July 2004 trip report
Dear Friends,
Thank you for praying! This trip to Lajas was quite eventful and the
road was difficult and treacherous going. We made it without getting stuck. The kids were thrilled to see a huge rattlesnake on the road. After running over him with both the front and back tire of the truck, we were surprised to find him still hissing and rattling happily. We all agreed to let him crawl off into the bush ready to bite another day.
Life in Lajas has taken another sad turn for the worst. Secundino's brother, Pedro, who lives close to us, was murdered 5 days earlier. We were not able to find out the reason or if there was one, but we had heard rumours months earlier that someone had wanted to kill him. Rumour had it that he was a witchdoctor and that he had cursed people. Some of the people he supposedly cursed had died or had bad fortune befall them, hence, some were wanting to kill him. There is no way of knowing if these stories are true or if they are related to his murder. The fact is, another Tepehuan has died without knowing the truth about Jesus. His wife and family and other close relatives have fled Lajas never to return. It was sad to see so much fear in Secundino's eyes. The whole time we were in Lajas, he packed a gun in his belt, and hardly ever left his house. He believes his brother's murderers may come after him, and so he wants to leave Lajas for a few months till things settle down. Unfortunately there is no justice in the mountains, and there is no protection for innocent people. The current governor does not want to call the police in, and Secundino thinks that he may be protecting the murderers. Again, who knows if that is true. Whatever the case, Satan's hand remains firmly gripping the Tepehuan, keeping them in fear. If he can't stop the Gospel reaching them, he will destroy them so they cannot hear. Israel will get it's peace, it is promised. Pray for peace in Lajas, they may never know theirs. Pray for God's protection over Secundino and his family.
Saturday afternoon a young man came by the house. He had walked all day to get into Lajas. His 7 year old niece had fallen down a cliff a day and a half earlier and was in a serious condition. The problem was that she lived high on a mountain in a place call Peñasco Redondo. It was over an hours drive at least from Lajas, on a barely used logging road. We quickly got the kids together and we left to try and get to Peñasco Redondo. The road was incredibly bad and unbelievably steep in places. At times it seemed at any moment a rockslide could hit us from above, or in places the road seemed it could simply just crumble into the abyss below. Perhaps a possible slight exaggeration there, nonetheless my mind enacted it out in a manner worthy of an Oscar. Needless to say, we have never seen such fantastic scenery. The drive to Lajas in parts is very impressive, but this little trip further into the mountains past Lajas was absolutely breathtaking. Unfortunately the few snaps I took with the digital do no justice whatsoever. The name of the little girl is Ana, and she lives with her mother and grandfather high up in a place where not 20 meters from their simple stick shelter, one taking a stroll with mind on other matters could inadvertently step off and enjoy a freefall hundreds of metres to the rocks below. She, from the place where she was playing, fell 15 metres. That for our American friends is a fall of about 50 feet. She should not have survived the fall. From where the road ended, it was about a quarter mile hike up to where they lived. They had her lying on a bed. Her hair and face where caked in dried blood and she was barely conscious it seemed. It was very obvious that she had multiple fractures to the skull, but any other injuries were impossible to ascertain. Taking no chance with possible spine damage, we arranged blankets on a flat board and tied her onto it. Every move made her cry out in pain, but we managed to get into the truck and back to the clinic in Lajas. A Tepehuan nurse cleaned her up, and the plan was for us to bring her into Durango on the Monday.
It rained for much of the time out in Lajas. On Sunday we went with Roberto to get some firewood in our truck. We took the same road that we had driven the day before to get Ana. Not 15 minutes down the road, a whole section of road had completely been washed away making it impassable. Praise Jesus we were able to get Ana back into Lajas on the Saturday.
Our kids really enjoyed playing with their Tepehuan friends, and Anne Marie and I were able to get lots of visiting in with friends. Unfortunately no word from Lucio as to whether we can rent his house, but his father-in-law was optimistic, once they can get a hold of him to talk to him. We continue to pray for that house to become available.
We made it back into Durango Monday, and got Ana into the hospital. X-rays confirmed multiple skull fractures and also a broken collar bone. The rest of her injuries are severe bruising. She was released yesterday afternoon, and it is amazing how quickly she is recovering. In the meantime we will provide food for them till they can return to the mountains.
A huge prayer request is my U.S. visa application. My interview at the U.S Embassy is August 9th. I am praying first of all that I get a visa, and secondly, that they will issue me a 5-year, or preferably, a 10-year visa. That way I don't have to go through this lengthy and very costly process again for a while. A good friend of ours is getting married in September in Ohio. Some friends back home have put some money together for us to fly up to the wedding in Dayton. This works out well as we need to make a border trip around then anyway. Pray that the visa will be issued and sent back in time for us to be able to go to the wedding.
We all send our love.
For Jesus,
Andrew and Anne Marie
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