February 5, 2007

Ya hui! Greetings from the Huastecas and Texas! Though I write on January 30 from Frijolillo, this will come to you from Texas. I will be in Texas from February 1 to 5 before the week-long meeting of the Presbyterian Border Ministries in Monterrey, Nuevo León.

The presbytery meeting in Tampico went well. It was great to see Tampico again after 10 years and see the church there. It is the only church in our presbytery that is not in the Huasteca. We also attended the fiftieth wedding anniversary service, which was beautiful, though the ride home was cold for the guys who took advantage of the free ride in the back of the truck.

These past two weeks have been packed with the following activities: learning to roast and grind coffee (see photo), cutting down banana leaves for making tamales (yes, they actually let me use a machete!) learning to do cross-stitch embroidery (Amalia and I are making a table cloth for me, and my next project is a “grandma blouse”—traditional blouse), doing my laundry at the washboard here at the church, preparing my reports for the PBM annual meeting, working with local leaders to prepare for the visit of a mission team from Georgia and northern Mexico in April, and making a number of visits to homes throughout the community, learning where people live, and praying with them. And I’m also making headway with Náhuatl! Na munihuexihua Náhuat pero na ninequi niyecos. Amo xihuetzcaca de na. “I don’t speak Náhuatl but I want to learn. Don’t laugh at me.” Of course they do laugh at me, but mostly because they are so surprised to hear me say tascamati miac por ni mochiltaxcali instead of “thank you so very much for the enchiladas.” I am now on to verbs and tenses and am finding the learning fairly easy—Tascamati Tuhueyiteco. Thanks to the great God!

Náhuatl

Náhuatl (nah-waht) was the language of the Aztec empire in Mexico and remains the most widely spoken native language in Mexico, as it is the first language of approximately a million and a half people in the Mexican states of Mexico, Puebla, Veracruz, Hidalgo, Guerrero, and San Luis Potosí. The people here call it “Mexicano.” There are many variants of the language and some of them not very compatible. The Náhuatl spoken in San Luis is Náhuatl of the Huasteca Central. As I have mentioned before, in Frijolillo about 70 percent of people are bilingual (Spanish-Náhuatl) and the Náhuatl is sprinkled with Spanish and “Span-huatl.” We have the Bible in “our” Náhuatl, but most of the people who speak only Náhuatl do not know how to read. And even if they do read, the words in the translation are not exactly the ones that we would speak, so they have to consult the Spanish Bible to understand the Náhuatl one!

Life in Frijolillo

This week the men of the community had a “faena” or community work day. Because this is an ejido, (a special land development granted to the landless after the Mexican Revolution) and a very small community, they have to take care of their own roads, public buildings, and public land. Each ejiditario has his own land, but so does the kindergarten, the junior high, the Presbyterian church, and the community as a whole. So, once a week they have faena when they go out to work on community projects. Today they cut weeds with machetes at the orange grove belonging to the junior high.

Most crops here have two seasons, so some people are planting and others are harvesting. The main crops grown are oranges, corn, and coffee. Coffee was their cash crop until about 10 years ago, when the market price got too low to make the work worth the effort. The government convinced them to switch to oranges, which of course are also subject to world, and specifically North American, markets. Right now the folks who are harvesting oranges are getting 50 dollars a ton. Others are harvesting corn and coffee, though much of their crops are for their own use or for more local markets.

The community has also made a petition to the new municipal government, requesting that a water pump and water line be installed from a river four kilometers away in order to bring water up to the community and provide regular water service into their homes. This is a project they have been working on for at least a couple of years, with little success. The community draws water from a well on a natural spring, from a collection tank, as well as from the river, but it is not enough water. (The water in the spigot comes and goes, and there are days when we have no water.) During the dry season there is no water other than what the well and river provide (and too often the river is dry too). This is an expensive project that the local government needs to be a part of so it is included in the “city water program.” Pray that we can soon have easier access to this vital liquid.

