Hola Everyone!

                              

   May has been a busy and exciting month so far and it is not over yet! We are thanking God because not all of  the groups have cancelled either. We were pleased to have a few brave souls come down with us from Florida the first week of this month. They were not afraid of the swine flu or any of the other bad things the media has been putting out lately. The group consisted of about 20 to 25 young adults and teenagers from the Calvary Chapel Church Association out of Ft. Lauderdale, Florida. They worked one day at the albergue in the village of Guaguitare refinishing and repairing school desks (above to the left) for the children and also painted the classrooms. We finished up the day with a meal of hotdogs, something they had never had before and didn’t know how to eat them (above to the right), some skits, games and then a piñata. It was in this village we completed our first water project here in the mountains.

    The next day we took them to the village of Huisarochi to help with the ongoing water project we are doing there. We all had a little scare the day we went up to the village. Early on Tuesday morning we loaded the four vehicles with people, tools and supplies to make the long trek into the mountains where the village is located. We experienced something we had not expected upon arriving at the village that morning. As we were descending the long, steep hill into the village I could see a vehicle making its way up the road toward us. This was unusual because I have never seen a vehicle in this village before. It had parked in a cornfield in front of a few small log homes and the driver had gotten out to go up to one of the houses. It was then that he saw all of us coming down the hill with my truck, which looks a lot like one of the trucks the military uses, in the lead. He made a quick dash to his vehicle and began driving toward us. The people inside the Chevy Avalanche were definitely not locals and were leaving as fast as they could. It was pretty evident we had scared them as much as they did us. The locals we had with us said that they were either looking to buy locally grown marijuana or were there to pressure the Indians into growing it for them. It was in this same village last year I had a group and we had stumbled upon a small field growing beside a stream. After we had gotten parked and unloaded the tools, I had the team have special prayer for our protection and for this small village as well.

  The group was divided into two teams. One team I left down in the village to build the concrete slab that would support the large plastic tank that will hold the water. The other team I took with me a mile up the canyon to where the water source is located. We spent the day there carrying rocks, breaking boulders, mixing cement and completed a small dam (above to the left) that will serve as a reservoir for the water which will be piped by gravity down to the holding tank located above the village. The team was amazing, they were able to complete everything we needed done in one day. They were such a great group of hard workers.

  We also were blessed to have Shelly’s parents Mike and Sandy Green come down also. Because of Mike’s shoulder surgery he had to take a few weeks off from work. They decided to use this time to come and visit Creel. They spent a whole week and were able to take part in two weekly village outreaches, and the  Friday night youth meeting and Sunday night Bible study. They also went to one of the nearby canyons to do a little site-seeing. They were delighted to see some old friends and make some new ones also. To the upper right you can see they are glad to be able to spend time with Monica and Melena. They are pictured at Divisidero Canyon about 45 minutes from Creel. To the left are our children plus Tim and Cheryl’s in their clown costumes at the village of Apachochi. Last Wednesday we celebrated “Dia del Niño” (Day of the child) with the children there at the albergue. We had a special meal, lots of candy and a series of skits and puppet shows put on by Monica and Melena and Tim and Cheryl’s daughters Carley, Katie and Ryan. Below the children from Apachochi are enjoying a puppet show.

  We have more groups for June and July scheduled. We are thankful for all the interest we are seeing out of churches and mission teams from all over the country. Monica has another appointment at the end of June at the Shriner’s Clinic in Shreveport.

 We thank everyone for your continued support and making all of this possible.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Onor u'ami micuirsa (God bless you, in Tarahumara)

Ryan, Shelly, Monica and Melena Maness

Highways and Hedges Ministries

662-415-4837