Zona Maya Ministry

Dami teaching the children in Yoactun

Yesterday, I flew a non-stop flight from San Francisco to Cancun, Mexico. Two men from our church, Richard Lehman and Dave Phillips, picked me up at the airport to drive me three hours south to the town of Felipe Carillo Puerto. Richard and Dave arrived last Thursday so I am only here for part of this mission. We return to Tampa on Thursday.

We are staying with a man named Benny who is from Monroe, North Carolina originally. He now runs a mission home here called Sandra's Place. It is named for his late wife and has many bedrooms for mission teams or conference attendees. An upstairs room was added as a meeting space for conferences, often pastor conferences. I'm in an air-conditioned bunk room with four bunks and a separate bathroom compete with a hot shower. I'm the only one in this room.

I slept in this morning until 7 am.  Two hours in an airport, five hours on an airplane, three hours in a car, and a midnight arrival here made yesterday a long day. After a perfect breakfast of a granola bar (I was not hungry after a day of airplane food), we headed out to the day.

Richard and Dave wanted me to see the city first. We went to a downtown shopping area where I was able to change my dollars into pesos. We then walked through the shops. It reminds me of walking through San Estaban in Olancho, Honduras. Only this city seems more tranquil. Busy, yet not the same cowboy feel as San Estaban.

Our mission today was to visit two villages, Laguna Kana and Yoactun, as well as to visit with a family that had experienced a crisis and pray with them. We went with Pastor Alfredo Perera Pech, a pastor whose daughters live in Clearwater and Tampa and who has visited us at St. Andrews several times. He and his wife, Dami, have spent years developing relationships with people in villages throughout this region. At one point, Pastor Alfredo was pastoring 17 churches. Now he has seven.

Children coloring Good Shepherd pages in Laguna Kana

In both villages, Dami led singing, all a cappella. Pastor Alfredo gave opening remarks, introduced us, and asked us to say a few words. I brought them greetings from the elders, deacons, members, and pastors of St. Andrews. Afterward, Pastor Alfredo split off with the adults and Dami went with the children to teach a lesson on Jesus as the Good Shepherd. At one point, I sat next to Jennifer, Pastor Alfredo's granddaughter studying French and English at university and our translator. "What is he telling them," I asked. "He's talking about how alcoholism damages families and lives." Addiction and all of the problems related to it, is a serious problem in the villages. Pastor Alfredo explained that to me with his broken English and my pathetic Spanish. It was enough for me to know that drug and alcohol addictions here, like everywhere, devastate lives. The women were especially interested in what he was saying. I could tell from the nodding heads and attentive eyes.

After the villages, we drove to a man named Lauro's house. Lauro and his wife are grieving the death of two of their sons who were killed recently in an automobile accident. We gathered in the living room, Pastor Alfredo said a few words, then we recited the words of Psalm 23 from memory ("The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want...") and prayed together for God to comfort and guide this family in their grief. I can't imagine losing even one child, but to think of losing two at once is hard.

From Lauro's house, we drove back to Felipe Carillo Puerto and had dinner. We dined at a local restaurant and had a great meal. I had a local Mayan pork dish recommended by Jennifer, Pastor Alfredo's granddaughter. We all tried the habenero hot sauce. All was outstanding.

Tonight, I did laundry, rested, then we gathered to talk about missions and Zona Maya missions in particular. The need here is great and the place where we are staying is well-suited for receiving mission teams. More than that, strengthening the faith of individuals in the villages while at the same time strengthening the faith of team members is central to being here. We talked about all of that and spent time together in the living room. It was a good night.

This trip plus the others has given me space to ponder mission motivation and practices. I spent a long time on the airplane here pondering what this summer has taught me and I will be posting that at the end of this trip to add reflections from this trip. For now, I will say that this is what we do. We serve and give and go. We do it because there is need, we are capable of meeting some of the needs, and the Holy Spirit has led the particular missions to us as a church. This church called me, a pastor who at the time had sent a dozen or so teams to Honduras. God brought mission leaders to us. Teams went out and our church has, over the years, been shaped by the mission team members who have gone and returned. While they were away, they got what I call the "mission itch." That itch needs more than a once a year scratch to be satisfied. These away trips have stimulated increased involvement locally. It is a beautiful thing to see the fulfillment of Jesus' command to tell others what we know of him locally, in our area, and "to the ends of the earth" (Acts 1:8-9).

By the way, it's hot here. But after cold San Francisco, it's a welcome heat.

Off to bed...