March to July, 2021 Update

March/April

We received a team from the Radiant School of Ministry from Michigan in March and April of this year.  They stayed for six weeks and did a super job.  They worked extremely hard to complete a project we have desired to do for a long time – to build a basketball court for the use of the Multigrade School and High School students to use.  The children at the children’s home on the base and other students and families at the Missions Base  make good use of it also!  It took lots of dirty, sweaty work to make it happen, but they did!  Ben and Hannah Clark also worked very hard to plan and coordinate this project and other activities of this group!  A big thank you to Ben and Hannah for the great job they have done with this team as well as other teams as they serve as directors over short-term teams (among many other hats they wear J).  Ben is also now using the basketball court in his role as the physical education teacher for the Multigrade School!

Finished Basketball court. Best when orphanage kids are using it!

The Radiant team members also had great times of ministry as they passed out bags of groceries in the local town and prayed for people in their homes.  There is often a special connection made when we are able to go into people’s homes. This team also participated in medical and children’s ministry ´s and home visits to families in Loma Bonita, Rio Grande.  There were a number of salvations and reports of meaningful ministry times in people´s homes.

June 4th – August 4th

We are grateful to Coby Veenji, Nathan Arnold, and Cade Plunk, and to Ken and Nedena Pimentel from St. James UMC in Tulsa and daughter Rachel for serving with us in the summer months.  What a blessing to have their help with patient care (Nedena is a Nurse Practitioner), pharmacy, vital signs, Ken with car repairs, and other needs in the clinic and on outreaches.  Also thanks to Brandon from Larned, Kansas who helped us in evangelism on some of the village trips!

The three interns with Laura and Elo at pharmacy table

We had a great outreach to Puerto Angel with Pastors Oscar Pacheco and his wife Gabby assisting them in reaching out to the neighbors where they are in the process of constructing a church building for their congregation in Puerto Angel.  Grace Chapel church in Pickwick, Tennessee is partnering with the church in Puerto Angel to help them reach this goal of completing their building, so it was an appropriate time to visit them during the visit of Cade Plunk from the Grace Chapel church.  Ken and Nedena Pimentel and daughter Rachel, interns Coby, Nathan, and Cade, members of the clinic staff, and students and staff from the Spanish School joined together to offer medical care and children´s ministry to the neighbors of the new church site.  The people were very receptive, and many people opened their hearts and responded to the invitation to know Christ in a new way and to allow Him to work in their lives and touch the broken places that so many shared about as they talked with our evangelists and counselors.

Oscar and Gabby with Cade Plunk

Spanish School students with children in Puerto Angel

June 13 – 18, 2021 and June 23 – July 2, 2021

We received the Gateway Student Team and Gateway Family Team for a week each mid June through July 2nd.  Between them, they covered six different towns and villages with medical and dental care and children´s ministry, and ministered to a group of children in a very needy area of Puerto Escondido and also did some street evangelism there in Puerto.  It was an extremely fruitful time!  The towns they ministered in were primarily in the coastal villages – Pueblo Nuevo, San Francisco de Arriba, Charquito, Puerto Escondido, and here in Cacalote – and one town in the Chatino Indian region, Juquila.  Many meaningful connections were made with the patients, children, and mothers of the children who gathered for these events, and many people received the Good News of the Gospel!

One of the towns which this team visited is Juquila, a town known for idolatrous practices.  One of the patients brought her 4 year old girl in for prayer reporting many extreme behavioral problems.  The child had said she wanted to kill her teacher and was exhibiting many very angry behaviors like screaming and hitting, but received ministry and prayer from members of the team, and afterwards was a different little girl — sweet and friendly.  Praise the Lord!

The dental team with a patient in the dental chair in Juquila

 Another town we visited is Charquito.  We were there on July 1st and saw lots of need in this town.  One thing that impressed us in Charquito was a couple who came especially to receive Jesus.  They were not drawn by the medicine or other special activities.  They knew that they needed Jesus, and found the person they really needed!

The Gateway Team on the Basketball court in Charquito

Laura Springeman visited end of June – 2nd of July

 We enjoyed having Laura Springeman, RN, from Tulsa with us for two weeks in June.  Laura came to Roca Blanca as part of her training for leadership in nursing at Oral Roberts University a few years ago, and it was a blessing to have her back to help us on some outreaches in June and early July.

