Although there will be no festivities this year, I thought I would give you a house tour nonetheless.

Welcome to a Nahuatl house...

This is Nichol’s house.  She and her husband, Tony, are the oldest couple in our area.  They are very friendly and always welcome us into their dining room/extra kitchen when we visit.  They use this room for storage, to eat, and sometimes to cook.

The kitchen workspace

This is the kitchen “counter”.  There’s a few leftover tortillas from lunch, dishpans with lunch dishes, some firewood for when they want to light the stove again, and the broom leaning against the wall for when it’s time to tidy up.  You can see their dining table in the background with the tablecloth.

the kitchen cupboards...

This is the only place the I have seen these ingenious shelves.  They have carved them out of their adobe wall.  Very cool looking and very handy!

the extra stove...

They have and outside stove, scroll down for picture, and this inside stove.  These metal stoves are common, but not as well liked as the homemade adobe mud ones.  There’s extra firewood all ready to heat water for coffee (instant) and some drinking water on the left that they haul from the stream a little ways away from the house.

the corn mill...

No Nahuatl kitchen would be complete without a corn grinder.  This is how everyone makes their tortillas.  They soak the hard corn kernels, then send the now soft kernels through this grinder.  It comes out a coarse dough.  They then grind it further before forming their tortillas.

cheese storage

In the rainy season when there is plenty of grass for the cows, the people milk the cows with calves a little each morning.  The ones who have several cows can get enough to make cheese.  Here Nichol is storing her homemade cheese on a stick shelf hung from the rafters and covered with a cloth.  I have seen this way of storing cheese in several houses.  Not sure if this nifty shelf is to protect it from mice?  or to keep it dry?  I’ll have to find out!

the coat rack...

Well, they don’t use it as a coat rack, but it’s the catch-all hook right by the door creatively fashioned from a forked branch.  Very resourceful!

another view of the dining room/inside kitchen space

We’ve never been in the other room of the house – the sleeping room.  So, our tour is limited to the kitchen/dining area.

the outside kitchen...

This is Nichol’s homemade oven.  It’s in a separate little building just off the main house.  It’s pretty tight in there, but well-lit!

This house is very traditional and a good representation of house our neighbors live.  This now concludes our Las Moras house tour.  Hope you enjoyed it!

Merry Christmas!

We found this skeleton in our sink. I'm glad it wasn't alive!

The first critter that we found was this normally scary thing.  This one, however, was not scary as it had long ago died.  I think it got stuck in our kitchen sink and died of starvation.  No food and no way to escape.  This is the one and only one we’ve ever seen in or around our house.  Hopefully this is the last.

We found tons of evidence of other creatures. We wept and gnashed our teeth as we cleaned the house (every single nook and cranny) for 2 days and found countless things the mice gotten into and destroyed. So, we found all the traps we owned and Tom set them.

Thankfully, mice really like pumpkin seeds!

We caught 2 of those havoc-wreaking creatures and I found another one dead in my room.  One of the guys on our team was a hero and cleaned it up!

Although it is a cute thing, it has a devilish mind - full of mischief.

So, now we know better how to pack things up when we leave the village.  Hopefully next time, we will have a surprise-free arrival!

Almost home

This is our home in our little village at the edge of a mesa.  This is the first glimpse of the village from the road as we travel in.  After 5.5 hours of a very bumpy, bouncy ride it’s a site for sore eyes!

In Las Moras, Mexico, the Nahuatl people have few options for water. Some haul it from a nearby stream where people also bathe and wash laundry. Some haul it from small, dirty springs that are often muddied by livestock. Some gather it from puddles when it rains. None of them have access to clean water, and many suffer from water-borne illnesses like typhoid and dysentery.

When we began working in Las Moras, we immediately identified clean water as one of the community’s critical needs. The remote location, depth and size of the well, and equipment needed to provide clean water placed an early cost estimate at $20,000. We are now earnestly seeking funds with the hope of raising enough money to drill the well in May 2012. The goal is to make clean water available for all the people who live there, including our team.

Would you pray with us that God would provide the money for the well?  Would you also pray that God would use us to show His Love to the community?

Would you like to help finance a well for Las Moras?

Call New Tribes Mission’s Finance Office at 1-866-547-2460 to donate with a credit card.  Specify your gift is for the Mexico Fund – Well Project.

