MEXICO
Two van-loads on a mission!
JULY 3RD THROUGH THE 8TH, 2006
On Monday July 3 we drove in two vans to Matamoros, Mexico, just across the border from Brownsville,
where Larry Cox and Dr Nancy Rodriguez of Juntos Servimos greeted us. We checked in at the motel which would be the base
for our mission to three fishing villages on (or in) the Laguna Madre.
After breakfast and devotions on Tuesday,
we drove to Bougainvillea, the mission station established by Juntos Servimos on the site of the Matamoros city dump, where
we picked up staple food items that Juntos Servimos had on hand. Then we piled into the vans for an hour’s drive, through
fields covered with cacti, to Manos de León, the largest fishing village, which is on the mainland. Larry and Nancy rode
with us.
Our first job that day was to put together food bags for the especially needy families. From big 50-pound
bags of rice we made up baggies, each containing about two pounds of rice. Then everybody grabbed a big plastic kitchen bag
and filled it with the rice and also with other staples provided by Juntos Servimos—beans, flour, enriched powdered milk,
cooking oil and tomato paste. By the time we were through filling the bags, the mothers of the village had lined up for the
food distribution. Dr. Nancy would write the name of the mother at the head of the line, and the names and ages of her kids.
Then one of us would give the mother the bag of food.
All the ladies of the Mission Team who were not occupied with
health instruction for young mothers then joined to lead Vacation Bible School for the little kids, of whom there were many.
They conducted the entire session in Spanish, beginning with “Jesus Me Ama.” They gave every child a kit with toothpaste,
toothbrushes, a comb, shampoo, crayons, pencils, and a spiral bound notebook. These kits had been made up and donated by
members of Spring Valley and Nueva Vida.
Meanwhile Elizabeth Escamilla, who is a pediatric nurse, assisted by
some of the other ladies on the Mission Team, set up shop at another location and gave instruction to the young mothers as
to how to care for themselves and their infants. She gave out Pedialyte where needed. Many of the mothers brought kids who
were not well to see if they could be helped. One little fellow had cerebral palsy. One old woman came up for treatment of
a spider bite.
After the day’s work was done, we ate a late lunch, packed our things in the van, and drove back
to Matamoros. The day ended with dinner at the motel and evening devotions.
Wednesday was pretty much a repeat of
the previous day except that we drove directly to Manos de León, and that day we did not distribute food. Thursday and Friday
were different. On these two days we drove to a marina on the coast, where on the dock we made up food bags for the day. Then
we loaded these and our other paraphernalia into motor launches for a ten minute cruise to a nearby island, the site of another
fishing village. Thursday, we visited Puntilla del Norte; Friday, we visited Isla Fantasía.
At Isla Fantasía Bill
Escarre and I talked to one young fisherman who was mending his nets. He told us that the men go out in pairs when they seine
for shrimp. Their boats are about twenty feet long, powered by outboard motors. A catch may be 40 or 50 pounds, although a
really good one may be over 400 pounds. One man, Humberto Joya, led me into the village to show me their church. It was a neat
little Catholic church, with nice pews, artificial flowers ensconced along the walls, the altar area framed by tied-back white
curtains. Mass is said three times a week.
The men of the Mission Team began talking that day with a group of about
10 fishermen who had gathered to see what was going on. Carlos Nascimento seized the opportunity to preach to them, as we all
stood in a circle there in the open air. He reminded us that Jesus first proclaimed the Word in the same way, to fishermen by
the shore. Two other ministers in our Mission Team—Josue Moreno and Don Barnes, also preached to the men in Spanish. The men
listened devoutly, and one of them gave the closing prayer.
We ate a late lunch when the day’s work was over,
reloaded our things into the launches, returned to the marina, packed the vans, and headed back for the motel. On Thursday,
though, one van diverted for a while to the shore, to a spot on the Gulf of Mexico where believe it or not there was a
place to change clothes, and we had a great swim in the surf!
There was time before dinner and devotions on
Friday evening to walk to the Matamoros market for a couple of hours of shopping. The next morning, we once again climbed
into our trusty vans and sped back to Dallas, no problems at the border, lunch stop at a fast food restaurant, arriving
home around seven after a marvelous mission to Mexico!
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