During my time in Chicamán we have spent a lot of time in the surrounding villages. Our host feels like God called him/his family to reach the people living in the indigenous villages here. So that is where our team has spent most of our time.
Each village consists of roughly 300-500 people and their culture is deeply rooted in Mayan heritage. These people live in very remote areas that are difficult to access and therefore much of their lives consist of their village and the villages around them.
There are a handful of Mayan dialects spoken in these villages, including Quiché and Pokomchí. This means we often need translators. Our host speaks fluent English and Spanish but we sometimes need additional translators to go between Spanish and Pokomchí. Never in my life did I expect my words to be triple translated, yet here we are!
Days in the villages typically means traveling 1-2 hours up gravel/dirt roads, up the sides of mountians, and around many switchbacks. They don’t wear seatbelts here and we frequently play the game of “how many people can we fit in one car”. Therefore, many of our drives consist of us sitting four across the backseat with kids and backpacks in our laps while simultaneously getting bounced around (physically off our seats most days). But once we arrive we do home visits, participate in or lead church services, share meals, and just talk with the people in the village. After a good 6-8 hours there, we climb back in the car head back to Chicamán.
The roads to the villages have some of the most beautiful views I’ve ever witnessed. Much of this land is untouched and so the mountains stand in their raw form. I’ve been here two months and I still don’t get sick of this drive. In fact, any chance I get to stand and ride in the bed of a truck to/from the villages, I take it! In my opinion it’s the best seat in the house!
Wesly (our host) has been establishing relationships and starting churches in different villages for 10 years now. He has a network roughly ten pastors that he meets with monthly to fast and pray for the village churches. We have had the pleasure of joining him for a handful of these meetings.
Recently though, a huge initiative was set in motion to provide audio recordings of the Bible to the village women in their native dialect of Pokomchí. Many of the women are married very young and spend much of their days raising children, cooking, and caring for their home. It isn’t uncommon for the husbands to leave for 2 weeks to 2 months at a time to work in the city. Therefore much of the household responsibilities fall on the women. The women in the villages typically don’t attend school or they drop out before they are able to read and write. Because of this it wasn’t fitting to provide physical/written Bibles to the women. So instead, Wesly and his network of people were able to provide audio Bibles with a rechargeable solar panel battery.
In the States we can Amazon Prime or Target pick-up things with the click of a button. I think it’s easy to forget that some people don’t have access to resources, nonetheless the Bible, like we do in the United States. In fact, the Bible isn’t even fully translated into Pokomchí yet. The audio recordings given to the women in the villages are just the New Testament. Bible scholars began translating the Bible into Pokomchí in the 1980’s and are still working on the the Old Testament to this day.
The women have had their Bibles for approximately 6 months at this point and it has been so cool to hear how the Bible has been changing their lives. These women can quote scripture in a way that is awe inspiring. And hearing the testimonies of how God is working in their lives just fires me up every time. No two stories are the same, but there’s a common thread amongst every one. That thread is the goodness and kindness of God and the undeserved love of Jesus.
Spending time with the women in the village has taught me a lot of things. These are some gritty individuals who have endured a lot of hardship in their lives. But one thing I’ve come to realize is that these women are experiencing God in ways that many people in the United States aren’t. And it got me wondering-why?
Although not everyone in America has access to the basic necessities, the majority does. Not only do we have access to the bare minimum, but we have more than we could ever need, and then some. Arguably, we are a self reliant culture. If we don’t have something we want, we work harder to get it, or we throw money or intellect at it to acquire the desired thing/outcome.
Now don’t mishear what I am saying, hard work, success, wealth, and intellect are not inherently bad things. But they can become bad things if we put our trust in those things instead of God. These women (and people in the villages) are experiencing God in crazy ways because they are surrendering their control and allowing God to lead in their life. They too could sit in their circumstances and have a death grip on the things that are within their control.
Jesus didn’t die on the cross for us to fix all of our own problems.
He didn’t die on the cross for you to see the Bible as a bunch of rules.
He didn’t die on the cross for you to sit in church on Sunday and hear the word of God, but then return to the rest of your week without God.
Hearing the word of God is different than acting on the word of God.
But God calls us to do both.
Jesus doesn’t want to just be apart of your life, Jesus wants to BE your life
In Matthew 4, Satan tried to tempt Jesus with what?
THE WORD OF GOD. THE BIBLE.
Satan knows God’s word too,
but he doesn’t submit to it/live out what it says.
We are saved by grace through faith,
but that doesn’t mean we get to sit back,
hear His word, and not let it change our life.
As Christians, God withholds NO good thing from us.
He’s our father.
He loves us abundantly.
Jesus gave up his LIFE for us.
And when we are obedient to what He says, He will do things in your life that you couldn’t begin to imagine.
God doesn’t call us to a life of perfection, he calls us to a life of obedience.
Even in the moments we make the wrong choice, God is standing their waiting with open arms to embrace us and help us regain our footing.
More updates to come!
With love,
Mikahla
Love reading your updates! God is moving and it is such a blessing to hear. Sending continued love and prayer to you, your team and to everyone you all come in contact with. ??????