Perspectives in Huazolotitlan

Huazolotitlan is a Mixteco village near the coast in the District of Jamiltepec. Though Huazolo (as it is referred to by the locals) has an established church in it, the surrounding villages do not. It is an area still rich in local traditions, such as this healing remedie displayed below. I did not get the details, but did learn that the green stuff on his head is supposed to help him get rid of a cold.

E and I arrived in Huazolo a day earlier than the other Perspectives students. The church there was happy about that, as they had been waiting for the "Americano" to come and preach.


Their church building is nicely designed for the climate. It is a palapa, with covers for the walls near the sound equipment so they are well protected. This design keeps the rain out, but allows some breeze to defray the heat.



The others arrived the next day, and we had several hours of teaching for the youth. We each took turns. For my part, I began by getting them to pair up, one young lady next to each guy. The suspense and strangeness of it really got their attention. Then I said we are now going to have a wedding ceremony. After waiting a few moments for the shock to set in, I assured them that I was just doing this as an illustration, and had them sit down. It turned out to be a great way to begin a sermon on being the Bride of Christ, and how it's not something we take casually. Like the 5 faithful virgins of Matthew 25, we live for our Bridegroom, not for the here and now.


On our last day in Huazolo, we trained the church in evangelism, first with a class, and then hands-on by going door to door. The church has a tremendous heart, but the training is a definite need. I let my team members say what they felt led to say early on, so they could get some experience, and so I could feel out how to direct them. Their approach began with, "We want to know if you want to hear us preach to you." I was amazed the first family allowed us in. But they did, and though it began a little awkwardly, with some direction it ended very fruitfully. After sharing my testimony, I encouraged the team members to do likewise. Their testimonies were powerful, though the idea of sharing testimonies to witness of Christ seemed new to them. But in doing so the family opened up, and we were able to discover their real needs.

In addition to Perspectives part in the trip, our studio was able to provide cds with the New Testament recording of the Mixteco of Jamiltepec, which the people said they understand very well. We focused on using these for evangelism. The recording made for an excellent tool, and will be the key for many who hear to actually understand the message of the gospel.

Rio Grande

Rio Grande was a treat. Having been invited to preach in a church there, and to do some evangelism, it also turned out to be a time of good fun.

Rio Grande is situated near two beautiful beaches. Amidst the ministry, I was also treated to a visit to each of the two beaches.

And I discovered that Southern Belles still exist, though they seemed to have moved still further south than the Deep South of the US, now living in the "Deep South" of Mexico. The practice of using umbrellas to shield off the sun is still a common practice in Rio Grande.

We walked to several homes in town, and visited with the sick there. In the first home, I thought the man seemed in a fairly bad way. But in the next two homes we visited with cancer patients who seemed to be nearly at the point of death. In the last home we visited with a diabetics patient who was also in a serious way with the disease. In each case we shared from the Bible and prayed with the patients. Their families seemed very grateful, and more open to the gospel due to the regular visits of the pastor.

Before leaving Rio Grande, we attended the graduation ceremony at Centro de Entrenamiento Victoria (Victoria Training Center) for their Bible college, worship and missions students. The training center is located right on the beach, and looks every bit a resort. This is their fourteenth year, and I have to say I was very encouraged by the quality of the worship and teaching in their graduation service. If they are any indication of the school, the Body of Christ in Mexico will be greatly strengthened by the presence of this training center.

Zapotecos del Istmo

The Zapotecos del Istmo are an extremely widespread language group. They are found in cities throughout the coast of Oaxaca, and are prevalent in the Istmo, which is the southwestern portion of the state. Many of the villages at the coast, in the mountains, and even the large city of Juchitan speak this variant of Zapoteco as their mother tongue.

They still maintain much of their ancient culture, including using oxen drawn carts.

A and I made a trip to make the preliminary arrangements for the recording of the New Testament to be done in this widespread dialect. There are many challenges to accomplishing this recording, such as establishing a sound-proof environment, washed-out roads preventing the readers from getting to the make-shift studio, and the key person for the recording surviving on dialysis. Nevertheless we believe it will be an effective and fruitful project.

Huaves: Life by the Dead Sea

The Huaves live in villages on a peninsula between the Mar Vivo (Living Sea) and Mar Muerto (Dead Sea).

They are a fishing community. They fish in the Mar Muerto shown here, as well as the Mar Vivo.
They carve their boats in one piece out of trees from neighboring Chiapas.

They also raise sheep and cattle. Here a shepherd is herding his sheep to a new location, using the beach of the Mar Vivo as a pathway. The Mar Vivo is actually the Pacific Ocean, and is known as the Mar Vivo because the waves are alive, in contrast to the Mar Muerto where the waves are dead. The fact that the Huaves have known the Pacific Ocean as merely another "mar" like the sea on the other side is an indication of how small their world has been over the centuries.

Though they still use oxen carts, the modern world is rapidly entering their world. Nevertheless they have maintained their culture and language, and Spanish is not spoken much on the streets.

While living among them on this return trip, I stayed with this pastor and his family.

