Yes, life is tough for those who live up in the mountain by San Bernardo, in the Eastern hills of Sonora, Mexico. It was fun to see the traditional dress of the Guarijio Indians, to see sod roofs that looked like homes with crew cuts, and to ‘hang on for dear life’ as Dwight enjoyed driving the van like it was a 4-wheeler along the windy, steep roads. Everyone told us to bring sweaters because the ‘mountains are cold’ but we were grateful that we knew to wear layers! Cold nothing!!! It was smoking hot, and we both got sunburned.

You can check out an album of pictures on our website!

http://www.pro-vismex.com

The Church of God had prepared to give out dispense of used clothing, dishes and food; as well as provide a doctors and dentist clinic, hair-cutting, tracts made special in Guarijio (that we got to print!) children’s ministry in the day, and a concert in the evening. They were focused on the Guarijio Indians, a group that has remained separate from ‘normal’ society, keeping their own traditions. Christians from all over the state traveled to be a part of this mission’s trip, and it was a great experience for many to be able to participate in blessing others.

We weren’t left out, and were able to participate by bringing 200 CDs and 100 Cassettes of gospel traditional Mexican music, 300 coloring books on Jonah, and tracts in Spanish and Guarijio. Then we noticed a long line in the hot sun for the dispense, and as the hours passed, we decided to pass out cups of cold water as they waited. It was a totally ‘gringo’ thing to do… but it was hot and the wait was long. No one could leave their place in line so we brought the water to them… and it was fun to do.

We learned some interesting things about the culture. The government has given free land and cows to the Guarijio families and is constantly giving them dispense of food and clothing, so much that most of them do not work at all. The ‘normal’ people (as our young hitchhiking tour guide called himself) are never given dispense, and have to work hard to survive. Therefore everyone is frustrated and has a ‘chip on their shoulder’ regarding the Indians getting all the help. The mission trip only added lemon juice to the wound by calling out for the Guarijios to go ahead of the others, even if the others were in line first and had been waiting for a while. They also made distinction with the children’s ministry and the toy gifts. Our opinion was still that their mission trip was a total success as it gave their church members a chance to get away and serve others. It did also confirm to us, however, that we are happy with the mission that God has given us… focusing on the millions of ‘normal people’ who need a Savior here in Mexico and not on the few up in the hills.

We also learned that the main work for all families up in San Bernardo is farming Marijuana! They make $90 bucks a kilo for it, but once it makes it to Nogales it is sold for $300 bucks a kilo. Then it crosses the border and goes up in price again to $300 for a pound (more than doubling again). All the police are ‘bought’ in every town, each city paid for separately, so that they will ‘look the other way’ to the drugs. If the drugs are caught, they are still confiscated, so they still have to be careful, but the fact is that everyone knows who the main traffickers are, and the police could crack down on them if they didn’t receive a ‘payment’ on time. The national army is also ‘bought’ but they still make trips to watch the whole process. The whole mountain is covered with Marijuana crops, and from the army helicopters, they can see the stage of growth and everything. When we were there, the army flew around for a long time then landed their helicopter (Dwight could tell you what it was… some antique of some sort he said). Our teen tour-guide told us that the army had been paid already for crop at the front of the season (3 months ago) but that now it was harvest time, they were due another payment. He had just finished harvesting his field with his dad, and they were going to split the profits. (Just has to wait for the army to leave so they can sell, he said, which they will do as soon as they receive their next payment) This teenager who caught a ride down the mountain with us asked me if I had seen the marijuana before, and I admitted that I had not, so he said he would show me, and began to reach into his pocket! I thought he was going to pull out some drugs!!! Instead he pulled out his cell phone, and I breathed easier, mentioning that he was going to show me a photo. “I can do better than that, I have video!” He showed me his field, his dad, and the plants at harvest, which was pretty amazing to see. Apparently the ‘Salazar de Navajo’ are the mafia in charge at this time, and are the ones who do the major paying so the army looks the other way. The farmers can sell to anyone they want though, and this kid told me that if we had arrived with cash, he could have sold us some today. Isn’t that nice of him???

I guess I should wrap this blog up! We didn’t end up spending the night up there since the outdoor basketball court didn’t look too appealing, especially since it was covered with youth. We headed down the hill where we spent the night in Alamos; a cute, traditional-looking town. We checked out the ‘lookout’ and it was absolutely gorgeous! Then we traveled down the hill another 2 hours to arrive home. It was so nice to feel so comfortable back at home, this place has really become home to us, and our little kittens had really missed us.

We really did feel like we had contributed to the mission with our CDs, cassettes, coloring books and tracts… and we learned a bunch more about this culture where we live. What an adventure! Now, back to the daily adventure of the mission God has assigned to us…