Digging Holes, They Say It Builds Character

We have been in Creel three and a half weeks, Mexico six and a half weeks, with just a few days till we are back in the states. Outreach is starting to draw to a close. At the moment with my exhaustion from the past few weeks I am really looking forward to home. It will be good for this adventure to end. But it is odd thinking about the next transition ahead and all the uncertainty that comes with it.

We are traveling again. Back on a bus, headed to Juarez. Our ministry in Creel complete. We have wandered beyond the pine trees now, back in the desert.

These few weeks in Creel have been interesting. The main projects we have been working on at the YWAM base is digging holes for the foundation of an aquaponic system, moving storage items, sorting donated clothes, mixing and laying concrete, and doing kid programs at a few of the Tarahumaran villages near Creel.

Thinking back over our time in Creel something that stood out was the hospitality of the base and villages we visited. To be told before Creel that the Tarahumarans are very reserved people, cut off from outsiders, I was not expecting the openness we received. Even on the YWAM base I was a little surprised by the friendliness and hospitality given to us. Coming from Juarez where most of what we received was distrust and strict rules it was refreshing having freedom and reasonable expectations from the Creel staff. Everything from the walls creating the compound in Juarez to the open fields and cliffs in Creel.

We visited two villages near Creel, Santa Elias and Pitorreal, and did VBS with the children who lived there. Due to the culture being story oriented, we chose to tell our lessons through skits, it also made it easier with translation. Watching the kids and moms open up and laugh as they watched us was one of the little things that made it all worth it. We would play games, color pictures, and build relationships. Every day when we came back they would be sitting waiting for us to arrive.

It was all a testimony to the relationships that the staff in Creel have established. Twenty years of hard work and we had the opportunity to come in and be a part of it. For us to be able to work with the villages, help build the beginnings of the aquaponics system, work on other various projects throughout the base, we were able to see many parts of a fruitful ministry and bless the staff working there.

While in Creel we also had many opportunities to enjoy God’s creation. We were able to visit the Copper Canyon, hike to some hot springs, ride horses near the base, and many other wonderful things. We had the misfortune of dealing with bedbugs, and other small discomforts, but it was all a good experience, although exhausting at times.

It shall be interesting indeed heading back to the states so soon. Just two more weeks till home. 

Lessons In Flexibility

After a long overnight bus ride we arrived in Creel last Monday, it is absolutely beautiful here. Hills covered in pine trees, giant rocks perfect for climbing, horses grazing in meadows of corn and flowers, streams running through the countryside. It is really picturesque.

Total we will be in Creel three and a half weeks, so we have been here about a week and a half so far. We spent our first week at a boarding school, and are now at the YWAM Creel base where we will be the remainder of our time here.

Creel is a city near the Copper Canyon in the state of Chihuahua. Throughout this area the Tarahumara people live. They are an indigenous tribe descendent from the Mayans. Creel was actually built by the Mexican government in order to mix the Tarahumarans into the rest of Mexican culture, which left them quite resentful towards outsiders. Here, the couple who started the YWAM base have been working here twenty years and have just recently started forming real relationships and making progress with the Tarahumarans. Our leaders were telling us that the progress many YWAM bases see in two or three years is what this base has seen in the twenty years it has been established. That said, it is exciting being able to come in and work with the foundation that has been laid.

At the boarding school our plan was to run a VBS with the kids and help with various work projects around the property. One of the first things we learned though was flexibility. In this culture time isn’t a priority. They are incredibly patient and take their time coming and going, meeting and greeting along the way. Our first day there ran smoothly, fixing the road, tilling the garden, picking up trash, with the VBS in the afternoon. The kids were shy but opened up when we played duck, duck, goose, or as they play, pato, pato, gonzo. Then the second day in the afternoon, when we were ready to start the VBS, the head of the school told us they were going to walk to one of the girl’s homes. That then started what we thought would be a quick walk, to almost a four hour adventure. We then found out that the kids all went home Friday after their morning classes, so we were only able to do the VBS with them one day instead of the four days we thought, because we were leaving on Saturday.

It was a good lesson in flexibility and respecting other’s plans above our own in such a different culture. While there though we were able to do so much, fixing a large part of the road, doing a lot of work on their garden, making a fire pit, and painting a mural on the side of one of their sheds near the playground. So even though we didn’t really do what we planned while there it was still a huge blessing to them.

Working at the YWAM base has been quite different. While we have only been here a few days, it has been very structured and each day has been quite similar. Breakfast, work projects, lunch, VBS in a nearby village in the afternoons, dinner, free time.

The contrast in how the boarding school and the YWAM base are run is interesting. Where the leader of the school was Mexican the leaders at the base are American, and it is so evident in how they communicate and structure our days. For where every day at the school we had to be incredibly flexible, here our days are fairly predictable.

This should be a good next few weeks. The Tarahumarans are beautiful people, and I am so honored to be able to partner with the ministries here working with them.