OR, send a check made out to New Tribes Mission to

New Tribes Mission
1000 East First Street
Sanford, Florida 32771

with a note saying it is for “the Mexico Fund – Well Project”

Either way, you will receive a tax-deductible receipt. THANK YOU!

Bathing in the creek. Can you see Katie waving from the swimming hole?

When we wash clothes, we do it here…

I'm a lot more picky about which clothes I consider "dirty" when it means I have to wash them by hand on the rocks at the creek.

Water for drinking and washing dishes is hauled from here…

At the school (white buildings), there's a spigot of water brought to our village by hose from a stream a little ways away. Still has lots of sediment in it. Still contaminated, but maybe not SO contaminated as the village streams.

We bring it in two barrels in the truck…

It takes an hour to fill up both barrels and bring them back to the house.

…then into the house by a 6 gallon container…

One of Josiah's chores is to make sure there is enough water in the house for washing dishes, cooking, and to filter for drinking.

The Nahuatl live more or less the same way.  They bathe and wash clothes in the creek.

A neighbor girl washing some of her family's clothes.

Some get their water from streams like this one next to the village…

Co-workers contemplating alternate water sources for the village. This is at the end of rainy season.

This is a creek by our village in the middle of the dry season.

Others get their water from seeps like this one.

Seep at the end of the rainy season. Very little water flow.

The water they drink comes to the village by hose from a stream a little ways away.

Box that collects stream water that flows to the village through the lower hose.

There is no clean source of water in Las Moras.

We have contemplated different options to our problem and sought expert opinions.  The best, long term answer that would assure water even during the driest times is a well.  Some of the difficulties in trying to drill a well are the remoteness of our location, getting the equipment out to our village over the rough roads, and the finances required for this undertaking.

However, unlike the other options, a well would provide clean drinking water for the Nahuatl of Las Moras.

It would also provide a water source for our houses.  The time we have spent in the past hauling water, washing clothes and ourselves in the creek, and filtering drinking water could be spent with the people learning their language and culture.

The faster we learn their language, the sooner we can share with them God’s Good Truth!

The estimate of drilling a well in our village is $20,000 dollars.  We already received gifts totaling $5,050!! Praise GOD!!

Would you pray with us for God’s provision for our water needs?

Would YOU like to help finance a well for Las Moras?

Call New Tribes Mission’s Finance Office at 1-866-547-2460 to donate with a credit card.  Specify your gift is for the Mexico Fund – Well Project.

OR, send a check made out to New Tribes Mission to

New Tribes Mission
1000 East First Street
Sanford, Florida 32771

with a note saying it is for “the Mexico Fund – Well Project”

Either way, you will receive a tax-deductible receipt. THANK YOU!

I got to spend a month with my mom while she was back from Papua New Guinea.

And, before I left back to Mexico, got to spend some fun time with my sister and brother.

At the State Fair. We rode the largest ferris wheel in North America!!

LOVE Y’ALL!!!

Hiking Conejos Peak, Colorado

I celebrated the marriage of one of my cousins.

Congratulations, guys!

And, spend time with my aunts

On our way to paintball

and uncles

Sharing a Goog - a famous Winnipeg icecream concoction

and cousins.

This is only about half of us!!

I have also enjoyed spending time with ministry supporters and friends

Friends and future missionaries!

and have had opportunities to share about the Nahuatl in Mexico.

Cousins' homeschool Bible, Geography, and Social Studies Class all wrapped into one!

It’s been wonderful.  But, I’m looking forward to getting back!

A few hours later, as I was sitting with some ladies outside, she came back to the clinic to wait for her friends to finish with the dentist. I asked her how she felt. She said, “I feel SOOOO comfortable! I don’t feel any pain. In fact, I didn’t ask if I could eat anything, and at lunch time, I just ate my food, and I felt SOOOO comfortable!”

I asked how her visit was with the doctor and if she was afraid to come back. She kinda laughed. “There’s no reason to be afraid of this doctor! I didn’t feel ANYTHING! I’ll tell everyone to come, but this is the last time you are having a dental clinic, right?”

Not sure what rumors she was hearing, I said cautiously, “As long as the people here are happy with us living here, we want to help the people and we’ll bring dentists whenever we can.”

She quickly answered, “We like you guys. You don’t kill people, and you remove the plaque from our teeth!”

It’s nice to know what people think of us!

They accompanied us on our last trip to the mountains to meet our team and the Nahuatl.  They are almost finished learning Spanish and were looking to where the Lord would have them work.  We got along really well with them, and they loved the village and the people, so we invited them to be a part of the team!  They said YES!  We are excited to welcome them as a part of the Nahuatl work as their gifts and abilities complement the team and fill a lot of “holes” that we had on our team.