Pastor E is very laid back, as is the culture. He seems undaunted by any pressures that face him, to the point that it seems (upon early impressions) that he just doesn't want to have to struggle with anything.

But such early impressions are far from the mark. In a culture that knows little of wealth or change, he has used God-given wisdom to provide income to feed and house his family, all the while building the church seen below. When he became pastor in San Mateo some twelve years ago, there were only a handful of people in the congregation. Now it is a large congregation.

There have been many challenges in growing this church. Yet not satisfied with this one church in San Mateo, Pastor E has also planted five missions, one in each of the neighboring villages.

So in addition to showing the movie Jesus in his original church in San Mateo, we also showed it in the neighboring towns.

In Villa Hermosa, we had chairs for the congregation, with extras for visitors. We underestimated the chairs needed. As the movie got underway, passersby kept collecting in the street. A family would walk by, the wife carrying bowls of food, and they would stop briefly to watch. Intrigued at seeing a movie dubbed in their own language, they couldn't pull themselves away. Having run out of extra chairs shortly into the movie, one could see numbers of woman standing with bowls in their arms, or on their heads, with their kids sitting on the ground nearby and their husbands at their side. The street was packed all the way to the other side.

In Cuauhtemoc we showed the video in this thatch-roofed church. This village is close to the ocean, and at times the water floods into the church.

In San Pablo we prayed for God to hold off the approaching storm. Throughout the movie we were entertained with the surrounding effects of thunder and lightning, although the crowd didn't take their eyes off the movie.

Though the lightning was as frequent as heat-lightning back home, it was actually cloud to ground lightning. We finished the movie at ten, had the equipment packed by ten-fifteen, and at ten thirty the rains began to pour down.

In Huazantlan we showed the movie inside the church building. Each night after finishing up, a family would invite us over to eat. We never got back to the pastor's house before midnight. In each case he would end up counselling the hosts in some way. One was with their finances, dealing with some type of loan. Another was with the community officials having to do with a curfew in the town. Walking outside the house after ten at night bore the punishment of being thrown in jail. This was causing some difficulty with their services. Another had a member in the congregation who was possessed, and would leave the house for hours, not remembering where she had been. For a man who runs several businesses, I don't know how he manages to pastor not only his own church, but these other five as well. Next he wants to start a rehabilitation center for the drunkards in his town.

Revisiting Ocotepec in the Tlaxiaco District

En Ocotepec I was able to catch both T from one church, and this pastor from the other church. Though catching T involved going to a village beyond in the pouring rain, we were able to connect. The visit with this pastor proved special. When I came in January, the church met in a house. I was confused at first this time when I saw this church building, thinking I had missed it in January. But then I discovered they had begun building in February of this year.

We happened to arrive at the beginning of a night of festivities celebrating the anniversary of the church.

And leading the worship for the celebration service was the son of the pastor of the church I attended while staying in Tlaxiaco. Churches from several denominations took part in the service.

When I visited Ocotepec in January I had traveled to Tlaxiaco in my Jeep, and thus went alone.

This time I was with my friend who was hired by the schools to take photos. It so happened he was going the same way I needed to go that day, so I hitched a ride.

Like most Mixtecos of the highlands, the Mixtecos love to live in the pine forests. There is plenty of wood available for building their cabins.

And the terrain is great for sheep grazing and growing corn, two mainstays of the Mixteco culture. As we arrived in May, the next corn planting season had begun. Here a man is fitting his bull with a yoke for plowing.

Below, sheep graze in the pasture below the children playing. This is a school in Yucuhiti, located beyond Ocotepec.

In another town beyond Ocotepec we stopped at another school. Here you can see the Mixteco language printed on the walls.

My friend at work. Not only does he have a nice studio in Tlaxiaco, but he is also well-equipped with a mobile studio. He and his family opened their home for me to stay while I was in Tlaxiaco.

In The Studio

Recordings we have in our archives we are now marking for use with the Proclaimer. This involves placing the appropriate spaces for music and sound effects to be added by Hosanna into the recordings. Above we are marking the Zapoteca de Mitla New Testament, and below the Mixe de Atitlan recording. Though I don't speak the languages, the readers here do, and are indicating to me where the appropriate places are for each mark.

Amongst the Huaves

The Huaves of San Mateo del Mar are a very shy people, so getting pictures was a little difficult. Their villages still speak almost entirely in Huave, though there is some level of understanding of Spanish by many. I stayed with a Pentecostal pastor. Here his wife is carrying some food back from the market.

The pastor's oldest son drawing water from the well in order to take a bath. Like most villages, bathing is done by pouring water over the body with a bowl dipped into a bucket.

The pastor's oldest daughter above, and younger three below.

The pastor oversees five churches, each in a separate village. We were prepared to show the movie "Jesus" in Huave, with a neighborhood crowd sitting on benches in the dirt street, but the projector would not cooperate. They seemed more than satisfied with my preaching in place of seeing the movie, but I look forward to going back and giving them and the other 4 villages a chance to see the movie in their language.

Here the pastor demonstrates how much the heat along the southern coast of Mexico can take out of you. (Actually he was dealing with a stomach infection this day.)