High and Low

On Tuesday and Wednesday we went on an amazing trip with Pastor Martin. Every month Pastor Martin goes to the Sierra mountains about 5 hours from Jerez and ministers to the natives that live in the mountains. Jerry, Mical, and I went along with him and Brother Roberto. The scenery there is jaw droppingly beautiful. I had no idea that we were so close to such beautiful landscapes. There were some points where I felt like I was in Yosemite. The drive up was fun. We stopped by Valparaiso for some groceries to bring up. Then we stopped by Huejuquilla for some amazing tacos. At this point we were already pretty high up in the mountains. The village was about 20,000 feet high.

When we got up there, we were greeted by 2 missionaries. One of the girls has been there by herself ministering for a year and a half. Amazingly brave considering it is dangerous up in the mountains and pretty much like the Old West. We were told by Pastor Marting that everyone has guns. We then went on a very long hike to visit one of the natives. He was a real cowboy rustling cattle and with a gun in his back pocket too. His house was on top of the mountain with an amazing view. We spent some time there playing with the kids and talking to him. Then we hiked back up this very steep hill (our calves our killing us) back to the missionaries' house. They have no running water there, nor electriticy. Jerry had to go number 2 but wanted to wait for a nicer outhouse. I don't think the outhouse he finally went to at the school was any better. Pastor Martin also borrowed a rifle from the cowboy. He wanted to find some squirrels to fry up. They are apparently very delicious. We didn't find any squirrels, nor rattlesnake for that matter. Apparently fried rattlesnake is really good too. Oh, and so are rat brains. I'm glad we didn't find anything to hunt this time, but as they say, when in Rome, do as the Romans do.

They had a service that night, so we joined the service. It started hailing during the service. The roof of the church is made of sheet metal so we had to stop the service because hail and metal is really loud. It was a very inspiring service and the passion the natives had for Jesus was a great sight to see. After the service one of the native women gave us some delicious bread. I ate it all right away. We went back to the missionaries' house to have some coffee and were on our way afterwards.

Our next destination was down the mountain to the valley to visit Pastor Domingo who ministers in a small village. The road to the village was insane. There was really no road. We basically drove on rocks for 2 hours. It was only less than 30 miles away but took 2 hours since we could only drive so fast. At the very end of the road we had to cross a river that had rocks on it to act as a bridge. Thank God the car held up during this trip. We drove Jerry's old old Explorer with no spare tire and bad breaks. Once we got there it was midnight and the Pastor's wife made us some Mexican noodles and fresh homemade corn tortillas. Great food. The weather here was a stark contrast to the mountains. It was hot hot hot. They had a room that I tried to stay in, but could not sleep in because it was just too hot. So I slept outside on a cot with the farm animals roaming around. I think this was the first time I woke up and saw a chicken right in front of me. The roosters crowed all night long and the donkeys were not very quiet either. It was a great experience nonetheless. We are truly blessed to be able to do missionary work in Jerez and have the internet, water, electricity, and other things.

We are going to see what we can do to help these other missionaries out. We have met a lot of people in the past 2 months that are really faithful to the Lord. Pastor Domingo is ministering in a pretty rough place. They can pretty much never leave the village since they have no car and the road is very long and rough. Every morning the oldest kid (10 years old) goes out to the small river to get water and bring it back on a burro. The Pastor's wife made us a lovely breakfast of fried eggs and beans. The salsa she made was also one of the best I've had. I must learn it from her the next time we are there.

After the trip we were all very tired. This was definitely one of the most amazing and unique experiences I've ever had. I wish everyone was there with me to experience it.

For more pics, click here.