During the week, the camp played host to at least two families that were visiting the nearby hospital. This is an important and regular ministry of the ranch. Getting out to the hospital in the first place be difficult, and being seen is an expensive proposition. Furthermore, you can't stay at the hospital unless you're a patient that absolutely needs to stay at the hospital for medical reasons. This often means that the family of the patient is sent out. Getting a hotel room for the night is not reasonable, nor is it always reasonable (or cost effective) to get back to the village. So some people are just stuck. And if they show up at the ranch, Pastor Chable gives them meals and a bed for as long as they need it at no cost.
There was a very young boy who was probably between 1 and 2 years old who stayed at the camp for a couple days, who left on the same day the other children left. He played with his parents off to the wide while camp things were going on. I mostly remember him chasing some balloons around the room. He was always very smiley and seemed to be a happy and content child. But he was at the ranch because his parents were taking him in for a diagnosis and potentially treatment. It turned out that the boy only had one functioning kidney. And that there really wasn't anything that can be done. So the family went back to the village. That's just how life is down there. In the US, some people go to the doctor every time they get sick (or think they're sick, or even sometimes before they get sick if they're getting a yearly vaccine), and there's always a medication or something that they can get to make the situation better. But that's just not always possible in that context.
After all the children left the camp that Friday morning, things quieted down. We did a bit of debriefing together. I have some notes about things we might do differently next year, including creating laminated cards with instructions for making the different types of friendship bracelets and other crafts. (Mike had made some for the pony bead projects, and that was a good idea that should be expanded.) We also talked more reflectively on the time. Here are two questions that I wrote down for reflection from that time:
1) "How might your faith be different if you grew up here?" This is an important question because it steps into the questions at the heart of Christianity. What does it mean when I say I'm a "Christian"? Certainly, many elements of the expression of this faith are culturally bound. I'm a Protestant Christian that grew up in a middle to upper-middle class predominantly white church who took ownership of his faith in and through college campus ministries. The children who were at camp will have a dramatically different expression of their faith. But if I would consider them to be Christians, it's because I believe that I share something with them that is not bounded by culture. Jesus as the one who restores our relationship with God is in that intersection. There is an impetus to share that faith with others ("evangelism" though not necessarily the form of evangelism that comes to mind when we think of that word). And there is an impetus to care for and care about the people who are around us.That afternoon, some of us went into Zaachila to get some food for dinner and a couple other things. Jae Woo and I rode in the back of Chable's pickup into town. This was kind of a fun ride because I really got to look around at the sights, and it was through the town instead of being on the main highway. At one point, we crossed paths with a guy that was walking his herd of goats through the streets. It perfectly fit the stereotypical image that was already in my head.
But beyond that, we things would have been dramatically different. Life would have been completely different. I live a pretty comfortable life. A single guy with an income suitable to support a small family affords me opportunities and a lifestyle that does not have the stresses of things that would matter to them, like food insecurity. My work is part of a larger scheme of providing opportunities for economic advancement and expanding people's minds about the world around them. I don't really know what my work life would be if I grew up there.
The important part about this exercise (in my view) is not to come up with concrete answers, but to create space for flexibility in what I think of when I think about my faith. I think that Christianity in the US in the last half of the 20th century has been very much about abstract statements of belief. This is why tracts were (are) popular. It's as if the idea is that we just need to convey the right information to others and get them to agree with those statements to get at the heart of Christianity. Just look at the structure of the classical "4 Spiritual Laws." Perhaps in the last few decades as the culture has turned post-modern, we're seeing more and more relational expressions of Christianity start to come about. (Not that relationships weren't seen as important before, but rather that they are now a higher focus.) Sunday school is being replaced by small groups, which shifts the tone from a knowledge-based structure to a relationally-based structure. I think that this shift is important because that's something that far more easily transcends cultures.
2) "What will be different next week?" These types of questions sometimes drive me nuts because I don't know the answer. Am I somehow different for having gone to Oaxaca? Certainly, I take my memories of the experiences with me. And those things affect how I view the world. I would like to think that I've become more aware of my own cultural "baggage" when thinking about my faith. But beyond that, I just don't know. Some people come away from experiences like this with mind-blowing revelations about themselves, their faith, or their God. I guess I'm just not prone to such things.
