‘What’s the first thing that comes to mind when you think of Mexico? Mayan ruins? Five-star resorts on sandy beaches? Miles of unmanned borders and streams of illegal immigrants?’ asks translation specialist Jill Goring.
‘Well, I didn’t see any of those things…but I DID fall in love with the country and its people and history—and our dear colleagues who have only one focus: getting the Good News to millions of marginalized, isolated ethnic people who still have no Scriptures and no viable church.’
‘Mexican missionaries to the Trique tribal people in Baja, close to the border with the United States, told stories of short term mission groups from American churches flooding the area with material gifts, and buses full of youth groups passing each other on their way to ‘evangelize’ the same people year after year. But the traffic thins out drastically the further you get up into the rugged mountains where the light of the Gospel has barely shone. Thanks for praying for those missionaries still willing to make the sacrifice to live and build relationships in those hard to reach places!’
Jill was in Chihuahua, Mexico this summer to teach missionaries the intricacies of Bible Translation. She wrote:
‘Teams of church planters and translators, new missionaries who have just started Spanish language and culture study, and national missionaries-in-training were stretched and challenged as they thought about the incredible miracle of communication—so much more complex than they had imagined!
‘It’s an intense two weeks for the missionaries—lectures all morning, with teams translating Luke 15 into their tribal languages all afternoon…And there’s still so much work to do after everyone heads back to their villages! But the great thing is that each person who attends seems to leave with a heart more passionate, more motivated, more committed than ever to completing what God called them to do: the messy, incarnational work of putting God’s Word into man’s language, the heart language of the people He created to know and love Him.’
‘It’s an impossible task, and we stand in need of God’s enabling grace every day!’
This is where you come in! Your prayers for these missionaries dedicated to stay the course amidst incredible hardships are having an impact.
Just read the stories, and you will rejoice with us in all God is doing among tribal peoples in Mexico and all over the world.