Pete hanging out with the young men from the village

I met them in 2008 when I spent a year in Missouri at NTM’s Mission Training Center.  They had finished the training course, but were still there so Pete could study Linguistics for a year.  Never would I have thought that a few years later we would be partners!

Liesl loves to run and we ran the same half-marathon in Springfield during that year.  We went on a few runs together in the mountains and look forward to being able to be running partners.

They regularly update their own blog at: www.hypkis.wordpress.com

Here’s their biography in their own words…

PETE is from Waukesha, Wisconsin. After graduating from high school, he attended the University of Wisconsin at La Crosse and graduated in three years with an English degree. After graduating, he took an internship with InterVarsity Press outside of Chicago, Illinois. It was during this time away from friends and family that the Lord began to work on Pete’s heart and challenge his perception of his purpose in life and God’s purpose for him. He felt challenged to not live for himself but for Him who died and rose again on his behalf. That led Pete to attend Bible school and begin to pursue missions.

Dueling English Majors (Katie Moore and Pete Hypki) - Can you tell who is winning?

LIESL is from Baraboo, Wisconsin. She was homeschooled by her parents along with her two brothers until she graduated high school in May of 2000. After high school Liesl did not feel her life goals leading her towards college or a particular career so she went to work at the Institute in Basic Life Principles in Oak Brook, IL. While she was there she was given the opportunity to serve overseas in Taiwan, Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, and Mexico. She was also challenged by her boss John Stephens’ love for the Word of God and began to desire a Bible education. In the fall of 2003 Liesl began attending New Tribes Bible Institute in Waukesha, WI. It was there she was completely challenged by the Lord to a life of overseas missions work. In her junior semester at Bible college she met Pete.

Liesl with two girls from the village

PETE & LIESL met in a Caribou Coffee shop through mutual friends in late September of 2004. Liesl was not interested in dating anyone at that particular time, but Pete, encouraged by their mutual friends, did not cease trying to contact and spend time with Liesl. After trying to obtain Liesl’s phone number, and failing miserably, Pete decided to write a letter to her instead. So, in December of 2004, after receiving a hilarious, and long, letter from Pete, Liesl decided to give him a call. They began to develop a friendship without any intentions, at least on Liesl’s part. A few month later after much prayer and discussion about their future life goals, they began dating.  Nine months later, they were engaged. They were married in Baraboo, WI, on October 28, 2006 and then spent two years in missionary training in Lake of the Ozarks, Missouri.  They moved to Mexico in early 2010 to begin learning Spanish in anticipation of serving as tribal church-planters.

]]> http://blogs.ntm.org/rachel-chapman/2011/06/23/introducing/feed/ 0 http://blogs.ntm.org/rachel-chapman/2011/06/12/dental-clinic-by-the-numbers/ http://blogs.ntm.org/rachel-chapman/2011/06/12/dental-clinic-by-the-numbers/#comments Sun, 12 Jun 2011 07:12:49 +0000 Rachel Chapman http://blogs.ntm.org/rachel-chapman/?p=850 We had 1 endodontist and 1 dentist.

We treated 84 patients representing 11 communities (For most of the people, this was the 1st time they had come to a clinic that we have hosted.  Actually, for most people, this was the 1st time they’ve been to a dentist EVER!)

We treated 3 indigenous groups (mostly Nahuatl but some neighboring groups als0).

1 couple (below) walked for 1 full day up and down through the mountains to see the dentist. They arrived at the end of our second to last day.  It was already to late to see them, and we had already told about 10 people to come the following day because more showed up than we could see that day.  We told them if they were the first, they’d see the doctor first, so they should get to the clinic when the sun was coming up.  When we arrived early for the last day, they were there waiting!  Between them they had 4 extractions, 5 fillings, and 1 root canal.  That walk was worth it!  They should be pain free for a while, now.  They are wearing the traditional clothes of their group.  They are from a people group that has been very resistant to the Gospel, and we hope that in some way their contact with us will create an opening in the future for someone to share God’s Good News in their language.

We did 423 procedures.  This included 149 fillings, 19 root canals, 65 extractions, and 4 surgeries. The doctors removed 1 tumor from a lady’s mouth.

We saw patients for 5.5 days, and then spent the other .5 day cleaning up and packing everything away.