July 21, 2021

 On July 21st, we had a special visit by Kathryn Taylor to the Wednesday night cell group that meets at our house.  She has a real heart for the children.  She was in Cacalote for about 2 years, first in Spanish School and then serving as an intern in the Cacalote Church, and left to follow God’s call to other nations.  But she returned for a visit, and were the children in the church and in our cell group ever happy to see her!

Kathryn with the children in our living room at Wednesday night cell group

Also pictured is Albita, a very talented young lady who also has a real heart for and is very loved by the children!  Albita has attended and graduated from the three year Bible School program at the Victory Bible Institute here at Roca Blanca and works with the children in our cell group on a regular basis among other ministry activities.  She has also taken on giving classes to a young girl 13 years of age named Maria who attends our cell group who because of unfortunate circumstances never had the opportunity to attend school and learn to read and write.  Albita has obtained materials to work with her and offers classes for her 3 days a week for a couple of hours each day which is a big commitment.  The classes are held on our back porch, and slowly progress is being made.  The learning does not come easily to Maria, but we are believing for a real miracle in her life!

Albita and María in front of María’s house

July 24 – 31, 2021

On July 24 – 31, the Church of the Harvest team under the leadership of Pastor Royce Walker, Drs. Ted and Karolyn Cook, and Dr. Chris and Wendy Wright came to serve both at the missions base and in the mountains.  They were an excellent team offering medical care, children’s ministry, and blessing the people in the mountain villages of El Mosco and Ixtayutla also with much needed food and clothing.  They made a tremendous impact on these Mixteco Indian villages, and also on those they touched at the Roca Blanca Base and the Corban Clinic.  Many of the patients prayed to receive Christ as their Savior and received a real touch from the Holy Spirit as they were ministered to.

The Church of the Harvest team at the airport

One extraordinary thing we saw the Lord do in the village of El Mosco on this trip was in the life of a young adolescent we will call Manuel.  Manuel is about 14 years of age, and arrived on a very busy clinic day in the village to the clinic gate.  There were a number of patients in front of him, but we saw that he was so weak that he had to be carried in, so we took him in to see the doctor right away.  Manuel´s parents reported that he had had approximately 10 seizures lasting about one hour each the previous night, which we had a hard time believing could have happened and he could still be awake and responsive, but on further questioning we found that this was not the first time he had suffered from seizures, and they had gotten worse.  The seizures had begun during the last couple of years which was preventing his going to school, and he was not on any treatment.  We had him lie down for observation for a while, and he began seizing again.  Somewhat miraculously, one of the doctors on the team had brought an anticonvulsant which could be administered intravenously, so we got an IV started and administered the anticonvulsant, and Manuel responded quickly and the seizures were stopped.  He waked up and was able to visit with one of our evangelists, who was able to lead Manuel to faith in Christ as his Savior, and he received prayer for healing.  It was decided that he had to go down the mountain (about a 2 hour drive) to get to the nearest hospital for evaluation, so three of us accompanied him and his parents to the hospital.  On the way to the hospital, we visited more with his mother who also decided to receive Christ as her Savior.

We were prepared to leave him at the hospital with his parents with an offering for their expenses and with a local contact — a Christian family who could help them get things they needed.  We did wait, though, to be sure they were attended and had established the contact they needed.  After about an hour of waiting, we were told that it looked as though Manuel would be released to go back to his village!  We were very pleasantly surprised!  He had been given more medication, and it was determined that he was stable enough to return home on medication and come back in a couple of weeks for testing.  It was a much better ending than we had anticipated!  It was much easier for his family than having to stay in a place they did not know and with limited ability to communicate with others because they only spoke the Mixtec language.  Manuel tolerated the travel back to his village very well, was able to eat, and continued to be stable through the night before returning to his village the next day.  Our God is a healing God!

The road between El Mosco and the hospital!

The group doing morning devotions in the corredor at El Mosco

We will continue with reports that bring us up to the present in Part II of this report in a few weeks!  God bless each of you who has played a part in what He is doing here in southern Mexico through your prayers, your gifts, and your hands on service!  We love and appreciate each of you very much!

In Christ´s Love,

Dave and Laura Nelson

Roca Blanca Mission Base

Oaxaca, Mexico