time of prayer thanking God for a safe arrival.

Happy to be here, but probably more happy the journey is over!

If you're wondering where we might be starting more conferences next, Acapulco is at the top of the list.  When you have pastors willing to drive 20+ hours to a conference for pastors, packed 18 to a small van, then you know there must be a need that they have.  In fact, the more we venture into Mexico's southern states we find pastors who are even more hungry to learn, and also who are even more disposed to sitting in the hot sun for hours at a time so that we can cover another teaching (and all the while the beach is 50 yards from their toes!).  What a privilege to be able to serve them!

Pastors Conference Day 2 - Introductions & Class begins

Presentation of our American team

This is the first time we've split the teaching into two groups to teach two levels concurrently.  If you study the picture for a minute, you'll notice that we've improvised for a screen :)

Pastors Conference Day 1 - Starts coming together

Evening "Koinonia"

Out of all of the opportunities we have to see God change the lives of pastors here is during the evening when we gather for a time of singing, sharing, laughing and praying for one another.  It's in the evening when we get to hear people's stories, their burdens and their vision for what God is doing in Mexico.  On Monday, the first night of the conference we ask people who are here for the first time to share their names, where they are from and what they are expecting to receive.  Sometimes pastors share what you would expect them to share - difficult times, church needs, etc, but sometimes you hear words that aren't so typical.  Pastor Juan started by sharing his name, and church and then he said, 

"This is something different.  We have heard about these conferences for some time, but in October we couldn't come because of the hurricane.  This is a great blessing for us to be here with you because we feel here the family of God coming together.  It's special to see people who have on their faces a care for you.  We can see now why God has blessed this ministry to lift us up.  We are looking forward to hearing what God has for us this week."


Isn't that fun?  One of our goals with GCP is to unite pastors together so that Jesus' prayer in John 17 would become a reality.  When we hear pastors talk about working together, we can start to see some of the fruit of what we invested here.  Exciting stuff!

Pastor Juan and his wife introducing themselves.

Pastors Conference Day 1 - Starting Off

When we first starting doing conferences we liked to program the first day to start at a certain time.  We've learned however that the pastors arrive anywhere from 10am to 10pm on Monday so we have lunch in the afternoon and a worship service to start things off around 3 or 4pm.  Pickup trucks are ubiquitous in Mexico, but the privilege of riding shotgun is for the few.  Drawing the short straw and riding in the back, yes open in the back, is for the many.  Even after 5 or 6 hours every one of the pastors are happy to be here.  May God bless them and their time with us!

Lindsay Palomo registering the pastors (John Palomo is barely visible behind Lindsay working on name tags).

Lunch

Worship

This little boy from the beach was so curious as to what we were doing he climbed an 8 foot wall and peered in between the wall and the palapa to watch the worship time.

Alistair following along in worship.

Pastors Conference Day 1 - the place

It's 6:00am.  In only a few hours this palapa will hold pastors and spouses from all along the west coast of Mexico.  A group of 40 pastors have rented a bus in Acapulco and started out this morning at 3am.  For them it will take some 18 hours on the curves of Mexico Highway 200 to get here. Others are coming from the north an even further distance away- some 24 hours driving time.  We've been praying that God will protect them as they travel so that they can arrive here safely.  May God prepare us, and bless this place to receive them!

Why we go

Of all the things we get to do here, visiting pastors gives us the best appreciation for what each pastor's life is like.  Most pastors we work with live in humble circumstances, especially coming from our American perspective.  Driving in to most towns I'm always catching myself thinking, "How do they make it here?"  Fact is the people we see driving through small pueblos have been living, maybe the better way to put it is surviving, for all of their lives.  Makes you stop and ask if all those things that we think we have to have we really need after all.  Thus, after driving an hour south of Mazatlan we come to a small town close to Escuinapa, Sinaloa to visit with Pastor David and his family.

Pastor David's house

Since we're close to the ocean, and it's lunch time, it's oyster time!  You really can't stop at anyone's house here in Mexico and not stay for a meal.

Chuck sharing with Pastor David about the Pastors Conference

No real business in Mexico can take place until each new visitor has an opportunity to explain where they live, how long they will be around, how they like Mexico and so forth.  A formal "get-to-know-you" if you will.  Ethan and Sydney have become more accustomed to the idea that upon arriving at someone's house, especially someone who we know, we'll have to visit for around a hour or more before getting down to business.  So while Pastor David shucked oysters, we talked about his life (he grew up here), his family and his church.

Alistair exploring the property.

Shucked oysters

Oyster ready-to-eat!

Delicious!

On left: Pedro Rosales and family
Centerish: Edmunds
Right: Pastor David and family

Retreo Juvenil - Goodbye new friends!

Alistair enjoying watermelon

 No camp is complete without watermelon!  After a week of hanging out with the youth from a few churches from Nayarit it's now time for us to move on to preparations for the pastors conference in Chacala.  What a lot of memories can be packed into just a few days!

Last dinner at camp

Girl's Bible study