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January 2020<\/p>\n
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Hello again from Cacalote! We\u2019re so excited to tell you about our continued adjustment to all the changes, big and small, and about our new rhythm and work here.<\/p>\n
You may have heard already, but we\u2019re happy to share that THE TRAILER ARRIVED! It was like Christmas around here. We literally pulled the trailer around town making deliveries to different places \u2013 medicines and other medical supplies to the clinic, personal items to several missionary families, academic materials and projectors for the various schools here at Roca Blanca, and of course our things! We were beyond happy to see our clothes, personal items, and above all our bicycles. We finished by dropping off the empty trailer to the clinic, where it will be used for village outreaches and other transportation needs. We are so thankful it finally arrived. What a blessing. Thanks to all who prayed that we\u2019d be able to get it sooner than later!<\/p>\n
Here is a glimpse of what we’ve been up to via pictures:<\/p>\n
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Most of our time is spent here – in the classroom. Level 1 (out of 4) will finish next week. Our window looks out onto the base and when the waves are high we can hear the ocean pounding on the beach. Grammar, Vocab, Verbs, Translation, Phonetics… it’s a full day of classes. Hannah teaches Grammar for levels 1 and 2. Ben is working very hard to get all the material and finish strong.<\/p>\n
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Meet Buddy and Big Bird<\/p>\n
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View from the Spanish school, watching the kids walk to school. This is on the base. The kids meet under the round tree before going to their classroom buildings.<\/p>\n
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Norah spending time with a neighborhood cat in our yard. The kids have spent so much time outside! It’s so good for them.<\/p>\n
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Bug bites on Wesley’s back. The bugs have made a buffet out of all of us. We think some of the kids’ illnesses could have been viruses transmitted by mosquito.\u00a0<\/p>\n
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The Spanish school took a culture day and went to Tututepec a couple of hours away. We received a personal tour of some modern murals at a new town hall that show the history of the Mixteco people, including depictions of their oral traditions and creation story. Other murals covered the same subjects with other indigenous peoples of our area.<\/p>\n
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We also stopped at a museum nearby. These grinding stones are thousands of years old, but the modern stones are essentially unchanged.<\/p>\n
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In front of the Catholic church in Tututepec<\/p>\n
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This is a picture of the Virgin of Juquila, a very famous, Barbie doll-sized wooden representation of Mary. There is quite a bit of lore around it, and it’s believed by many that if a petitioner creates a clay model of what they want and place it before her, it will come to them.\u00a0<\/p>\n
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A Spanish school teacher set up a projector outside and the students got together for the Super Bowl and some American food. It was a blast.<\/p>\n
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Grammar is so fascinating that a Black Iguana hung out outside our window to listen. We all went out to take a look. He let us gawk for a few minutes until someone said “taco” and he took right off. They are a desired main course around here!<\/p>\n
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It was Hannah’s birthday shortly after arrival. The family (Dad, Laura, Ben and kids) went together to buy this beautiful cage with planters, and two cockatiels to hang out on our front porch. Things are far less expensive here! It’s remarkable.\u00a0<\/p>\n
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The kids’ uniforms finally came in! They are standing in front of our house. We live on the bottom floor and the owners live on the top.\u00a0<\/p>\n
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When you don’t have a table, use a stool! Uno is the great unifier.<\/p>\n
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The trailer brought our bicycles! Our car is still not working (computer issues that we’re still working on!) so we ride everywhere around town and bike to school every morning.<\/p>\n
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This is the church in town that we’ve been attending. It’s a different experience to try to tune out the dogs, roosters, chickens etc. so that we can hear the sermon!<\/p>\n
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The murals covered the walls on both floors of the town hall.\u00a0<\/p>\n
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This is an ancient carving of Quetzalcoatl, a flying serpent who the Mixteco people believed created the earth and man. It is featured in all the important events of their world history. The belief systems of these indigenous people are deeply rooted to this day, and play a huge role in how people here live and worship. There is another statue of the moon goddess at the museum. We saw remnants of incense that had been burned to the carving.\u00a0<\/p>\n
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A stone’s throw away is the Catholic church in Tututepec. There are figures – carvings, statues, etc. – toward the front of the church that people believe hold special power to answer prayers or bring what the petitioner desires. The concept is not dissimilar to worship of carved images of Quetzalcoatl and other deities. There continues to be darkness and confusion!<\/p>\n
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Pilgrims to the virgin of Juquila are regularly seen in our area. Ben took this picture of a group of people who were carrying a torch and passing it along on the highway to go see it. They are following a facsimile of the statue. Idol worship may sound like an ancient practice but it’s very real here.<\/p>\n
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The beach next to the missions base. We’ve only gotten there a few times but each time we’re reminded of God’s creativity and greatness.<\/p>\n
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We have had a number of challenges since our arrival.<\/p>\n
As already mentioned, the first couple of weeks were difficult because of the kids\u2019 illnesses. They recovered from that (hallelujah!), but a couple of weeks ago Hannah got an infected tooth that needed antibiotics and a root canal. We are working on getting a crown put on in the next week or so. Pray that all goes well with that!<\/p>\n
Over this last week and weekend, Ben has experienced some issues with his heart. He began feeling palpitations that came in episodes of 15-20 minutes. On Monday the 10th<\/sup>\u00a0 of February there was a more severe episode and we went directly to the base clinic, where an EKG confirmed an irregularity in his heartbeats. He has begun medication to help his heart regulate and is being monitored to see how he does with that. The nearest cardiologist is 2 hours away. We\u2019d love to go see him for an echo-cardiogram for further diagnosis, but would love it even more if it wasn\u2019t necessary. He has received prayer here at the base prayer house. Please join us in praying for Ben\u2019s heart and for peace of mind.<\/p>\n These challenges, as well as the ongoing car issue, have the stamp of a spiritual attack with the goal to discourage, and to bring fear and frustration. We realized recently that the car broke down almost immediately after entering into \u201cour\u201d state of Oaxaca. Coincidence? We don\u2019t see it that way. So please pray for steady hearts, minds \u201cset on things above\u201d, and health in our bodies!<\/p>\n Please also continue to pray for our ongoing adjustment to\u2026 well, everything! The pace of life, the weather, the food, the tremors from nearby earthquakes \u2013 it\u2019s all normal here but new to us.<\/p>\n \u201cBut we do not belong to those who shrink back and are destroyed, but to those who have faith and are saved.\u201d ~Hebrews 10:39<\/p>\n THANK YOU for partnering with us in prayer. It\u2019s felt and appreciated!<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][et_pb_row _builder_version=”4.2.2″][et_pb_column _builder_version=”4.2.2″ type=”4_4″][et_pb_comments _builder_version=”4.2.2″ form_field_font_size=”14px” hover_enabled=”0″][\/et_pb_comments][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][\/et_pb_section]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" January 2020Hello again from Cacalote! We\u2019re so excited to tell you about our continued adjustment to all the changes, big and small, and about our new rhythm and work here. You may have heard already, but we\u2019re happy to share that THE TRAILER ARRIVED! It was like Christmas around here. We literally pulled the trailer […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"parent":62,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"on","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-441","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/rocamission.com\/clarksformex\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/441","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/rocamission.com\/clarksformex\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/rocamission.com\/clarksformex\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rocamission.com\/clarksformex\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rocamission.com\/clarksformex\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=441"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/rocamission.com\/clarksformex\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/441\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":494,"href":"https:\/\/rocamission.com\/clarksformex\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/441\/revisions\/494"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rocamission.com\/clarksformex\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/62"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/rocamission.com\/clarksformex\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=441"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}