Working with the Huichols at Zapote, Nayarit, Mexico

I'm finally wrapping up my last day in Tepic and I wanted to pass on some pictures and some praises for the time here. We came down with my mother-in-law, Debbie Mellberg--on her first return trip since her husband, Kirt Mellberg, suddenly died in March--to her home and mission field for the last 30 years. Praise God that the church here is strong, despite having lost its senior pastor, and is active in missions to the Huichols in the mountains surrounding Tepic. The Huichols are an indigenous people who were virtually untouched by Christianity and the Gospel until missionary efforts in the 1950's culminating in a translation of the Bible into the Huichol language by Joe & Barbara Grimes.

My dad, actually my father-in-law Kirt Mellberg but I always call him dad, was approached by one of the first Huichol converts early in his 30-year ministry in Tepic by one of the first Huichol Christians and pastors, Román. Román quickly ascertained that he was a missionary and after checking his theology said, "You're the man we've been praying for." In God's sovereignty, although my wife's parents thought that they were going to Mexico to be missionaries to the Mexican people, He decided that their legacy would be the hundreds (maybe thousands, nobody's sure) Christian Huichols throughout the mountains of Nayarit and Jalisco. After 30 years, a dozens of Mexican churches have been planted due to their ministry and there is a thriving church of 200-300 here in Tepic. This work certainly has created a lasting impression in the Kingdom, but his passion for training Huichol pastors to plant indigenous churches has now multiplied into countless numbers of churches in the mountains and a church here in Tepic carrying on that same passion that he had.

So what an encouragement when on my family vacation to Tepic, I was able to serve side-by-side with the church here in Tepic. The village Zapote de Picachos and the Christian community were run out of their old village and now have to start over in a much less-desirable location. The Zapote people have understandably been a little desanimado (discouraged) over it. One of the major drawbacks of the new location is the heat and the lack of shade. The church in Tepic decided to try and do something about it and donated 100 fruit and shade trees to the village. We went to go plant them. To see where the village is, check out these GoogleEarth screen shots: (1) From space, (2) A little closer, (3) Real Close.

I've been blessed to be able to spend a lot of time this trip with the Huichol believers both in their villages and here on the steps of my house in Tepic. The perspective gained on the Christian life and the way God works when I spend time with them is priceless. First, simplicity is not bad. A great source of growth and sanctification in my life has been trying to comprehend and behold the wonder of the God we serve through the study of the Word. I attempt to systematize my theology in my mind. I attempt to understand the the uncomprehendable. These are not bad. I seek to know the God of the Word through His Word. But the Huichols are a people and culture who are so simple that their language does not even have numbers, they apparently have no use for them. They love God with all their heart. They don't know much, but they do know that there is a God who created them and who sent His son to die for their sins. And with that much they evangelize like nobody I've ever seen. In 30 years, the mountains of Nayarit and Jalisco has been transformed by the Gospel. No gringo missionaries necessary, just a few Huichols who simply love their God, love their people, and are moved to walk for days from village to village proclaiming the Word against much opposition. Please pray for God's continued blessing on the Huichol people, particularly that God would raise up somebody (probably a group of somebodies) to translate the Old Testament.

I am convicted that I try to fit God into my American box. I fit my expectations of the Christian life to what I see all around. For the first generation Christian Huichols everything is new. Because the majority of the Huichols have never seen a non-Huichol-Christian church they have no 21st century expectation to live up to. Their example really is what they see in the Bible. For music, they sing the Gospels. For communion, they use Coca-Cola, but you know what? They don't know church history. Many are illiterate and know the Bible only from the songs they sing and the sermons they hear. But you know what? For as much as all my Bible study and writing fill my head with knowledge of God, I think in many aspects they know God better than I do. Yesterday, I was having a conversation with a pastor of a Huichol church--this man walks throughout the mountains and has led literally hundreds to Christ--and we were talking about the most recent concerns that he has for the body which he Shepherds. Humbly he asked my opinion and was taking note of every one of my words, but as I we were talking and I was attempting to expound a couple verses in 2 Corinthians to him, I thought: I should just shut up and listen. I pray that God gives me the blessing of having many more conversations with this giant of the Huichol faith. Praise God for what he has done and is doing with the Huichols!

My mom's blog describes the last week from another point of view. She has also posted some pictures to her Flickr account of the tree-planting trip as well.
Here are some more pics just posted from Tim Mellberg's photo log.

Check out my Flickr account to see some of my pictures of my times in Tepic.