January 2005 trip report & photos

Dear Friends,

We are glad to be back safely from the building trip to Lajas. It was a

great week and we accomplished all that we were hoping to do. The walls

in two rooms still need to be parged with mud, but apart from that, the

house is practically finished. Renovating an Indian house is not easy, as

nothing is exactly square and the roof is made of log poles, however we did get the drywall on and finished. A light sand and paint will bring it up

nicely. Perhaps our most successful achievement was the construction of

the...

front door. It certainly is heavy duty and will certainly deter any

thief with devious desires to break in.

The governor was not in the village for most of the time, and when I did

get to see him, he was very busy and not able to give an answer. We've

decided not to pressure anymore but just to start living out there and

see how it goes.

I did get to visit with the Catholic priest, as he was in the village for

a few days. We shook hands and he seemed very friendly and genuine. I

was invited to attend a mass, and so accepted as I had always wanted to

see inside the Tepehuan church. It is small and eerie and I had to kneel

as I entered and cross myself. I at least kneeled and uttered a short

prayer. The priest and a few Mexican helpers led some singing with the

kids that were attending the mass. I was surprised to see some of the

adult Tepehuan men do the actions to some of the songs. These are tough

mountain-hardened people who wouldn't think it too foreign to kill

someone, and here they are doing actions to some Catholic "Sunday

school" songs. I was impressed and mildly amused. The priest read from

the Bible the story of Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead, and then

gave a short message. It sounded good especially when he talked about

Jesus having power over death, and that His own death paid for our sins,

and we need to believe in Jesus. I was ready to shout "amen", but then

came the teaching: in order to be saved we must pray to the Virgin Mary

for forgiveness and also to all the saints who are our intercessors, and

then to make our salvation complete, we must behave ourselves and do

only good things. As the the Bible says in Ephesians 2:8,9: "For by grace

you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the

gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast." The only way to be

saved is to accept by faith that Jesus is your saviour and the only one

who can forgive you and wash you clean from your sin. There is no other

way. It doesn't matter what church or denomination we go to, or what we

might believe about God or how good we have lived our lives... unless we

come to the above conclusion, we are not saved. Jesus is the only way.

The Tepehuan today, if they are not trusting in Mary and the saints and

their good works, are trusting in their sacred dances and fastings and worship of the spirits. They've got images and idols of Jesus. They also believe He is the moon. They honour the Mother of Jesus more than

they honour the true Son of God. They have no idea who the true Jesus

is. Our job is to simply tell them about Jesus, so they know who He is

and what He has done for them.

Anne Marie fared well back in Durango. She managed to survive running

the kids to and from school utilizing the Durango taxi system. Cheap and

reasonably efficient, and excitingly risky as well.

Our next trip will be made as family March 22nd or so. We will be out

there for Easter. This is a time when the Tepehuan celebrate with a

mixture of Catholic and Indian beliefs. It should be a good time to

learn more of their culture and understand more of their beliefs.

Thanks for praying!

For Jesus,