Life in the Presbytery of the Huastecas

After a break following the intense activity of the Christmas and New Year’s season, the churches here are now getting in gear for “Youth Week,” which will be celebrated in mid-February. Most congregations will have worship services each night during the designated week. Guest speakers will preach on topics relevant to youth. I will be preaching in the Huitzitzilingo church on February 12 and then in Frijolillo on the 23rd. My assigned topics are “The love of God for Youth” and “The Example of Christ.”

Sunday night I accompanied leadership of the Frijolillo church on a visit to the church in Octlamecayo for the ordination of two deacons. At the end of the month we’ll celebrate the ordination of deacons here in Frijolillo.
On February 13, presbytery leadership will have a meeting with the leadership of the General Assembly and that of three other presbyteries that form our synod. Due to the distance between the presbyteries (Oaxaca, Vera Cruz, Mexico, and Huastecas) and the relative poverty of our presbyteries, they have found it difficult to meet. At this meeting, a decision will be made as to whether or not the synod will be disbanded or reorganized. The Huastecas favors reorganization, Pray for the Lord’s direction of our brothers.

Pray also for Presbytery leadership who are in need of God’s guidance as they face specific challenges in a number of the churches. Pray that above all, church leaders and members would allow God to bring healing and transformation to their lives, that they might be effective witnesses in their communities.

What is God teaching me?

In a word, submission, submission to others, to their agendas, culture, desires, and suggestions. Submission to God through my submission to others. Believing others and receiving God’s reward for my willingness to set my own reasoning aside and simply submit. This is a tough one for most of us, particularly for us Americans from the United States. We are so individualistic and so used to doing things our own way. And we are so rational that we have trouble refraining from rationalizing in our own minds and allowing the supposedly irrational to be real. Does this sound familiar? God assures me that my sins are “common to man.” At any rate, in Spanish, submission is “sumisión,” which with an added space becomes “su misión” which means “his (or her) mission.” Over and over again the Lord keeps reminding me that the work here (and everywhere) is His, and my role is to simply submit to Him—to die to Susie and her ideas, thoughts, rationalizations, strengths, weaknesses, and plans and allow the life of Christ flow to through me into the lives of others. When Susie tries to do it, it gets messed up and so does Susie!

Christ himself is our example as we go forth in mission….in our own communities or around the world. To the Philippians Paul wrote,
Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death—even death on a cross! (2:5-8).

If Jesus Christ could submit himself to God and unto death in order that the Father’s work would be accomplished, how much more the rest of us! Brothers and Sisters, may the Holy Spirit reveal to each of us those corners of our souls that have yet to submit themselves to Christ’s reign, that we might repent, be healed, and be used of God for the sake of the Kingdom.

I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.”
Galatians 2:20

Thank you for your love and care for me. I must close and prepare a meditation for a home worship time the youth are leading at the home of an elderly couple down the street.

By His grace and in His love,

How can you participate in the ministry in the Huastecas?

By praying

• That I can quickly learn Náhuatl.
• For physical and spiritual healing for Brother Timoteo of Frijolillo, who suffers from sleep deprivation and is tormented by demons (voices).
• That Frijolillo’s water project is approved by the city.
• For safety in my travels January 21 to February 10.
• For the annual Presbyterian Border Ministry meeting in Monterrey, February 5-9.

By writing or calling

You can always write me by using the link to my email on my home page.

By giving

Gifts to support my salary and benefits should be sent to: PC(USA), Individual Remittance Processing, PO Box 643700, Pittsburgh PA 15264-3700. Make sure “Frerichs, ECO#074044” is written on the memo line of the check. You can also send funds to PBM, 319 Camden, San Antonio, TX 78215 and designate them for the Huastecas. They will be used to cover ministry expenses I have here in the Huastecas.

The 2007 Mission Yearbook for Prayer & Study, p. 66