Centro de Compartimiento Report March 2008  
 
 
   

Report: Centro De Compartimiento

March 14-20, 2008

   

It always seems easier to feel a little closer to Christ, when visiting Mexico, especially during high holy seasons of the year, like the Lenten/Easter season (Cuaresma/Pascuas) as it is called there.

We visited a church in Juchitán where a man was expertly weaving from reeds and wheat, various sizes of Jesus on the cross...really beautiful. And the town plaza was alive each day, with people buying glorious flowers...leis for the neck, or to place on the cross at the altar, as well as arrangements of all types.

But for me, as a white, U.S American Christian, the real signs of Christ are to be found in the faces and actions of the humble poor. Jim Wallis, in his newest book, The Great Awakening, says this: “for an affluent country like the U.S, and the comfortable church,our willingness to enter the pain of a suffering world may be the only dependable place to discover Jesus once again.”  The purpose of this trip was to visit the hometowns of 3 girls in our program. It was quite an experience getting to them-each rural, remote pueblos, one without roads, one with no real streets, and the third has just received its first paved road. Two other girls live 10 hours away, which includes a 3 hour donkey ride! Maybe next trip?! 

Flor’s family lives in San Mateo (Saint Matthew), set in a valley near the ocean.  Mom and sisters cooked up fish tamales and tortillas for us over a roaring fired open oven. We also were served with chicken soup. To make the tortillas, they soak maize in water until soft, then they grind it into masa, and then make the tortillas.  Flor’s family owns a little grinder which all the neighbors come and use for 4 pesos a bowl. All the people in her village speak a different language than Spanish.  

Yesenia comes from Llano Grande, which sits high on a hill and looks out over continuous mountain ranges. She has 3 sisters, 4 brothers. It was her 21st birthday the day we visited, and neighbors kept dropping bywith small gifts for her. Mom made horchata to drink and cooked a goat for dinner.  While there, we met her sister in law, Sylvia. She is the same age as our students, but is married with two small children. Her husband is in the U.Sworking. She hasn’t seen him in 2 years. They are all very grateful for the money he sends home monthly. Sylvia is so cute, so brave, but so isolated there. 

Eneydi has 3 sisters, 1 brother. Like the others, her parents are campesinos (small farmers). Although their families have lived along a lovely river bank for more than a100years, there are still land disputes-and recent violence has sent many away. Two of Eneydi’s sisters are living with relatives elsewhere. When we asked mom what her dream was for Eneydi, she told us, while softly stroking Eneydi’s hair that she doesn’t want her to suffer through life.

Most girls here don’t even finish primary school before dropping out to go to work, and soon after, get married. Eneydi’s father turned out to be, for several of us, the face of Christ during this Semana Santa (holy week). He had come home early (a one-hour horseback ride) from his planting maize, to receive us. Having lived all his life in this rural area, and spending much of his days alone in the field has given him an unusual sensitivity and openness to the presence of others, that I have rarely seen. He was so happy that we had come, and so pleased to tell us everything about the history of their life there, as well as how the current crop season is going.  When we asked him what his fondest memory of Eneydi as a child was, he smiled shyly, and thought a long time.Then, he said that she loved to go to church with her mother as a child. But one day she came home and told him that when the people pray in that church, they shut their eyes and everyone goes to sleep! We laughed and laughed, (from the lips of children). 

We had not found the moment to tell him that we would need to leave right after lunch, to make a radio appointment back in Juchitán, when he said to Kristin, “ your group seems to feel hurried.” He nearly begged us to consider letting our preoccupations wait, as he was hoping to give the group a personal tour of the area.  We made a hasty decision to leave Glenn with the girls, and the van, and Doctor Eva, Kristin and I headed back to town. The group ended up staying all day and were able to walk to and swim in a huge water falls of national park attraction quality. They had a fantastic time together. 

On Palm Sunday we were reminded of God’s faithful provision for those whose lives are committed to Him.  When on the way to Flor’s pueblo, we were involved in a 4-car pile up! And, if there’s one thing we are leary of in Mexico, it is the roads, and the Federales! Kristin’s car ended up sandwiched between a truck and the van carrying the rest of our group. The girls in the back seat had just taken Kristin’s 4 month old daughter out of her car seat! The trunk caved in, the seats broke,and the glass all shattered, but we all got out without a scratch. After 2 hours on the road, we got another car, and resumed our mission. This experience provided several opportunities to talk about how our lives and organizations all go through trials and challenges, but we must be faithful to stay on the road God has set us on.  

CDC was founded to address 3 major components:

Over the 3 year life of CDC, spiritual formation has been the most challenging to provide consistently, as the staff and board there had not been exposed to this type of work before. We have provided most of the books and workshops when we visit.   

However, this time, we could see a much deeper understanding is being born from the living out of this mission during the 3 years. They have found that without new eyes to see what others really need, and new hearts to feel the suffering of others, our girls do not value service. This felt like a real breakthrough in the life of CDC as a community. The seeds of servant leadership as taught by the model of Jesus are growing...and people are waking up. Several times during our visit, scripture passages like the following, came up...

The pastor who preached on Palm Sunday taught from the passage about the Triumphal Entry, which ends with the verse from Luke 19:44: you will be destroyed because you did not recognize the time of God’s coming to you.

So we suggested that we need to be asking ourselves? Am I awake? Where do I see God in my life? In the life of my community? Where does God need to be invited in? Where has God been shut out?

At our last breakfast together, Wednesday morning, we all reflected on the story of Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead. Jesus says, at one point, “I am going there to wake him up.” But the most powerful part of that story for me comes after Jesus has awakened Lazuras, but then turns to the community and tells them to roll away the stone, so he can get out of the tomb. We asked the question: what tombs around here, do people need help getting out of? And then, at the end of the story, Jesus further instructs them to take off the grave cloths so that he can be free. Again, we reflected together on what that might mean for folks they know of...because that is the work we are preparing our students to join Jesus in.

The Sufi poet, Rumi wrote what has become a favorite poem of mine:“I called through your door,” the mysticsare in the street. Come out.” “Leave me alone, I’m sick.” “I don’t care if you’re dead. Jesus is here and he wants to resurrect somebody.” 

Dr. Jorge Florentino, our CDC board president has been thinking abouthow to promote CDC. So, he located and obtained a radio station designated soly for community service use, and set it up above his medical office. He is calling it Radio CDC! The girls and house moms will be hosting a 2 hour live program each Saturday. In this way, he hopes to attract partners for the work of CDC as well as promote the values we teach such as community service.  One of the moments we live for at CFS, happened when, at the end of my interview, Dr. Jorge took the microphone and said that none of this activity, work would be possible without spiritual formation and transformation. He announced that this would be the top priority of CDC as they moved forward this year. Jesus is alive and is seeking people to resurrect in the Isthmus of Mexico.