Visit to Pueblo Viejo

Maricella and Carmella are the Mixteco missionaries in Pueblo Viejo

Prayers written by the children on the wall inside the church at Pueblo Viejo.

The following day we went to Pueblo Viejo, a village about 45 minutes away, and saw about 80 patients with 22 people seeking a personal relationship with Jesus as their Lord.  Not long before this trip, a child had been kidnapped, so the leaders of the village forbade the young women on our team from playing with the children or giving them toys or candy, for fear they would be enticed away and kidnapped. That was definitely disappointing to them, but they understood and helped out in other ways.  We did notice that the younger children in particular seemed to stay closer to their parents  than usual.  Consider how you might feel if a group of Mexicans drove into our village, set up a clinic, and our kids were asked to play with them in spite of the language and cultural barriers.

One young woman had been walking to the clinic when she was attacked by a donkey who kicked her in the chest, the abdomen, and then on the side of her head.  Her husband, who was with her, said she was unconscious for about an hour, but was able to walk to the clinic when she came to.  She had a laceration that required stitches, as well as bruises and a lot of abdominal pain.  In the US, she would have had a CT or MRI of the head, and a CT of the abdomen, chest x-ray, blood tests, all within an hour of arrival in the ED.  Here, however, we had to content ourselves with observing her (BP and pulse), giving her some IV fluid, stitching up her cut, and examining her repeatedly over several hours.  She seemed to improve, so we ended up sending her home with instructions about possible complications, and praying that none would happen.

Pictures of children at the orphanage we visited.

Bertha with the newest resident; she was found on the beach.

The day after we returned from the mountains was to have been a free day to go to the beach or to shop, but the team wanted to visit the Orphanage in Puerto Escondido.  We had no formal agenda, but the team members played with, talked with, and cuddled with the children there and were blessed by that contact.

Every night in the mountains, we had meetings in the evenings, and then again Sunday night after we returned.  We were impressed by how tender and touched their hearts were towards the people, especially the children, they met.  They realized the impressive poverty of these children who were often in the same dirty clothes day after day, and who looked on with apparent hunger as we ate our meals.  One of them just wanted to give her plate to them.  They wondered why, by some stroke of luck, they had been born in the USA.  One reported being unable to relate to a friend and classmate who e-mailed, complaining about the color and style of a new car she had been given for her 16^th birthday; this is so totally far from the reality here.  Another noticed that men are served first here and women are very submissive.  It is hearts such as these that God can shape into instruments of life and love.  Guard such a heart for from it flow the wellsprings of life.

Honeoye Falls team with their peers at the orphanage.

When you encounter someone who has been helping the poor and disadvantaged (no matter who or where) he or she will look and speak differently than you remember.  Take several minutes and listen to one or more stories about how God has moved in their lives.