NTM - New Tribes Mission | Planting Tribal Churches

Last week I went with John Steinbacher and some other missionaries to visit a couple of communities where the Nahuat people live. There are actually several different dialects of Nahuat; the descendants of the Aztecs. Most of them are much further south in Mexico but this particular group found its way up into the state of Durango some time in the past and now has an area that the government considers as belonging to the Nahuat people.

We went south from the city of Durango and flew over the beautiful and rugged mountains. From the air the scenery was breathtaking, and as much of it is around 6000 feet above sea level, it would be breathtaking on the ground too!

The first day we stayed in a town which is one of the ceremonial centres for the Nahuat people and where a missionary from another organization has spent many years helping the community and surrounding area in several different ways; medical, dental, community projects and the like. Because the town sits on a river in a valley, the temperature was much warmer and it was a treat to see banana plants growing. That isn’t something we get to see much of in Chihuahua.

The second day we flew just about 15 minutes over to another town with an airstrip. Those 15 short minutes represent a walk of about as many hours so we were very grateful for the plane.

We were greeted by some very friendly Nahuat people and were shown around the town, introduced to the local judge and were even given a lesson about the Nahuat language. (It is also called Mejicanero or Meshikán, so take your pick as to what you call it.)

After being given lunch by the lady in the picture (she made us fresh corn tortillas which was a special treat) we headed back to the airstrip and then eventually back to the city of Durango.

These people are friendly, willing to help, but so lost without Jesus. There has been some translation work done in their dialect but nobody is teaching them what God has done for them. Nobody is taking the trouble to learn about their culture and study their language so they can explain the message of God’s salvation in a way that they truly understand.

The trip was a fun one; interesting people, good fellowship with other missionaries, but there is always the wonder about when these people will have the opportunity to hear the Gospel.

When Jonathan isn’t traveling on consultant trips, he is involved in training Mexicans who are planning to go both within Mexico and to other countries as missionaries.
Last year there were 10 students training in the second phase of the program and this year we have 15 students.
Staffing is very limited though; Jonathan is one of three teachers in the technical subjects of Culture and Language Acquisition, Phonetics, Phonemics, Linguistics, Translation and Literacy, etc.
If the numbers of students increases next year, we are going to need more teachers and more space for students. We are excited to see what God is going to do as He calls missionaries from among the Mexican churches to serve Him all over the world.
We now have representatives working in Mexico City so we are expecting to see more missionary candidates from the south of the country.

Since returning from Sanford, Jonathan has made consultant visits out to the Tephuan, Tarahumara and Guarijío tribes. In September we took advantage of the children’s school break and all went together to visit the Finches working with the Tarahumara people.

We arrived there at about 4pm and Rachel went straight to a ladies meeting to speak to the women about raising children. She spoke in Spanish with a translator speaking in the Tarahumara language.

The following day the Finches took us on a trip to the Sinforosa Canyon, which was spectacular to see! We saw some wonderful wildlife and enjoyed cooking and eating hotdogs while enjoying the wonderful views.

Later on that same day, Jonathan had the opportunity to share in the Tarahumara men’s meeting.

This next week Jonathan and I are going to visit two more missionary families who work with another dialect of the Tarahumara language. Please pray that we will have a safe plane trip and that we will be an encourament and help to the missionary families who work there. Our children have school so won’t be able to come on this trip.

Most weeks I go to an orphanage here in Chihuahua to help the children with their homework and to spend time just playing and talking with the kids. While there I have noticed that they get given a lot of old second hand clothes but rarely get anything new. I thought that their underwear looked rather shabby and that they didn’t have many towels. Also the children can always use more supplies for school. While in the States a church in Oklahoma City offered to collect some much needed items and because we were given so many things we had to hire a UHaul trailer from Oklahoma to El Paso, and then some other missionaries loaned us their trailer to pull the stuff the rest of the way.
A big thank you to Sunnyside Baptist Church for their generosity.