We stopped off at the open air market to get meat and vegetables. While we were there, we stopped off at an ice cream stand (nieves). I got a mango con chile nieve, and I was quite pleased with it. It had the sweet mango flavor and then some spiciness to it. But then I also got a bit of crema de mezcal. I don't know how to describe the flavor. It was sweet and a little smokey and somehow completely perfect. After that, we went over to a meat shop to get some beef and rabbit chorizo. All of this was taken back to the ranch for what I think Dave called a carnazo (meat-fest). It was basically just a time for us all to hang out and relax, and it was all good. (No notes here. Too much eating.)
On Saturday morning, we headed back into the city for Guelaguetza. At this point, there was a lot going on at the same time. Dave was meeting the next batch of people from Grace City Church(?). We went out to the street early to get good seats for the parade. We even brought some chairs to give us a place to sit and to help block off room so that Dave could slide in and get in a good spot to take some pictures.
What can I say about Guelaguetza? It's a week-long cultural festival. We were going to be there for the opening day parade. Rather than try to put the experience into words, here are some pictures.
After the parade, Dave, Mike, Jae Woo, and I wandered off to a restaurant for dinner. We ended up at a place called "La Olla" which was the same place that Dave, Mike, and I debriefed our visit last year. We talked about a wide range of topics over dinner. We talked about general mission field difficulties, some specific projects Dave had in mind, and the question of an ongoing relationship between Adventures in Life and Life Springs Christian Church. The night ended a little earlier because apparently there was an English-speaking couple sitting by the bar trying to have a romantic evening together and our conversation was preventing them from doing that. (You're at one of the largest and loudest cultural festivals in the state and you're at a bar/restaurant trying to be romantic? Does the fact that we're speaking in English make you feel entitled to complain that we're having a conversation? Well, whatever. We were polite about it and just headed back to the hotel.)
On Sunday, the three of us from LSCC went to Monte Alban. Monte Alban is a major archaeological site in Oaxaca. It's about an hour-long drive up from the city through some very windy back roads. On the way up, it was us and a medical student named Tom from England. He wanted to do some medical work in Central America. We had nice little chat on the ride up. We went our separate ways when we got there. I think he went straight for the site whereas we stopped off in the museum for a while before visiting the site.
Monte Alban is a stunning place to visit. It's located at the top of a mountain that looks into several valleys on different sides. I can see why it was chosen as a good location for a central hub for culture and commerce. The size of the place is simply amazing. Some of the structures are 30-40 feet tall, and the main plaza was a couple football fields in length and in width. This picture is one of the smaller areas that I think was used as a competitive game area. The people standing around give you a sense of scale:
That trip took up a good chunk of the day. The rest of the day was getting back into town, meeting up with Dave and the new crew, and taking the bus out to the ranch again. Our plan was to get up early the next morning to get to the airport and begin our trip back home.
That last evening, we were visited by someone important. I don't know who he was, but he was important enough that Chable pulled together everyone to have a prayer meeting. I'll be honest. I was kind of tired when this happened, and I didn't take many notes. There was a short worship session, there was a time of sharing (we're talking going around a room of 40 people and everyone sharing what about Jesus inspires them), and then Chable did a little preaching. It felt like a good commissioning time for the new group, as they were at the end of their first full day with a huge number of kids coming in the next day. They probably needed that time to focus and pray and get themselves prepared.
The next morning, we were up at about 4 AM. We packed up and waited to see the headlights of the taxi piercing the darkness as it made its way up the dusty road to the camp. Once again, we arrived at the airport before it opened and had to wait in the taxi for a while. From there, it was a matter of hopping on the flights and making our way back home. As a last note, we stopped off for breakfast in Mexico City at a "Chili's Too." I had my only non-Mexican meal of a "Rancho breakfast" (two over easy eggs on a fried tortilla with refried beans, seasoned potatoes, and exactly three chips).
Ending the Oaxaca trip like that is apropos of something. I don't know what. Maybe there's some straddling of two cultures going on. Maybe the contrast of the "real" Mexico and the "commercial" Mexico. I'm just going to leave that alone because I think I've rambled enough over this series of posts. So I'll just close by saying that it was a great trip, and I'd do it again if I had the chance.
